Cinema

Film & TV Composers

Best film and TV composers

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64contenders high-voltage

724votes

5TopList

0commentsUpdated on 10/17/2026 at 03:00 AM

Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, Gladiator, Inception, Dune, The Dark Knight, The Lion King, F1, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc)1412

The worldwide ranking generated by 724 votes

64 / 64

Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, Gladiator, Inception, Dune, The Dark Knight, The Lion King, F1, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc)1412

James Horner (Titanic, Avatar, Braveheart, Aliens, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Mask of Zorro, etc)1360

Ramin Djawadi (Pacific Rim, Iron Man, Eternals, Game of Thrones, etc)1324

Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, Noah, etc)1324

Harry Gregson-Williams (Shrek, Narnia, Man on Fire, The Equalizer, Armageddon, etc)1324

Elmer Bernstein (Ghostbusters, The Magnificent Seven, Wild Wild West, etc)1321

Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Taxi Driver, North by Northwest, The Birds, etc)1316

Éric Serra (The Big Blue, La Femme Nikita, Léon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, Lucy, Arthur and the Invisibles, etc)1299

Klaus Badelt (Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, etc)1296

#10

Mychael Danna (Life of Pi, The Addams Family, Where the Crawdads Sing, etc)1291

#11

Alan Menken (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Beauty and the Beast, etc)1288

#12

Ennio Morricone (Once Upon a Time in the West, Kill Bill, The Thing, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, etc)1282

#13

John Carpenter (Halloween, Christine, etc)1277

#14

Junkie XL (Mad Max: Fury Road, Batman v Superman, Zack Snyder's Justice League, Deadpool, Divergent, Rebel Moon, The Matrix 2 & 3, etc)1276

#15

Marco Beltrami (Scream 1-4, Logan, A Quiet Place 1 & 2, Knowing, World War Z, The Wolverine, etc)1274

#16

Alan Silvestri (Back to the Future, Avengers, Forrest Gump, etc)1274

#17

Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker 1 & 2, A Haunting in Venice, Chernobyl, etc)1272

#18

Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, The Boy and the Heron, etc)1270

#19

John Williams (Indiana Jones, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Star Wars, E.T., etc)1269

#20

Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles, Up, The Batman, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible 4, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Rogue One, Jurassic World 1-3, etc)1265

#21

John Barry (James Bond 007, Dances with Wolves, etc)1265

#22

Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Fly, The Silence of the Lambs, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Seven, King Kong, etc)1263

#23

Thomas Newman (The Green Mile, Skyfall, 1917, The Shawshank Redemption, Finding Nemo, American Beauty, etc)1242

#24

James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games, Signs, The Sixth Sense, Fantastic Beasts, Batman Begins, etc)1231

#25

Danny Elfman (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Spider-Man, Batman, Men in Black, etc)1230

#26

Justin Hurwitz (La La Land, Whiplash, Babylon, etc)1228

#27

John Ottman (The Usual Suspects, X2: X-Men United, Fantastic Four, Orphan, Bohemian Rhapsody, etc)1228

#28

Nino Rota (Romeo and Juliet, The Godfather, La Dolce Vita, etc)1228

#29

Brian Tyler (Now You See Me, Fast Five, Iron Man 3, The Expendables, Scream 5 & 6, etc)1218

#30

Jerry Goldsmith (Rambo, Gremlins, Star Trek, Basic Instinct, The Mummy, etc)1205

#31

Harold Faltermeyer (Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop, The Running Man, etc)1204

#32

Pinar Toprak (Captain Marvel, Geostorm, Justice League, etc)1199

#33

Germaine Franco (Coco, Encanto, etc)1187

#34

Trevor Jones (The Last of the Mohicans, Cliffhanger, Notting Hill, etc)1184

#35

Steven Price (Gravity, Fury, Baby Driver, The Running Man, etc)1184

#36

Henry Jackman (Kingsman, X-Men: First Class, Captain America 2 & 3, Jumanji 2 & 3, etc)1180

#37

Carter Burwell (Twilight, No Country for Old Men, The Big Lebowski, etc)1178

#38

Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain, Babel, The Last of Us, etc)1170

#39

Tyler Bates (John Wick, 300, Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2, Watchmen, etc)1158

#40

Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water, Victor Frankenstein, Harry Potter 7 & 8, etc)1156

#41

Jérôme Rebotier (The Count of Monte-Cristo, Le Prénom, etc)1152

#42

Christophe Beck (Frozen, Ant-Man, The Hangover, Percy Jackson, etc)1150

#43

Brad Fiedel (Terminator, True Lies, etc)1149

#44

Craig Armstrong (Love Actually, The Great Gatsby, The Bone Collector, The Incredible Hulk, etc)1140

