How many times have you heard a song and thought of an epic movie scene? Have you ever fallen in love with a song that was written for a movie even if you hadn’t seen it? Do you find yourself discovering new music watching movies? If you answered yes to any of the above, then you know that music and movies go together like peanut butter and jelly, like peas and carrots, and like Batman and Robin, pun intended.

Whether it’s a song that takes you back into a memorable movie moment or just makes you want to dance around, movies have given us original songs as well as introduced older tunes to a younger crowd. Music in movies add another layer of depth to the characters, the plot, the mood… everything music should do in every day life. Without a soundtrack, what is a movie anyways? A boring story, that’s what! We want to be entertained, and without some of these songs, would we feel the same way about the same movie if it had no soundtrack? I think not.

I started this with the idea of doing a top 40 list but it quickly turned into a top 50, with bonus songs and 20 honorable mentions. I couldn’t leave some of these songs out because they are just legendary, and I couldn’t not include songs that may have not been specifically written for a soundtrack but may be the only thing that made the movie.

The songs I chose as the top 50 are all great on their own and rightfully deserve a spot on the list. I’ve included songs across multiple decades and I don’t feel that I should be the judge of which is the number one movie song of all time, so while there is a numbered top 50 list, these songs are in no particular order based on popularity or sales; they are on the list because they simply deserve to be.

Now let’s get on to the music! Grab some popcorn and relive some of the best movies moments or just enjoy listening to some of the best of the best songs the movies has to offer.

Top 50 Epic Movie Songs

• 1. Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger

Year: 1982

Movie: ‘Rocky III’

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

Who doesn’t know this song? Sylvester Stallone personally requested this song to be in Rocky III. Not only did Eye Of The Tiger win a Grammy, it was nominated for an Academy Award. (Yes, it was THAT good.)

• 2. Phil Collins – Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)

Year: 1984

Movie: ‘Against All Odds’

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

Against All Odds is one of the best ballads sung by Phil Collins. Grammy winning and Oscar nominated for the film of the same name. Any Genesis or Phil Collins fan would agree with me on this one. Classic.

• 3. Simple Minds – (Don’t You) Forget About Me

Year: 1985

Movie: ‘The Breakfast Club’

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

Arguably one of the best John Hughes movies ever made, this movie reached out to fans of young and old. We all found ourselves relating to one of the characters, and this song brings back memories of high school, friendship, and the great decade of the 1980′s. Don’t like it on my list? Eat my shorts.

• 4. Bryan Adams – Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?

Year: 1995

Movie: ‘Don Juan DeMarco’

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

An absolute beautiful song by Canadian singer Bryan Adams, considered one of the best modern ballads of all time. And with Johnny Depp starring “as the greatest lover of the world”, how can you go wrong? Double Win.

• 5. Berlin – Take My Breath Away

Year: 1986

Movie: ‘Top Gun’

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

Take My Breath Away is a beautiful song that is still on my playlist. Winning an Oscar and Golden Globe, this love song doesn’t make you feel like you are stuck in the 80′s. It has stood the test of time and is still one of my favorite movie songs.

Bonus song! Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone was also a huge success and was featured in Top Gun as well.

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

• 6. Simon & Garfunkel – Mrs. Robinson

Year: 1967

Movie: ‘The Graduate’

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

This classic movie has been referenced many times in other films, fittingly so, since the movie has been ranked #7 in the top 100 films of all time according to AFI. Mrs. Robinson was a number one hit for Simon & Garfunkel, and remains one of the most recognizable songs of the decade.

• 7. Ray Parker Jr. – Ghostbusters

Year: 1984

Movie: ‘Ghostbusters’

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

Something strange in your neighborhood? Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! Just a great fun song from a fun movie. Did I mention it was nominated for an Academy Award? Yes it was. And for the record? I ain’t afraid of no ghost.

• 8. Kenny Loggins – Footloose

Year: 1984

Movie: ‘Footloose’

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

Whenever I hear this song, I just want to cut footloose! This song is a fun dance song and Footloose is great 80′s cheese. Featuring a young Kevin Bacon dancing around or throwing a tantrum through most of the movie is so funny to watch. The song was also nominated for an Oscar and comes in at #96 on the top 100 movie songs by AFI.

• 9. Aerosmith – I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing

Year: 1998

Movie: ‘Armageddon’

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

Written by Diane Warren, Aerosmith’s power ballad introduced the band to a whole new generation. Not one of my favorite Aerosmith songs, but it’s definitely one of their best more modern songs. Cool fact: I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing was originally written for Celine Dion. Yeah, I’m shuddering at the thought of that, too.

• 10. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Year: 1992

Movie: ‘Wayne’s World’

Download: [iTunes] [Amazon]

“Wayne’s World! Party Time! Excellent!” This song is on my list for the epic scene of Wayne and company lip synching the Queen classic in their car. Already a hit years before, Bohemian Rhapsody made a huge comeback thanks to the movie and it’s one of my favorite movie song scenes ever.

Continue reading….

The movie centers on two guys, Jerry & Mike, who accidentally erase all the movies in the local video store. They begin to redo all the movies in the store, which they call “sweded“. The sweded movies were funny as hell and you can actually watch them here.

Along with watching sweded movies, you can swede any website you want and upload it to the movie’s site as a jpeg format. You can also swede yourself!

What movie would you like sweded? Personally, I would totally love to see The Exorcist sweded!

Imagine the pea soup scenes!!