20 of the best movies soundtracks of all time

Zach Braff wore a lot of hats during the making of "Garden State," including actor, writer, director, and compilation producer. In a 2004 interview with IGN, Braff said that he personally chose the rock, folk, indie, and pop songs to match the vibe of the rom-com. 

"Essentially, I made a mix CD with all of the music that I felt was scoring my life at the time I was writing the screenplay," he said.

With tracks by bands like Coldplay, The Shins, Iron & Wine, and Simon & Garfunkel, the album became an instant classic and won a Grammy over Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill Vol 2" and the "Shrek 2" soundtrack.

Disney has enough classics to fill its own soundtrack list, but when you're talking iconic compilations, you have to kneel before the King.

"The Lion King" soundtrack starts with all the familiar musical numbers from "Circle of Life" to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," then it flows into four score tracks by Hans Zimmer before ending with three renditions by Elton John. 

As of 2014, it was the best-selling soundtrack of all time for an animated feature with over 7.8 million copies sold.

If you are a child of the '90s, odds are you owned "Space Jam" on VHS and had the soundtrack on CD, cassette tape, or both. The theme song by Quad City DJs is still played at parties and sporting events over two decades later.

The soundtrack also includes appearances by Monica, Seal, Coolio, LL Cool J, Method Man, Salt-N-Pepa, Barry White & Chris Rock, and a rapping Bugs Bunny with rhymes courtesy of Jay-Z.

Thanks to DreamWorks, Smash Mouth will forever be associated with ogres, talking donkeys, and computer-animated fairy tales.

The soundtrack for the 2001 film featured the band's hit single "All Star" as well as their cover of the Neil Diamond tune, "I'm a Believer." There was also a second cover of the song performed by Eddie Murphy, a cover of "Hallelujah" by Rufus Wainwright, and songs by Baha Men, Leslie Carter, and The Proclaimers.

The album was nominated for a BAFTA Award for best film music and a Grammy Award for best compilation soundtrack album for a motion picture, television or other visual media.

Walk into almost any record store and you'll find a copy of "The Big Chill" in their soundtrack section. The mix of rhythm and blues, soul, and a smidge of classic rock has become a time capsule that captures the real vibes of the 1960s and 1970s without feeling like a cheesy infomercial.

"The Harder They Come" was by no means a global smash when it was released in 1972 (1973 in the US). According to The Los Angeles Times, however, it does have the distinction of being the film that "brought reggae to the world." 

The legendary Jimmy Cliff starred in the film and provided half of the songs on the soundtrack. He was joined by other major stars of the musical genre including The Maytals, Desmond Dekker, and The Slickers.

Prince's semi-autobiographical film "Purple Rain" came equipped with an album that, thanks to songs like "Darling Nikki," "When Doves Cry," and the titular "Purple Rain," has sold over 20 million copies to date. 

It also won Prince his first three Grammys and sent him to the top of the charts. According to the Recording Academy, it is the third-best-selling movie soundtrack in history.

What "The Harder They Come" did for reggae in the '70s is arguably what "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" did for bluegrass and American folk music in the early aughts. 

Most of the tracks are modern recordings of period-accurate songs that effectively transported viewers back to the Great Depression.

The soundtrack won best album of the year and single of the year for "I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow" at the CMAs. It also took home three Grammys, including album of the year in 2002. It has been certified octuple platinum by the RIAA and was also included on NPR's list of "The Decade's 50 Most Important Recordings."

One of the first films in hip-hop history, "Krush Groove" has a soundtrack that is packed with legends. Run DMC, Sheila E, The Fat Boys, Debbie Harry, LL Cool J, Kurtis Blow, and the Beastie Boys offer up pre- and early-Def Jam tunes that help tell the story of the record label, which was instrumental in shaping and sharing the new genre. 

With tracks like "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Holly Rock," Krush Groove puts together a collection of tracks that capture the culture of New York City around 1984.

For some truly iconic soundtracks, it is virtually impossible to separate songs and their performers from the films they were used in. For generations of movie-goers, Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone," Berlin's "Take My Breath Away," and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by The Righteous Brothers are intrinsically linked with "Top Gun" and its high-flying bromance. 

Berlin won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for best original song in 1986. The soundtrack has sold over 10 million copies to date.

When Whitney Houston is the star of your film, of course, you let her co-executive produce the soundtrack and fill it with her music. Not only does the album feature "I Will Always Love You," "I Have Nothing," and "I'm Every Woman," but they're the first three songs on the tracklist. 

The project was an instant smash, selling a record 831,000 copies in its first week and going on to be certified 18-times platinum by the RIAA.

Just as the title character takes viewers on a visual journey through the decades of his life, the soundtrack for "Forrest Gump" takes audiences on an aural journey through the popular music of the times. 