#45

Lorne Balfe (Mission: Impossible 6 & 7, Gran Turismo, Bad Boys 3 & 4, Black Widow, etc)1139

#46

Bear McCreary (The Walking Dead, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Happy Death Day, etc)1136

#47

Michael Kamen (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Lethal Weapon 1-4, 101 Dalmatians, Highlander, Die Hard 2-4, etc)1136

#48

Patrick Doyle (Cinderella, Murder on the Orient Express, Harry Potter 4, Death on the Nile, Thor, etc)1129

#49

John Murphy (Sunshine, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Superman, Kick-Ass, etc)1129

#50

Ludwig Göransson (Sinners, Oppenheimer, Black Panther 1 & 2, Creed 1 & 2, The Odyssey, etc)1128

#51

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Challengers, Soul, The Social Network, Gone Girl, The Killer, etc)1120

#52

A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire, etc)1118

#53

Cliff Martinez (Drive, Contagion, Spring Breakers, etc)1117

#54

Rob Simonsen (The Whale, Deadpool & Wolverine, Elio, etc)1116

#55

Vangelis (Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner, etc)1112

#56

Ludovic Bource (The Artist, OSS 117, etc)1101

#57

Nicola Piovani (Life Is Beautiful, Pinocchio, etc)1084

#58

Francis Lai (Les Ripoux, Les Misérables, Love Story, etc)1081

#59

Angelo Badalamenti (Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks, etc)1069

#60

Le Castle Vania (John Wick, Ballerina, etc)1059

#61

Pino Donaggio (Carrie, Don Camillo, etc)1053

#62

Michel Legrand (The Young Girls of Rochefort, Summer of '42, La Piscine, etc)1043

#63

Gabriel Yared (Azur & Asmar, 1408, Chocolat, etc)1002

#64

Mica Levi/Micachu (Under the Skin, Zola, The Zone of Interest, etc)989

What the community says

Discover the ranking of the greatest film & TV composers: Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Ennio Morricone and more…

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →

Community TopList

How other members ranked this list.

alana

ranked 7 months agoFull

Film & TV Composers

Who's the best film and TV composer?

Howard Shore (Le Seigneur des anneaux, le Hobbit, La Mouche, Le Silence des agneaux, Twilight 3, Seven, King Kong, etc)
John Williams (Indiana Jones, Les Dents de la mer, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Star Wars, E.T, etc)
James Newton Howard (Hunger Games, Signes, Sixième Sens, les animaux fantastiques, Batman Begins, etc)

John Williams (Indiana Jones, Les Dents de la mer, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Star Wars, E.T, etc)
Howard Shore (Le Seigneur des anneaux, le Hobbit, La Mouche, Le Silence des agneaux, Twilight 3, Seven, King Kong, etc)
James Newton Howard (Hunger Games, Signes, Sixième Sens, les animaux fantastiques, Batman Begins, etc)

tiffanie38630gmailcom

ranked 7 months agoFull

Film & TV Composers

Who's the best film and TV composer?

Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, Gladiator, Inception, Dune, The Dark Knight, Le Roi Lion, F1, Pirates des Caraïbes, etc)
Ramin Djawadi (Pacific Rim, Iron Man, Eternals, Game of Thrones, etc)
Bernard Herrmann (Psychose, Taxi Driver, La mort aux trousses, Les Oiseaux, etc)

Ramin Djawadi (Pacific Rim, Iron Man, Eternals, Game of Thrones, etc)
Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, Gladiator, Inception, Dune, The Dark Knight, Le Roi Lion, F1, Pirates des Caraïbes, etc)
Bernard Herrmann (Psychose, Taxi Driver, La mort aux trousses, Les Oiseaux, etc)

axl-lowtier

ranked 8 months agoTop 3

Film & TV Composers

Who's the best film and TV composer?

Alan Silvestri (Retour vers le Futur, Avengers, Forrest Gump, etc)
Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, Gladiator, Inception, Dune, The Dark Knight, Le Roi Lion, F1, Pirates des Caraïbes, etc)
Danny Elfman (Charlie et la Chocolaterie, Spider-Man, Batman, Men in Black, etc)

Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, Gladiator, Inception, Dune, The Dark Knight, Le Roi Lion, F1, Pirates des Caraïbes, etc)
Alan Silvestri (Retour vers le Futur, Avengers, Forrest Gump, etc)
Danny Elfman (Charlie et la Chocolaterie, Spider-Man, Batman, Men in Black, etc)