How Do You Fix the Best Original Song Race at the Oscars? Eliminate Post-Credits Songs

In what is becoming a sad annual tradition, in order to save screen time at this year’s televised Oscars ceremony, it has been reported that show producers intend for only a handful of the five Oscar-nominated songs to get actual air time, with a montage or medley of the others tossed in elsewhere.

This year, massive hit single “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” will be performed live, as will “I Lied to You” from “Sinners,” now the most-Oscar nominated movie ever. That news led to Diane Warren, now nominated 17 times and someone who has been down this road many times before, telling Deadline, “It is all of us or none of us, and that is what it should be.”

But the truth is not all songs are created equal.

The Best Original Song Oscar should reward movies that meaningfully and memorably incorporate original music into the text of the movie itself. The songs that are nominated and win should be inseparable from the movie they’re in. Yet, too often, this category is flooded with forgettable songs by big name artists who squeak into eligibility because their music was quite literally a last-minute contribution for the end credits.

So I have a simple solution that may not solve all of what ails the category but should get it back into the spirit of the award: songs that play during a film‘s end credits should be ineligible for an Oscar.

Take it from the Academy’s rules itself: “An original song consists of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the motion picture. There must be a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition (not necessarily visually presented) of both lyric and melody, used in the body of the motion picture or as the first new music starts in the end credits.”

While we could have a conversation about what songs have been snubbed from recognition for one reason or another, maybe because they first appeared as diegetic sound, or because that song also wound up on an artist’s album, I’m not even proposing changing the rule, just losing that bit where it says “or as the first new music starts in the end credits.”

This may be a weird year to stand on this soapbox.

Of the five nominees in 2026, only one, the title track from Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner’s “Train Dreams,” is a post-credits song, and it might be the best of the bunch. Both Warren’s original song with Kesha “Dear Me” for her documentary “Relentless” and “Sweet Dreams of Joy,” the opera aria from Nicholas Pike for documentary “Viva Verdi!,” appear throughout the films, including the end credits. Does this game the system somewhat and make the film it is contained in secondary to the nominated song itself? That could be another distinction the Academy’s music branch needs to consider.

‘Slumdog Millionaire’©Fox Searchlight/Courtesy Everett Collection

But this should be a rule no matter the year. Think about it: most of the memorable movie songs and Oscar winners are movies that actually appeared in the movie itself, not after it ended. There are some notable exceptions: “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” is a joyous recent winner, but though it starts in the film’s end credits, it also accompanies a dance number that is hard to separate from the film itself. Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” doesn’t work anywhere in a biopic about John’s own life but at the end credits. And Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “All the Stars” for “Black Panther,” which did not win, is just a banger.

That might leave out some really good songs, but for the most part, this rule would not be as disruptive as you might think. Recent winners have included “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born,” “Let It Go” from “Frozen,” “City of Stars” from “La La Land,” “Remember Me” from “Coco,” “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR,” and “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie.” All six came in the last 10 years and are in the text of the film. No one would doubt that most of these have stood the test of time, are distinct scenes in their respective films, and are deserving of the Oscar.

To clarify, this is not the “Only Musicals Should Get Nominated” rule, though it certainly wouldn’t hurt that genre’s chances. It could also include songs performed in movies that are not musicals, and our rule would also allow for tracks that appear in the soundtrack during the runtime of the movie itself. Billie Eilish’s “Barbie” track is a great example, as is “Naatu Naatu.”

Some fun recent examples of non-musical original songs that did not receive a nomination include “Star Spangled Man” from “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Peaches” from “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” or “Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)” from “Asteroid City.” Your mileage may vary if you consider those Oscar-worthy.

But such a rule change would certainly impact the nominees and would force the Academy’s music branch to think deeply about what an Oscar-worthy song is. This year’s shortlist featured songs from Nine Inch Nails, Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, and Sara Bareilles, all of which would be left out under this proposal. In the last five years, 13 of the 20 songs nominated in the category are end credits songs. That’s a lot of songs, and it says nothing about how many are eligible or get shortlisted.

Finneas O’Connell and Billie Eilish at the 2022 Academy AwardsABC

There’s also the James Bond problem.

Eilish’s “No Time to Die,” Adele’s “Skyfall,” and Sam Smith’s “Writing’s On the Wall” all won in their respective years. Two of those at least are stellar. These are not end credits songs but opening credits songs and are hardly “integral” to the film. Should they qualify? Would other movie themes like “Shaft” miss out as a result? Our vote would be no, that the filmmakers made a conscious choice to include that song during the film, and it’s a memorable moment within it, not something you’re hearing on your way out the door. We can also cross that bridge once we actually have a new James Bond to speak of.

Some may also question if there will really be enough viable songs if you scrap everything that plays over the end credits. No one wants a situation like 2011 where inexplicably only two songs were nominated. Per Oscar rules, if there are 25 or fewer eligible contenders in a given year, the number of nominees drops from five to a max of three, and if it dips below nine eligible songs, the branch can recommend there be no award at all. If such a rule change were found to recognize fewer films, not more, then it’s understandable to keep things the way they are.

But I’d argue that unlike with rule changes to other below-the-line categories, this sort of eligibility tweak would not dismiss the work of other crafts professionals or make it impossible for smaller indie films to get attention. It would in theory put more pressure on Academy voters to consider these movies as a whole and not just which song has the coolest lyric video.

So what happens to all those original end credits songs if they’re not competing for awards? Do they disappear? Well, there’s always the Grammys.