The 20 most memorable songs from 2010s movies

Apologies to many of you parents out there, but no song from a film in the 2010s became as much a part of the zeitgeist as “Let It Go.” It helped turn “Frozen” into a massive hit, won an Oscar, and made the wicked-ly talented Idina Menzel into a household name among those who aren’t into Broadway. “Let It Go” was ubiquitous for a while there.

Getting “Tangled” to the screen was tough for Disney, but eventually this riff on “Rapunzel” happened. Disney films are known for their music, of course, and having a musician like Mandy Moore in your cast helps. Also, having Alan Menken on hand to write your songs. “I See the Light” was nominated for an Oscar and won a Grammy, and was a part of turning “Tangled” into a surprise, circuitous success.

Personally, we think “Muppets Most Wanted” is a slightly better movie than “The Muppets,” mostly because there is less Walter. And yet, Walter is at the center of the best song from “The Muppets,” which also won an Oscar. Having Jim Parsons appear as the human version of Walter was also an inspired choice.

“Pitch Perfect” is teeming with music, which is not surprising for a movie about competitive a cappella. “Cups” is not an original song, but it is a moment of freshness in the film. Anna Kendrick took a children’s game and used that for her percussion and then sang lyrics from a classic folk song from the 1930s “When I’m Gone.” Somehow, it took off. “Cups” actually hit six on the Billboard Hot 100, making it a legitimate top-10 hit.

“The Greatest Showman” was an unexpected hit, but the movie really struck a chord with audiences. This led to a few songs from the musical becoming quite popular as well, naturally. Hugh Jackman starred as P.T. Barnum, but instead of one of his songs, “This is Me” proved the biggest hit, rising to 58 on the charts and going platinum twice.

Disney musicals are known for what are called “I Want” songs, and “How Far I’ll Go” is the one from “Moana.” Sung by the titular character, “How Far I’ll Go” had the pedigree of writing by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who had quite the 2010s himself.

“Mary Poppins Returns” also features Miranda in it! The belated sequel to the iconic ‘60s musical was not super successful, but it did have its positive elements. In terms of the soundtrack, the one song that really hit was “The Place Where Lost Things Go,” sung by Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins. Sure, it’s no “Spoonful of Sugar,” but it was memorable.

“La La Land” didn’t win Best Picture, as you may recall, but it was a commercially and critically hit. Memorably, Damien Chazelle managed to get Los Angeles to let him close down parts of two freeways to shoot the big opening song and dance number. It’s the showstopper of “La La Land,” and the song in question is “Another Day of Sun,” which sets the table for the rest of the movie.

“Trolls” was kind of silly, but what did anybody expect? What it had going for it, though, was a song from Justin Timberlake. “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” was basically a Timberlake single that happened to be in a family film, and it became a huge hint, even charting at number one in the United States.

“Let It Go” was a big hit and entered the zeitgeist, but it still very much feels like a song from a musical. “Shallow,” though, was something even bigger. “A Star is Born” was a huge success, and it had Lady Gaga to thank for a lot of that. While the soundtrack was big in general, “Shallow” was the defining song. It’s one of the biggest songs of the decade full stop. “Shallow” was a number-one hit, of course, but it was also an Oscar winner. No song from a movie quite hit like “Shallow.”

Now we get from some originals to a few songs that were already well known, but got memorable versions in film in the 2010s. If you don’t know “Les Miserables,” you likely at least know the song “I Dreamed a Dream.” Singing this song in the film adaptation effectively won Anne Hathaway her Oscar, so we had to include it.

“Mamma Mia!” is a 2000s movie, but the sequel came out in the 2010s. It still has plenty of ABBA in it, and ABBA were hit machines for a reason. Their most-iconic song is “Dancing Queen,” and “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” pulled out all the stops. Most of the key cast sings on this version of “Dancing Queen,” including another go at it by Pierce Brosnan which is, at the very least, memorable.

Personally, we didn’t find anything from “Bohemian Rhapsody” memorable, and Rami Malek basically didn’t sing, either. To us, “Rocketman” is the better film, and Taron Egerton the better performance. The solemn version of the title song was the set piece that stuck with us the most, so we are giving it the love it deserves.

In terms of earworms, few songs from films can rival “Everything is Awesome.” We even hesitate to write the title again, lest it burrow into your brain for a day or two. “The Lego Movie” was deserving of skepticism, and frankly even for all its positives it didn’t fully alleviate that skepticism. It did, though, give us a catchy tune we only resent, like, 15 percent of the time.

Much like “Hot Rod,” “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” didn’t really reach an audience, but those who saw it seemed to really enjoy it. It’s kind of like the evolution of “Walk Hard” in terms of parodying biopics, but this time it is also a mockumentary as well. Andy Samberg plays a Justin Bieber or Justin Timberlake type, and one of his songs is “I’m So Humble.” This film came to us from the Lonely Island crew, and they know their way around comedy music.

The Coen Brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” features many folk standards and traditional ballads. Then, there is “Please Mr. Kennedy.” The tune is a riff on novelty songs of the era, with Llewyn Davis begrudgingly agreeing to perform on it in order to get some quick case. If you are looking for star power on a goofy novelty song in a fairly cynical film, this tune was sung by Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake, and Adam Driver.

For better or worse, James Gunn made his soundtracks and needle drops synonymous with the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films. Hey, some of the song choices are fun! It maybe became too much of a “thing,” but we also can’t deny how effective, and ubiquitous, it became. We’ll use “Hooked on a Feeling” as the exemplar of everything Gunn did with the “Guardians” music choices.

Do you know who has an EGOT? Robert Lopez. He first won an Oscar for “Let It Go,” which he co-wrote with his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez. The duo then collaborated on “Remember Me” for the “Coco” soundtrack. Once again, they won the Oscar. At this point, Anderson-Lopez is only a Tony short of an EGOT herself.

Not everybody is a fan of the “Everybody sings and dances” end to a film. Ah, but what if that film includes Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph in the cast? “Bridesmaids,” a defining comedy of the 2010s, ends joyously with Wilson Phillips performing their song “Hold On.” Everybody gets to sing and dance, but they do it diegetically, so that’s a bit more palatable, perhaps.

“Frank” was not a big movie. It’s an indie dramedy with a premise that was never likely to really grab a big audience, even with a killer cast. That includes Michael Fassbender as Frank, a talented, but mentally unwell, musician. If you watch “Frank” – and we highly recommend you do – and you get to the end and you see the performance of “I Love You All,” well, we think you’d be hard-pressed not to be moved and not to have it stick with you.