Grammy film-song race narrows as 149 entries chase a handful of slots
149 songs are chasing five or six places on the Grammy ballot for best song written for visual media.
The nominations for the 69th annual Grammy Awards are set to be announced on Nov. 16, according to Billboard. That leaves a crowded entry list to be cut down to a short final ballot in the next month.
The category is a songwriter's award. It honours the writers of a song, melody and lyrics, created specifically for film, television, video games and other visual media, as defined by the Recording Academy.
Taylor Swift is back in the frame. She co-wrote "I Knew It, I Knew You" for Toy Story 5 with Jack Antonoff. Swift has form here. She won the category in 2013 for "Safe & Sound," written with T Bone Burnett and The Civil Wars for The Hunger Games.
Toy Story has form too. Randy Newman's "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2 won the same award in 2001.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 has two separate entries. Lady Gaga and Doechii co-wrote "Runway" with Dernst "D Mile" Emile II, Jayda Love, Bruno Mars, Cirkut and Andrew Watt. Sienna Spiro co-wrote "Material Lover" for the same film with Omer Fedi and Michael Pollack.
Gaga is a past winner in this category twice over. She took the award in 2019 for co-writing "Shallow" and in 2020 for "I'll Never Love Again," both from A Star Is Born.
Ludwig Göransson is also in contention again. He had two songs nominated at the ceremony earlier this year, "I Lied to You" and "Pale, Pale Moon," both from Sinners. This time he co-wrote "When I'm Home" from The Odyssey with James Blake, Travis Scott and the film's director, Christopher Nolan.
The film link is strong. The Odyssey is the second-highest grossing film of 2026, behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Lin-Manuel Miranda returns with "Along the Way" from Moana, co-written with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina. Miranda has won this Grammy twice before, for "How Far I'll Go" from Moana and "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Encanto.
Diane Warren has entered again. Her song "By Any Means," from the film of the same name and performed by the Isley Brothers and David Kushner, extends a long run. Warren holds the record with 11 nominations in this category. Her only win to date is for "Because You Loved Me" from Up Close & Personal.
Two songs that were nominated for best original song at the Oscar ceremony earlier this year are also on the Grammy entry list. They are "Train Dreams" by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner, from the film of the same name, and "Sweet Dreams of Joy" by Nicholas Pike from Viva Verdi!
Wicked: For Good brings two more entries. Stephen Schwartz wrote "The Girl in the Bubble," performed in the film by Ariana Grande, and "No Place Like Home," performed by Cynthia Erivo. Both songs were shortlisted for Oscar nominations but were not nominated.
What makes this stand out is the squeeze. With 149 entries organised into so few nomination slots, past wins count for little on paper. The voters' shortlist on Nov. 16 will show which films and shows carried their songs with them.
