Burt Bacharach
NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
When the 2025 Academy Awards are presented on March 2, Clément Ducol and Camille have a chance to join an exclusive list of composers who have won Oscars for best original song and best original score (or in a predecessor scoring category) on the same night.
Ducol and Camille are nominated for best original score for Emilia Pérez and for best original song for two songs from the film – “Mi Camino” and “El Mal.” (They co-wrote the latter song with Jacques Audiard, the film’s writer, director and co-producer.)
Since the Motion Picture Academy introduced music categories in 1935, one composer (or composing team) has won both awards in one night just 16 times. Remarkably, Alan Menken has achieved this double victory four times. No other composer has done it more than once. Menken co-wrote his Oscar-winning songs from The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast with Howard Ashman. Following Ashman’s death, Menken cowrote his Oscar-winning songs from Aladdin and Pocahontas with Tim Rice and Stephen Schwartz, respectively.
Marvin Hamlisch also deserves special mention. In 1974, he won three Oscars in music categories – best original song for “The Way We Were” (which he co-wrote with Alan and Marilyn Bergman) best original dramatic score for that film, and best adaptation score for The Sting.
Here are all the composers who have won best original song and in a scoring category in the same year. The year shown is the year of the Oscar ceremony. We show the exact name of the score category in which the film won, as those categories have shifted over the years.
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Leigh Harline & Ned Washington (Pinocchio, 1941)
Winning song: “When You Wish Upon a Star”
Score category: Best original score
Notes: Harline and Washington collaborated with Paul J. Smith on the score.
On the charts: Bandleaders Glenn Miller and Guy Lombardo both had big hits with the song in 1940. A doo-wop version by Dion and the Belmonts made the top 30 on the Hot 100 in 1960.
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Dimitri Tiomkin (High Noon, 1953)
Winning Song: “High Noon (“Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin’”) (Ned Washington, lyricist)
Score category: Music score of a dramatic or comedy picture
Notes: These were two of four Oscars for High Noon, which also brought Gary Cooper his second best actor win. When Tiomkin won best original song, his second award of the night, he exclaimed in fractured English, “I feel like a mother of the wonderful twins. ”
On the charts: Frankie Laine and Ted Ritter (father of the late sitcom star John Ritter) both had big hits with the song in 1952.
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Henry Mancini (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1962)
Image Credit: Gene Lester/Getty Images Winning Song: “Moon River” (Johnny Mercer, lyricist)
Score category: Music score of a dramatic or comedy picture
Notes: Audrey Hepburn, who performed this gorgeous ballad in the film, received an Oscar nod for best actress. When “Moon River” won, Mercer capped his brief acceptance speech by saying “Martinis for everybody.”
On the charts: The Breakfast at Tiffany’s soundtrack logged 12 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Mancini’s recording of “Moon River,” which was featured on the soundtrack, and a separate R&B cover version by Jerry Butler, both reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Andy Williams’ definitive cover version was never released as a single. Fans had no choice but to buy his album, Moon River & Other Great Movie Themes.
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Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman (Mary Poppins, 1965)
Winning song: “Chim, Chim Cher-ee”
Score category: Music score — substantially original
Notes: Mary Poppins won five Oscars, including best actress for Julie Andrews.
On the charts: The Mary Poppins soundtrack logged 14 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Dick Van Dyke’s version of “Chim,” featured on the soundtrack, bubbled under the Hot 100 at No. 123. The New Christy Minstrels’ cover version reached No. 81.
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John Barry (Born Free, 1967)
Winning song: “Born Free” (Don Black, lyricist)
Score category: Original music score
Notes: Barry wasn’t present at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, where the Oscars were presented that year, for the biggest night of his career. Oops.
On the charts: The soundtrack reached No. 42 on the Billboard 200. Crooner Matt Monro’s recording of the title song, featured on the soundtrack, bubbled under the Hot 100 at No. 126. Pianist Roger Williams’ instrumental cover version reached No. 7. An R&B cover version by The Hesitations cracked the top 40 in 1968.
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Burt Bacharach (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1970)
Winning song: “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” (Hal David, lyricist)
Score category: Original score — for a motion picture [not a musical]
Notes: Butch Cassidy won four Oscars.When he won the score award, Bacharach said, “It was a knock-out picture to work on.” The win for “Raindrops” followed losses for three other Bacharach-David classics, “What’s New Pussycat,” “Alfie” and “The Look of Love.”
