Music often becomes synonymous with the plot and deeper meaning of a film or TV show, as well as evoking emotions for the viewer. Alongside this, according to research by Music Perception, soundtracks even help us to better remember a film or TV show for a long time after viewing.
With this in mind, experts at americancasinoguide.com decided to find out which songs from popular TV shows and movies have earnt artists the most in royalties. To do this, experts created a seed list of the TV shows and films with original soundtracks and singles, then used musicgateway.com to determine the number of royalties earned from YouTube and Spotify.
Please see full data here.
Top 10 original soundtracks that have earned the most
Rank
Artist
Song
Name of Film/TV show
£ Estimated royalty earnings- YouTube
£ Estimated royalty earning- Spotify
£ Total estimated royalties earned
#1
Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth
See You Again
Fast and Furious 7
£8,729,000
£5,312,144
£14,041,144
#2
Post Malone, Swae Lee
Sunflowers
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
£3,010,000
£8,867,542
£11,877,542
#3
Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper
Shallow
A Star Is Born
£2,107,000
£7,021,639
£9,128,639
#4
Eminem
Lose Yourself
8 Mile
£4,816
£5,804,090
£5,808,906
#5
Kendrick Lamar, Sza
All The Stars
Black Panther
£594,475
£4,144,532
£4,739,007
#6
Survivor
Eye Of The Tiger
Rocky III
£1,307,845
£3,426,183
£4,734,028
#7
Eminem
Venom
Venom
£1,143,800
£2,193,058
£3,336,858
#8
Bees Gees
Stayin’ Alive
Saturday Night Fever
£436,450
£2,706,719
£3,143,169
#9
Billie Eilish
Bored
13 Reasons Why
£684,775
£1,701,697
£2,386,472
#10
Miley Cyrus
The Climb
Hannah Montana Movie
£793,135
£1,248,131
£2,041,266
Americancasinoguide.com can exclusively reveal that Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s sentimental song, “See You Again” has earned the artists the most in Spotify and YouTube streams (an estimated total of £14,041,144). Puth composed the song for the Fast and Furious 7 film to commemorate the death of the lead actor, Paul Walker, shortly after filming had ended. The song has a mixture of themes including: loss, friendship, goodbyes. With an estimated £5,312,144 Spotify streams and 5,800,000,000 YouTube views, it is clear that the song had a big impact on many people. This comes as Fast X is set to be released on April 8th.
Following on, in second position is Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflowers”, an upbeat melodic song that was composed for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and earned an estimated £11,877,542 in royalties for YouTube and Spotify streams. Perfect for the comic book based teenage film that it was written for, the sweet pop song garnered an astounding 2,577,773,745 Spotify streams as well as 2,000,000,000 YouTube views.
In third position is Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s romantic ballad “Shallow” performed for the 2018 musical A Star Is Born. Not only was it a success in the box office, but it also earned the stars an estimated £9,128,639 in total royalties across YouTube and Spotify. The smash hit achieved approximately 2,041,174,193 Spotify streams and 1,400,000,000 YouTube streams.
Eminem’s iconic track “Lose Yourself“, released for the 2002 film 8 Mile has achieved critical acclaim and continues to be among many of his fans’ favorites. Achieving an estimated total of £5,808,906 royalties across YouTube and Spotify, the lyrics explicitly characterize the experiences of Eminem’s character B-Rabbit. The song continues to be streamed and viewed on YouTube, with the number of Spotify and YouTube streams currently sitting at 1,687,235,434 and 3,200,000 respectively.
Rounding up the top 5 is “All The Stars” by Kendrick Lamar and Sza, written and performed for the Marvel film Black Panther. Not only has the song earned nearly £5 million in royalties, it has also continued to grow in popularity as Spotify streams and YouTube views are estimated to sit at 1,204,805,758 and 395,000,000 respectively.
Following on is “Eye Of The Tiger” (£4,734,028 estimated total royalties), “Venom” (£3,336,858), “Stayin’ Alive” (£3,143,169), “Bored” (£2,386,472) and “The Climb” (£2,041,266).
