The nominees for the 2024 Academy Awards were unveiled last month and despite a few surprise nominations and snubs, the night will be one to watch.
One notable surprise was "Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)" being nominated for Best Original Song, which very few predicted. The likes of “I’m Just Ken'' to "The Fire Inside'' inspired the experts at BestBettingSites.com to predict which 2024 nominee for Best Original Song is likely to win by analysing factors such as Spotify streams, royalties and search volumes.
They also took a deep dive into the winners of the category over the last decade, and you’ll be surprised at what they found…
Key Findings:
- The 2024 Best Original Song nominee that has made the most in royalties is Billie Eilish and Finneas’s “What Was I Made For?” - making $2.5m in less than a year!
- Over the past 10 years, Billie Eilish and Finneas’s track "No Time to Die'' from the 2021 James Bond installment has the most global search volumes from the year it was nominated (2022) at 6.4m.
- Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's “Shallow” from ‘A Star is Born’ made an estimated $9.3m in royalties, equivalent to 25.88% of the film's budget.
Best Original Song nominees with the most search vols in 2024
|
# |
Film |
Song |
Global Search Vol in 2024 |
Streams |
Royalties: $ |
|
1st |
Barbie |
"What Was I Made For?" |
133,500 |
633,904,669 |
$2,535,619 |
|
2nd |
Barbie |
"I'm Just Ken" |
112,200 |
105,403,327 |
$421,613 |
|
3rd |
Flamin Hot |
"The Fire Inside" |
2,000 |
1,189,531 |
$4,758 |
|
4th |
American Symphony |
"It Never Went Away" |
160 |
689,087 |
$2,756 |
|
5th |
Killers Of The Flower Moon |
"Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)" |
900 |
79,449 |
$318 |
Billie Eilish and Finneas’s ‘Barbie’ track “What Was I Made For?” ranks the highest for the song that made the most in royalties - with over 633 million streams, the song is estimated to have made $2.5m in royalties so far. Interestingly, with the ‘Barbie’ film budget reported to have been around $145 million, “What Was I Made For?” has already made back 1.75% of the film’s cost to produce.
Winners over the past decade
Keen to take a deep dive into the winners of the past decade, BestBettingSites.com were able to uncover the winning song with the most search volumes in the year they won, which track has the most Spotify streams and royalties, and which song has almost made up their film budget in royalties so far…
Most Successful Best Original Song Winners of the Past 10 Years
|
# |
Year |
Film |
Song |
Global Search Vol From Their Winning Year |
Streams |
Royalties: $ |
|
1st |
2018 |
A Star Is Born |
"Shallow" |
385,000 |
2,328,841,916 |
$9,315,368 |
|
2nd |
2022 |
No Time to Die |
"No Time to Die" |
6,400,000 |
577,119,609 |
$2,308,478 |
|
3rd |
2015 |
Spectre |
"Writing's on the Wall" |
34,100 |
255,304,815 |
$1,021,219 |
|
4th |
2016 |
La La Land |
"City of Stars" |
82,600 |
119,042,560 |
$476,170 |
|
5th |
2017 |
Coco |
"Remember Me" |
575,300 |
108,442,569 |
$433,770 |
|
6th |
2023 |
RRR |
"Naatu Naatu" |
57,600 |
70,355,475 |
$281,422 |
|
7th |
2014 |
Selma |
"Glory" |
93,200 |
59,199,263 |
$236,797 |
|
8th |
2019 |
Rocketman |
"(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" |
5,100 |
27,827,062 |
$111,308 |
|
9th |
2020/21 |
Judas and the Black Messiah |
"Fight for You" |
4,700 |
14,149,130 |
$56,597 |
The 2018 hit “Shallow”, performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in ‘A Star Is Born’ has made the most in royalties over the years. With more than 2 billion streams, the royalties have racked up to $9.3m.
Top 3 Best Original Song Winners That Have Made The Most Of Their Film Budget
|
# |
Year |
Film |
Song |
Royalties: $ |
Reported Budget (USD) |
% of Budget |
|
1st |
2018 |
A Star Is Born |
"Shallow" |
$9,315,368 |
$36,000,000 |
25.88% |
|
2nd |
2016 |
La La Land |
"City of Stars" |
$476,170 |
$30,000,000 |
1.59% |
|
3rd |
2014 |
Selma |
"Glory" |
$236,797 |
$20,000,000 |
1.18% |
“Shallow” from ‘A Star Is Born’ tops the table for not only the most streams, but also for making the most of the film’s budget in royalties - with reports suggesting ‘A Star Is Born’ had a budget of $36m, “Shallow” has made the equivalent of 25.88% of the film’s budget, higher than any other film analysed.