Marketed as "32 American Classics on 2 CDs," the soundtrack begins in the '50s with Elvis Presley and progresses to Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band in the '80s. Wilson Pickett, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, The Doors, The Supremes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Fleetwood Mac, and several others are included on the double album, which is certified 12-times platinum with over 6 million units sold.

The tracklist for the "Waiting to Exhale" soundtrack is a who's who of '90s R&B. Babyface wrote and produced the entire album, with the exception of one song, and wrangled an array of vocal powerhouses: Whitney Houston, Patti Labelle, Faith Evans, Mary J. Blige, TLC, Toni Braxton, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Brandy, Sonja Marie, For Real, and Shanna.

The album sold 177,284 copies in its first week and spent several weeks near the top of the Billboard Top R&B Albums and Billboard 200 charts. It was also nominated for 11 Grammys.

Some may argue that "Black Panther" is too new to already have an iconic soundtrack, which is fair. However, the collaboration between director Ryan Coogler, composer Ludwig Göransson, and Nobel Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar piqued audience interest when it was announced, so the passage of time is only relevant in regards to how it ages. 

Critics initially praised the album for its newness and "boundless soundscapes," and predicted that it would be remembered as one of the best of Kendrick Lamar's career, which is very high praise.

For angsty teens and pre-teens everywhere, "The Crow" soundtrack struck a nerve in 1994. 

Bands like The Cure, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Violent Femmes, Panthera, and Nine Inch Nails checked all the grungy, metal, dark, shoegaze-y, goth boxes that they needed to be checked in order to reach the kids wearing all-black who really connected with the big-screen adaptation of James O'Barr's superhero comic.

Incorporating a playlist into a film and calling it "Awesome Mix Vol 1" only makes sense if the songs you choose are undeniably great. Fans of "Guardians of the Galaxy" were elated when the classic mixtape featuring Blue Swede, The Jackson 5, David Bowie, and The Runaways received an official release during the summer of 2014. 

The success of the film correlated to the success of the soundtrack, which stayed on the charts for 16 weeks and was the second-best-selling soundtrack of the year (No. 5 overall) behind Disney's "Frozen." According to The Wrap, it was the first soundtrack in history to reach No. 1 without a new song.

The film is the ultimate depiction of the disco era, so naturally, the soundtrack had to be just as lively, flared, and covered in sequins. The BeeGees carried much of the load with energetic bops like "Stayin' Alive," "Night Fever," and "More Than A Woman." 

They were assisted by KC and the Sunshine Band, MFSB, David Shire, and Kool & the Gang. The soundtrack won the coveted Grammy for album of the year in 1979. Decades later, in 2012, it was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for preservation.

John Hughes' beloved teen drama was named after a 1981 single by the Psychedelic Furs. A rerecorded version of the song appears on the soundtrack, which also includes legends like New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Smiths.

"If You Leave" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, which was written and recorded at Hughes' request, became a massive hit after it was featured in the final prom scene. It peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped cement "Pretty in Pink" as a zeitgeist-defining film.

The "Twilight" saga is known for many things: sexy vampires, sexier werewolves, and a gripping game of baseball, to name a few. Improbably, it has also become known as a cult-classic franchise with indie-sleaze sensibilities.

One of the key elements that elevates "Twilight" is the collection of emo-era icons and rock bands that united to create its dark, moody soundscape. The second installment, "New Moon," boasts a particularly memorable lineup: Death Cab for Cutie, Thom Yorke, The Killers, Bon Iver, St. Vincent, OK Go, and Grizzly Bear, among others. 

Of course, the soundtrack's crown jewel is Lykke Li's original song "Possibility," which swirls around Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) as she sinks into a pit of depression.

Although "Waves" is not the best-known A24 film, it has been hailed as an "emotional typhoon" and "a domestic melodrama in an anguished key."

Indeed, the songs that echo the ebbs and flows of these characters are just as important as the decisions they actually make, if not more so. A24 itself has described the movie as "practically a musical."

The "Waves" soundtrack doubles as a modern teenager's playlist, featuring some of the biggest artists working today — many of whom are difficult to convince and expensive to hire, especially for an indie budget.

According to Trey Edward Shults, who directed and produced the film, it took a great deal of coordination, orchestration, and blind hope to put together the soundtrack of his dreams. But he was determined; he had written songs like Kendrick Lamar's "Backstreet Freestyle" and Kanye West's "I Am A God" into the script itself. He even managed to convince Frank Ocean, famously elusive, to clear the use of several songs at a reduced rate.

"I don't know what we would have done without Frank Ocean," music supervisor Randall Poster told the New York Times. "When we were able to get to get those songs, I think we breathed a huge sigh of relief: 'O.K., we have really the emotional spine that we've been looking for.'"