2024 Oscars: Best Original Song Predictions

The 96th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 10 and air live on ABC at 7:00 p.m. ET/ 4:00 p.m. PT. We update predictions through awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2024 Oscar picks.

The State of the Race

As expected, the 2024 Oscar nominations for Best Original Song are mostly artists that own an Oscar statuette (honorary Oscars still count!).

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Although “Barbie” had a rougher time elsewhere, it did get its maximum number of nomination slots here, with “Dance the Night” singer Dua Lipa’s loss being a gain for “I’m Just Ken.” Now, the question becomes whether the latter has a chance at the Oscar, or will the longtime frontrunner “What Was I Made For?” ultimately win.

Split votes are never a thing to really count on, the Academy is pretty good at reaching a consensus when a project has multiple nominations within a category, but if there were to be a win akin to H.E.R. receiving a surprise Best Original Song Oscar for her “Judas and the Black Messiah” soundtrack contribution, it’d most likely be Jon Batiste’s “It Never Went Away” from the documentary “American Symphony.” The former “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” bandleader already has an Oscar for his composer work on Pixar’s “Soul,” and his fellow nominee Dan Wilson, best known for his work with Oscar winner Adele, is a name the Music branch likely already reveres.

The Osage Tribe receiving a nomination for “Wahzhazhe (“A Song for My People” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”) may be the biggest surprise, though it does go hand in hand with late composer Robbie Robertson being one of the main contenders in Best Original Score. Meanwhile, Diane Warren once again is the sole nominee for the movie she is up for, though “Flamin’ Hot” has been watched by millions more people than the film she was representing last year (“Tell It Like a Woman”). Her nomination streak continues to impress.

Nominees are listed below in order of the likelihood they will win.

Contenders:
“What Was I Made For?”— Billie Eilish and Finneas (“Barbie”)
“I’m Just Ken”— Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt (“Barbie”)
“It Never Went Away”— Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson (“American Symphony”)
“The Fire Inside”— Diane Warren (“Flamin’ Hot”)
“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” — The Osage Tribe (“Killers of the Flower Moon”)

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