The Lord of the Rings soundtrack voted top film music on Classic FM

Howard Shore’s score to The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the most popular film music, according to the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame 2023.

The top 100 pieces of film music were played on the station across today, with the new number one revealed by Jonathan Ross just before 7pm.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy premiered in 2001 and the film series has had worldwide success, becoming one of the highest grossing film series ever and winning a total of 17 Academy Awards. More recently, it has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity with the launch of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series, after season one was released last year.

Howard Shore’s score beat Schindler’s List, written by John Williams, which was voted the top piece in the previous chart. John Williams is again the nation’s favourite composer of film music, with five entries in the top 20 alone, including Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Composer Howard Shore commented on the news: “Many thanks to all the Classic FM listeners. I’m very happy that I was able to bring you a little closer to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle earth.”

Other popular film composers include Hans Zimmer and John Barry. Zimmer composed the scores for Gladiator (number 5) and Interstellar (number 17), while Barry wrote Out of Africa (number 4) and Dances with Wolves (number 7).

Jonathan Ross said: said: “I’m so thrilled to see The Lord of the Rings make it to number one in this incredible celebration of history’s greatest film scores, in the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame.

“J.R.R. Tolkien’s adventures are beautiful, spectacular films, but the experience is so enhanced by the incredible score that I’m delighted to see Howard Shore’s music getting this much love.”

More than 10,000 votes were cast by listeners and the full Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame is available to view or to listen to on catch-up on Global Player.