50 Best Music Biopic Movies

2 days ago 2

(Photo by Searchlight Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection. A COMPLETE UNKNOWN)

The latest: Bob Dylan goes electric in the Timothee Chalamet-starring A Complete Unknown, directed by Walk the Line‘s James Mangold.

Get ready for a Fresh new sound with tonight’s headliner: Rotten Tomatoes’ best music biopics ever!

Music has been a crucial component of the movies since the beginning, back even when they were supposedly ‘silent.’ So naturally we started making movies about those makers of melodies. And actors love playing them: They get to show off an expanded range of talent, and so many musicians’ lives are filled with drama and passion. As the term implies, the biopics on this list are all based on real people across an expanse of styles: rock (A Complete Unknown, Control), country (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Walk the Line), hip-hop (Straight Outta Compton), pop (Selena, Love & Mercy), classical (Amadeus), and beyond. The only exception we made was for 8 Mile: Though the names were changed, the fact that the main character – a Marshall Mathers stand-in – was played by the original Marshall Mathers demanded its inclusion.

Let’s take it from the top, and this time with feeling: Play on for the best-reviewed music biopic movies!

Adjusted Score: 102318%

Synopsis: Based on the life of the legendary soul singer, Tina Turner (Angela Bassett) -- born Anna Mae Bullock -- discovers... [More]

Adjusted Score: 101872%

Synopsis: In this bittersweet, classic musical drama, the vibrant and beautiful young Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand) starts out as a bit... [More]

Adjusted Score: 101360%

Synopsis: In this adaptation of the autobiography "The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945," Wladyslaw... [More]

Adjusted Score: 99532%

Synopsis: A reimagining of the life and times of Blaze Foley, the unsung songwriting legend of the Texas Outlaw Music movement.... [More]

Adjusted Score: 98490%

Synopsis: World-famous pianist Liberace (Michael Douglas) takes much-younger Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) as a lover, but the relationship deteriorates when Liberace... [More]

Adjusted Score: 93510%

Synopsis: As a child piano prodigy, David Helfgott's (Geoffrey Rush) musical ambitions generate friction with his overbearing father, Peter (Armin Mueller-Stahl).... [More]

Adjusted Score: 104687%

Synopsis: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) is a remarkably talented young Viennese composer who unwittingly finds a fierce rival in the... [More]

Adjusted Score: 100830%

Synopsis: In 1988, a groundbreaking new group revolutionizes music and pop culture, changing and influencing hip-hop forever. N.W.A's first studio album,... [More]

Adjusted Score: 110383%

Synopsis: Young Reginald Dwight changes his name to Elton John and collaborates with singer-songwriter Bernie Taupin to become one of the... [More]

#10

Adjusted Score: 99150%

Synopsis: In the late 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson stops touring, produces "Pet Sounds" and begins to lose his grip... [More]

#11

Adjusted Score: 95904%

Synopsis: Following their breakout success in England, flagship punk rock band the Sex Pistols venture out on their first U.S. tour.... [More]

#12

Adjusted Score: 93258%

Synopsis: In the late 1960s, jazz trumpeter Chet Baker (Ethan Hawke) begins a romance with an actress (Carmen Ejogo) while trying... [More]

#13

Adjusted Score: 92309%

Synopsis: In 1970s England, troubled musician Ian Curtis (Sam Riley) rises to fame as lead singer of the band Joy Division.... [More]

#14

Adjusted Score: 91202%

Synopsis: Iris Du Pré (Celia Imrie) inspires a love of music -- and a healthy rivalry -- in her daughters, Hilary... [More]

#15

Adjusted Score: 89876%

Synopsis: Manchester, 1976. Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to... [More]

#16

Adjusted Score: 91337%

Synopsis: Raised in rural Kentucky poverty and married at the age of 13, Loretta Lynn (Sissy Spacek) begins writing and singing... [More]

#17

Adjusted Score: 93349%

Synopsis: A tuneful, heartwarming story, it is based on the real life story of the Von Trapp Family singers, one of... [More]

#18

Adjusted Score: 90822%

Synopsis: The rise of country music legend Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) begins with his days as a boy growing up on... [More]

#19

Adjusted Score: 90380%

Synopsis: Los Angeles teenager Ritchie Valens (Lou Diamond Phillips) becomes an overnight rock 'n' roll success in 1958, thanks to a... [More]

#20

Adjusted Score: 86561%

Synopsis: A rebellious teenager, future Beatle John Lennon (Aaron Johnson) lives with his Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas) in working-class Liverpool,... [More]