On the charts: The soundtrack reached No. 16 on the Billboard 200. B. J. Thomas’ recording of “Raindrops,” which was featured on the soundtrack, was one of the biggest hits of the era, logging four weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
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Marvin Hamlisch (The Way We Were and The Sting, 1974)
Winning Song: “The Way We Were” (Marilyn & Alan Bergman, lyricists)
Score categories: Original dramatic score (The Way We Were); Original song score and adaptation -or- scoring: adaptation (The Sting)
Notes: Hamlisch is the only composer to win three Oscars in one night. Marilyn Bergman had the best line about that. Accepting the song award, she said, “Marvin, it’s positively obscene how many of these you have.” Accepting the score award for The Way We Were, Hamlisch said, “My piano teacher is thrilled about this, I know. She kept saying, ‘Practice, practice.’”
The Sting won seven Oscars, including best picture. The Way We Were received just these two music Oscars. Barbra Streisand received an Oscar nod for best actress for The Way We Were, but her co-star, Robert Redford was nominated for best actor for The Sting instead.
On the charts: The Sting soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 for five weeks. Hamlisch’s rendition of ragtime composer Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. The Way We Were soundtrack, which included Streisand’s recording of the title track, peaked at No. 20. (It had to compete with her studio album The Way We Were, which reached No. 1.) “The Way We Were” became Streisand’s first No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. A Gladys Knight & the Pips cover version, coupled with “Try to Remember,” reached No. 11 in 1975.
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Michael Gore (Fame, 1981)
Winning song: “Fame” (Dean Pitchford, lyricist)
Score category: Original score
Notes: Fame was the first film in Oscar history to spawn two best original song nominees. “Out Here on My Own,” which Gore co-wrote with his older sister, 1960s hitmaker Lesley Gore, was also nominated. In accepting the song award for “Fame,” Pitchford said: “MGM’s had a history of bringing musicals to the screen and so I’m very grateful to be part of such an exciting musical that kind of feels like the ’80s.”
On the charts: The Fame soundtrack reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200. Irene Cara’s recording of the title song, which was featured on the soundtrack, reached No. 4 on the Hot 100.
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Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, 1990)
Image Credit: John Barr/Liaison/Getty Images Winning song: “Under the Sea” (Howard Ashman, lyricist)
Score category: Original score
Notes: This was Menken’s first film score. The film also spawned a second best original song nominee, “Kiss the Girl.”
Ashman was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in January 1988, but kept it a secret, even from Menken, as Menken related on The AIDS Monument‘s website. “The night we both won our Oscars for Little Mermaid, Howard said he and I needed to have a serious talk, and after we got back to New York, Howard revealed to me that he was sick with AIDS. We had just reached the pinnacle of our careers in both theater and the movie business, and we had worked side-by-side for 11 years, yet my dear friend kept it a secret from everyone he worked with that he had an incurable fatal disease. That’s the kind of fear people lived with back then: fear of rejection, of death, of a fatal illness with no cure, and there was so much stigma and discrimination.”
On the charts: The soundtrack reached No. 32 on the Billboard 200. Samuel E. Wright’s recording of “Under the Sea,” featured on the soundtrack, didn’t crack the Hot 100.
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Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, 1992)
Winning song: “Beauty and the Beast” (Howard Ashman, lyricist)
Score category: Original score
Notes: Beauty and the Beast was the first film to spawn three best original song nominees. “Be Our Guest” and “Belle” were also nominated. It was also the first animated film to receive a best picture nod – and that was back when there were just five nominees in that category. It was also the first major film to include both a cast version and a radio-ready pop version of a song on the official soundtrack.
Ashman had died in March 1991, so this award was presented posthumously. Bill Lauch, his life partner, accepted it for him, saying, “This is the first Academy Award given to someone we’ve lost to AIDS. In working on Beauty and the Beast, Howard faced incredible personal challenges but always gave his best. … There’s an inscription at Howard’s grave in Baltimore. It reads, ‘O, that he had one more song to sing.’ We’ll never hear that song, but I’m deeply grateful for this tribute you’ve given to what he left behind.”
