The 15 Worst Oscar-Winning Songs of All Time

For every time the Oscars gets something so very right (i.e. Parasite winning best picture in 2019), the Academy Awards can also get other things so very wrong (remember when Crash triumphed over Brokeback Mountain or how they were so transparently skewed they generated the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite?).

The best original song category is no stranger to some regrettable follies. After all, this is a category that has nominated living legend Diane Warren 14 times and sent her home empty handed every single time. (“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” “Because You Loved Me,” and “‘Til It Happens To You” sure seemed like locks at the time, and then, nadda.) It’s also the same category that controversially nominated a track from an obscure Christian flick back in 2014, only to have to revoke it later.

Of course, some of the most egregious Oscar moments have come from giving an Academy Award to confounding song selections. From forgettable Disney ditties to treacly disaster flick ballads (the only thing worse than perishing in The Towering Inferno or The Poseidon Adventure was the music accompanying them), there have been more than a few times when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) showed that they can be utterly tone deaf. (Apologies in advance to talented icons Phil Collins, Barbra Streisand, Elton John and repeat offender Randy Newman.)

In no particular order, these are one critic’s picks for the 15 worst Oscar-winning songs of all-time. Hey, you can’t get them all right.