Returning to the planet Arakis, the sands of The Wasteland, or the emotional booth of Riley brought brand new and stellar soundtracks to pair to new worlds with a film about snails and one about the drive of tennis. A mixture of styles, musical themes and the kind of original soundtracks that can either pump you up, remind you of the film’s best scenes or bring a tear to your thinking of the sad moments.

Here are our picks for the Top 5 Original Movie Soundtracks of 2024.

5.) Memoir of A Snail (Elena Kats-Chernin)

The original music for Memoir of a Snail, written by Elena Kats-Chernin and performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, is a beautiful soundtrack paired with the funny and sad Australian film. The soundtrack matches the film’s tone as the opening track ‘Memoir of a Snail’ envelops you with a sense of wonder before you have director Adam Elliot just yelling, “The potatoes!” through your speakers.

— Dylan Blight

4.) Inside Out 2 (Andrea Datzman)

Pixar has a great track record with their film scores and Inside Out 2 is no exception. With Andrea Datzman’s feature debut score after working with Pixar on various projects, it feels like a more grown-up version of of the original Inside Out soundtrack.

— Ashley Hobley

3.) Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Tom Holkenborg)

Epic action sequences like those in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga require an awesome score to accompany it, something that returning composer Tom Holkenborg provides. Not quite the epic rock opera that was the score to Mad Max: Fury Road, this feels like the raw, primitive version of that one, perhaps fitting for a prequel film. Still a great listen in its own right and it successfully raises the hype and intensity of those crazy action set pieces.

— Ashley Hobley

2.) Dune: Part Two (Hans Zimmer)

Following on from his Academy Award-winning score of the first film, Hans Zimmer returns to score Dune: Part Two, which continues to deliver bass-delivered Harkonnens bangers and electric-driven Fremen tracks. To say it’s more of the same here would usually be read as a negative, but this is more of the greatness heard in Dune the first time.

1.) Challengers (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)

The synth-pop and techno tunes within Challengers’ original score are the driving beats behind all of the key scenes in the film. The soundtrack can be used perfectly to drive you on workouts or complete your tasks during the day at a better tempo. There’s even the song ‘Compress / Repress’ on this soundtrack where Reznor lends vocals, which is a rarity for him, especially given that he lends his vocals something very much, not NIN.

— Dylan Blight

Check out the rest of our Best of 2024 coverage over here now!