“Streets of Philadelphia” Ranked the Greatest Oscar-Winning Song of All Time
“Streets of Philadelphia” Ranked the Greatest Oscar-Winning Song of All Time
Nicole MooreMon, May 4, 2026 at 1:10 AM UTC
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When a track snags an Academy Award for Best Original Song, it's usually because it's something special. For that reason, it can be difficult to narrow down the very best Academy Award-winning song. However, the publication Paste managed to do just that and release a ranking of the 15 "greatest best original song Oscar winners."
The list, published in March 2026, featured Oscar-winning numbers like "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dionfrom Titanic (1997), "Moon River" featured in 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Barbra Streisand's “The Way We Were” from the 1973 film of the same name, and The Wizard of Oz classic “Over the Rainbow." Bruce Springsteen's song “Streets of Philadelphia,” written for the 1993 film Philadelphia, took home the list's top spot.
The song received the big award at the 1994 Academy Awards. The other Best Original Song nominees for that year were "Again" by Janet Jackson, James Harris III, and Terry Lewis from Poetic Justice, James Ingram and Dolly Parton's "The Day I Fall in Love" from Beethoven 2, Sleepless in Seattle's "A Wink and a Smile" by Harry Connick Jr., and "Philadelphia" by Neil Young, also from Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.
When Springsteen accepted his award at the 1994 Oscars, he told the crowd that "this is the first song [he] ever wrote for a motion picture."
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"So I guess it's all downhill from here," quipped the "Born to Run" singer.
Springsteen continued his speech by sharing that he was pleased his song was appreciated by fans of the Jonathan Demme-directed film, which focuses on the discrimination of individuals with AIDS, specifically a lawyer named Andrew Beckett (Hanks).
"You do your best work and you hope that it pulls out the best in your audience, that some piece of it spills over into the real world and into people's everyday lives and it takes the edge off the fear and allows us to recognize each other through our veil of differences. I always thought that was one of the things popular art was supposed to be about, along with the merchandising and all the other stuff," said Springsteen.
He also said that he wanted to share the award with Young and thanked Demme for inviting him to write the song for Philadelphia.
This story was originally published by Parade on May 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
