Oscars Best Song Winners Throughout The Years

Of all the categories that will be presented at the 91st Academy Awards show, perhaps the most controversial thus far has been the category of Best Song. This category has been fraught with controversy as the show continues to try and keep the production at a minimum of three hours airtime.

On January 24, Variety reported that most of the Best Song nominees would not be performing their respective tunes. It was announced at that time that only Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper would perform “Shallow” from A Star is Born and Kendrick Lamar and SZA would perform “All The Stars” from Black Panther.

The other three nominated songs – “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns, “I’ll Fight” from RBG, and “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – were instead to be acknowledged when the category came up for presentation on the broadcast and would not be performed. On January 31, Vulture reported that the Academy then made the decision to allow all the songs to be performed.

On February 21, it was reported by Variety that both Lamar and SZA would not be performing their nominated tune due to scheduling conflicts.

Despite the Oscar misgivings for the 91st outing of the annual awards broadcast, the category of Best Song is always a bright spot for fans of the nominated film and a welcome break from the drudgery that can be Oscar viewing.

The following are some of the Best Song winners over the past 20 years that have won the golden statuette. How many of these songs do you remember?

1999: “You’ll Be In My Heart” from the film Tarzan, performed by Phil Collins.

2000: “Things Have Changed” from the film Wonder Boys, performed by Bob Dylan.

2001: “If I Didn’t Have You” from the film Monsters Inc., performed by Randy Newman.

2002: “Lose Yourself” from the film 8 Mile, performed by Eminem.

2003: “Into the West” from the film Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, performed by Annie Lennox.

2004: “Al otro la do del río” from the film The Motorcycle Diaries, performed by Jorge Drexler.

2005: “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp” from the film Hustle and Flow, performed by Three 6 Mafia and Taraji P. Henson.

2006: “I Need to Wake Up” from the film An Inconvenient Truth, performed by Melissa Etheridge.

2007: “Falling Slowly” from the film Once, performed Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová.

2008: “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire, performed by A. R. Rahman and Gulzar.

2009: “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart, performed by Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett.

2010: “We Belong Together” from the film Toy Story 3, performed by Randy Newman.

2011: “Man or Muppet” from the film The Muppet Movie, performed by Jason Segal and Peter Linz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI-4Vx46HR4

2012: “Skyfall” from the film Skyfall, performed by Adele.

2013: “Let it Go” from the film Frozen, performed by Idina Menzel.

2014: “Glory” from the film Selma, performed by John Legend and Common.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9MKXR4gLjQ

2015: “Writing’s On The Wall” from Spectre, performed by Sam Smith.

2016: “City of Stars” from the film La La Land, performed by John Legend.

2017: “Remember Me” from the film Coco, performed by Miguel.

The 91st Annual Academy Awards airs Sunday, February 24, at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.