On the charts: The soundtrack reached No. 19 on the Billboard 200. A pop version of the title song by Celine Dion & Peabo Bryson, which was featured on the soundtrack, reached No. 9 on the Hot 100. The soundtrack also featured a version by Angela Lansbury in her role as Mrs. Potts. An Ariana Grande & John Legend cover version of the song for a 2017 live action/animated remake of the film peaked at No. 87. (The original was a hard act to follow.)
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Alan Menken (Aladdin, 1993)
Winning song: “A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme)” (Tim Rice, lyricist)
Score category: Original score
Notes: In accepting the song award, Rice graciously saluted Ashman: “I’m extremely lucky to be standing in his shoes. I know he’d be here today if he were still alive.” The film also spawned a second best original song nominee, “Friend Like Me.”
On the charts: The soundtrack album reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200. Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle’s pop version of “A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme),” featured on the soundtrack, reached No. 1 on the Hot 100. The soundtrack also featured a version of the song by Lea Salonga and Brad Kane, who provided the singing voices of Jasmine and Aladdin, respectively, in the film.
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Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz (Pocahontas, 1996)
Winning song: “Colors of the Wind”
Score category: Original musical or comedy score
Notes: Menken and Schwartz shared both awards. In his acceptance speech, Schwartz said: “I want to acknowledge my personal debt to the Native American poets and wisdom keepers who inspired my work on this project, most particularly in the case of this song, Chief Seattle.”
On the charts: The soundtrack album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for one week. Vanessa Williams’ pop cover version of “Colors of the Wind,” featured on the soundtrack, reached No. 4 on the Hot 100. The soundtrack also included a version by Judy Kuhn, who provided the singing voice of Pocahontas in the film.
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James Horner (Titanic, 1998)
Image Credit: Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images Winning song: “My Heart Will Go On” (Will Jennings, lyricist)
Score category: Original dramatic score
Notes: In accepting the score award, Horner said, “I’m sort of speechless. One wants this to happen, of course, but I’ve been so close quite a few times but never actually won.” In accepting the song award,he thanked Celine Dion and her husband René Angélil and also Titanic director James Cameron, who initially was dead-set against having a pop song in his disaster epic. “I want to thank, first of all, René and Celine for a marvelous, brilliant job. Thank you so much. I cannot thank you enough. Jim Cameron, thank you for being in a good mood that day when I brought you the song.”
On the charts: The soundtrack album, which featured Dion’s version of “My Heart Will Go On,” topped the Billboard 200 for 16 consecutive weeks. Dion’s single topped the Hot 100 for two weeks. The megahit was also featured on her Let’s Talk About Love album, which also topped the Billboard 200.
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Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2004)
Winning song: “Into the West” (Fran Walsh, Annie Lennox, lyricists)
Score category: Original score
Notes: The film won 11 Oscars, which tied Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most wins by any film in Oscar history.
On the charts: The soundtrack album peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard 200. Annie Lennox’s recording of “Into the West” didn’t even bubble under the Hot 100.
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A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire, 2009)
Winning song: “Jai Ho” (Gulzar, lyricist)
Score category: Original score
Notes: Rahman began his speech for best original score by saying, “Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage.” Gulzar was 74 at the time, making him the oldest winner of best original song to date. He wasn’t there to accept on his big night. The film also spawned a second best original song nominee, “O Saya.”
On the charts: The soundtrack reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The soundtrack featured a version of “Jai Ho” by Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalakshmi Iyer and Vijay Prakash. A pop version by A.R. Rahman & the Pussycat Dolls, titled “Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny),” reached No. 15 on the Hot 100.
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Justin Hurwitz (La La Land, 2017)
Image Credit: Dan MacMedan/GI Winning song: “City of Stars” (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, lyricists)
Score category: Original score
Notes: The film won six Oscars, including best director for Damien Chazelle and best actress for Emma Stone. Chazelle was just 32 at the time, making him the youngest winner for best director in Oscar history. In accepting the award, Chazelle thanked Hurwitz. “And I want to thank Justin, who I’ve known since we were both 17, 18, I think. Justin, thank you for riding with me on this and carrying this dream forward and for never giving up.” The film also spawned a second best original song nominee, “Audition (The Fools Who Dream).”
On the charts: The soundtrack album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone’s recording of “City of Stars” bubbled under the Hot 100 at No. 108.