#21

Adjusted Score: 87661%

Synopsis: James Brown (Chadwick Boseman) was born in extreme poverty in 1933 South Carolina and survived abandonment, abuse and jail to... [More]

#22

Adjusted Score: 85774%

Synopsis: Legendary soul musician Ray Charles is portrayed by Jamie Foxx in this Oscar-winning biopic. Young Ray watches his 7-year-old brother... [More]

#23

Adjusted Score: 99514%

Synopsis: The film explores the life and music of Elvis Presley (Austin Butler), seen through the prism of his complicated relationship... [More]

#24

Adjusted Score: 80927%

Synopsis: New York, 1961. Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota... [More]

#25

Adjusted Score: 83260%

Synopsis: The people of Detroit know 8 Mile as the city limit, a border, a boundary. It is also a psychological... [More]

#26

Adjusted Score: 82199%

Synopsis: Several actors portray legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan at different stages in his personal life and career. In 1959 a guitar-strumming... [More]

#27

Adjusted Score: 79794%

Synopsis: Born into poverty and raised in a brothel, Édith Piaf (Marion Cotillard) manages to achieve worldwide fame. Though her extraordinary... [More]

#28

Adjusted Score: 75664%

Synopsis: The life of French singer Serge Gainsbourg.... [More]

#29

Adjusted Score: 73262%

Synopsis: Stricken with polio as a child, Ian Dury (Andy Serkis) finds success as a British punk rocker in the 1970s.... [More]

#30

Adjusted Score: 102692%

Synopsis: A chronicle of the rise and brief career of rock 'n' roll star Buddy Holly (Gary Busey), who aspires to... [More]

#31

Adjusted Score: 101936%

Synopsis: In the 1950s, Dale Turner (Dexter Gordon), a gifted black saxophonist with a drinking problem, leaves behind New York and... [More]

#32

Adjusted Score: 99342%

Synopsis: On opening night of his new Broadway musical, Show Boat, composer Jerome Kern (Robert Walker) reflects on his long career.... [More]

#33

Adjusted Score: 93724%

Synopsis: In this episodic fusion of documentary and biographical drama, director François Girard explores the life of 20th-century pianist Glenn Gould... [More]

#34

Adjusted Score: 95323%

Synopsis: Brought to the White House to receive a Congressional Gold Medal from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Broadway legend George M.... [More]

#35

Adjusted Score: 89211%

Synopsis: Glenn Miller (James Stewart) is a poor trombone player with dreams of fame. Eventually, through years of hard work and... [More]

#36

Adjusted Score: 70589%

Synopsis: Famous pianist Franz Liszt (Dirk Bogarde) is unhappily married to Countess Marie D'Agoult (Genevieve Page) and considers quitting performing in... [More]

#37

Adjusted Score: 83674%

Synopsis: The Dust Bowl overtakes his native Oklahoma in the early 1930s, and struggling young musician Woody Guthrie (David Carradine) leaves... [More]

#38

Adjusted Score: 78614%

Synopsis: Director Clint Eastwood, a noted jazz aficionado, directs this heartfelt study of pioneering bop saxophonist Charlie Parker (Forest Whitaker). Moving... [More]

#39

Adjusted Score: 82497%

Synopsis: In the 1970s, down-and-out jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (Don Cheadle) tries to recover his new session tape from music producers.... [More]

#40

Adjusted Score: 72667%

Synopsis: Musician Jeff Buckley (Penn Badgley) prepares for a 1991 tribute concert for his father, late folk singer Tim Buckley. As... [More]

#41

Adjusted Score: 79653%

Synopsis: Pop star Diana Ross portrays legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday in this biographical drama. Beginning with Holiday's traumatic youth, the... [More]

#42

Adjusted Score: 76504%

Synopsis: Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), two rebellious teenagers from Southern California, become the frontwomen for the... [More]

#43

Adjusted Score: 69108%

Synopsis: Johnny Knoxville, Mo Amer, Theo Von and Kate Upton unite in this wild and off-the-wall journey of second chances from... [More]

#44

Adjusted Score: 77354%

Synopsis: Following the rise of Aretha Franklin's career from a child singing in her father's church's choir to her international superstardom,... [More]

#45

Adjusted Score: 70424%

Synopsis: In 1960, close friends Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff) and John Lennon (Ian Hart), along with bandmates Paul McCartney (Gary Bakewell),... [More]

#46

Adjusted Score: 67084%

Synopsis: Gus Kahn (Danny Thomas), an aspiring lyricist, takes the advice of co-worker Grace LeBoy (Doris Day) in developing a new... [More]

#47

Adjusted Score: 71520%

Synopsis: In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla (Jennifer Lopez) is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham... [More]

#48