Soundtrack Selection: The list highlights the best movie soundtracks from the 2000s, focusing on licensed music.
Impactful Choices: Each soundtrack is chosen not just for its songs, but for the impact they had within their films.
Cult Favorites: Some soundtracks, like “Donnie Darko,” gained popularity over time despite initial poor sales.
Indie Influence: “Garden State” played a significant role in bringing indie rock into mainstream culture.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been posting a series of lists based on what I think are the best movie soundtracks of all time. I’ve already done the eighties and the nineties, so now it’s time to complete the trilogy with the best soundtracks of the 2000s.
Bear in mind, this has nothing to do with film scores. Those will be covered in another list. Rather, this is dedicated to soundtracks packed with licensed music. They aren’t listed only based on how good the songs are, but also on the impact they had within the films themselves. So, here we go with our list (ranked chronologically).
No one knows how to compile a soundtrack like director Cameron Crowe and his former music supervisor, Nancy Wilson (of Heart). Since the movie was based on Crowe’s real-life experiences on the road as a teenage rock critic in the seventies, you can imagine the track list is impeccable. Crowe made sure to throw in some all-time bangers (like Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer”), but most of the soundtrack is meant to evoke the era rather than serve as a non-stop barrage of hits. Hence the deep cuts, like The Beach Boys’ “Feel Flows,” as well as original songs from Stillwater, the fictional band within the film, such as “Fever Dog,” written by Wilson.
Of all the albums on this list, T Bone Burnett’s bluegrass- and gospel-filled soundtrack for the Coen Brothers’ masterpiece may be the most unlikely hit. It went eight times platinum, while The Soggy Bottom Boys’ “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” became one of the coolest karaoke songs of the decade.
Snatch
Guy Ritchie’s crime caper sported one of the most iconic soundtracks of the 2000s. In fact, some of the songs became so closely identified with the crime genre—such as “Diamond” by Klint and Massive Attack’s “Angel”—that they eventually became clichés.
Moulin Rouge
This was certainly the decade of the jukebox musical, and Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! was among the most iconic. The medleys of pop classics sung by stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor became so popular that both actors ended up cutting singles shortly after release—McGregor with the theme song of his movie Down With Love, and Kidman with a duet alongside Robbie Williams on a cover of “Something Stupid.” Neither had anywhere near the impact of their singing here though, with a highlight being the baroque cover of The Police’s “Roxanne” (“El Tango de Roxanne”). Plus, Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya, and Pink’s “Lady Marmalade” topped the Billboard charts.
Some may object to me listing this soundtrack as the movie barely made a dent in theaters and the album initially sold poorly due to being released by a tiny indie label. Yet as the movie’s cult fame grew so too did album sales. Much of the record is dedicated to Michael Andrews’ score but it also contains the now-iconic cover of “Mad World” by Gary Jules which hit #1 as the UK Christmas single in 2003 (two years after the film’s release) and has since become a standard.
Another ultra-hip soundtrack from Sofia Coppola; this one featured five songs from Kevin Shields (of My Bloody Valentine), plus tracks from Phoenix, Air and The Jesus and Mary Chain. All of them became instantly tied to the imagery of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson (in a star-making part) wandering through a dreamlike Tokyo. When I was in university this was the record that cool kids played at their parties.
Shaun of the Dead
Edgar Wright’s feature directorial debut had one of the hippest soundtracks of the decade packed with retro hits like Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” library cuts like “The Gonk” (from Dawn of the Dead) and remixed Goblin tracks. Plus our leads rap along to “White Lines.” The track that inspired it Liquid Liquid’s “Cavern” also served as the centerpiece of another iconic movie—Spike Lee’s 25th Hour.
Kill Bill: Volume 1
Like Snatch, many of the songs Tarantino included here became overused to the point of cliché. I cringe whenever someone drops Tomoyasu Hotei’s “Battle Without Honour or Humanity,” though that’s hardly QT’s fault (he lifted it from a Japanese film himself). Other iconic tracks from these albums include Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” Bernard Herrmann’s whistled “Twisted Nerve” theme and Santa Esmeralda’s epic cover of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” Volume
Garden State
You can’t write a serious list of best soundtracks from the 2000s without including Zach Braff’s Garden State. It helped push indie rock into mainstream culture went platinum and gave bands like The Shins and Iron & Wine their big break. It also paved the way for TV’s The O.C., which had a similar vibe and helped launch bands like Death Cab for Cutie into stardom.
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová ’s achingly romantic ballad “Falling Slowly” won an Oscar and made them breakout indie stars in the second half of the decade. Nearly a musical John Carney’s masterful film is filled with soul-crushing ballads both movie and soundtrack remain beloved almost twenty years later.
Well that’s my list—though almost all selections come from first half of the decade as thoughtfully crafted soundtracks stopped selling in second half thanks to rise streaming music decline record industry. What other ones do you think belong here? Let us know in comments!
Sarah Parker is a research analyst and content contributor with a strong interest in business strategy, organizational behavior, and social development. With a background in sociology and public policy, she focuses on exploring the intersection between research and real-world application. Sarah regularly contributes articles that bridge academic insights and practical relevance, aiming to foster critical thinking and innovation across sectors.
