List Rules Movies on this list must be about music, not just have good music in them.
The films on this list of the best movies about music have been ranked as the best. This list features the best music movies and is compiled from the most popular titles on the subject of music, including both feature films about bands and musicians as well as music documentaries. What are the best films about music? Which music films are the greatest? These films are about the greatest rock bands and musicians, whether fictional or real, and surely have some of the best film soundtracks as well.
This list includes titles that have been top box office hits and many of the films featured on this list have are award winners as well. Some of the these films about musicians and music feature (or are based on) true events, while others are completely fictional in nature. A variety of genres are also covered, including drama, comedy, documentary, and romance.
The top music movies on this list feature many famous film stars and include films like Walk the Line, Ray, Dazed and Confused, Woodstock, The Doors, American Hardcore, Singles, Almost Famous, and The Blues Brothers. Vote up the best movies about music below or add a film that you think is great but isn't already on the list.
PaulCollins added Saturday Night FeverJohn Travolta, Fran Drescher, Denny Dillon
Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 American drama film directed by John Badham. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a working-class young man who spends his weekends dancing and drinking at a ...more
Purple Rain is a 1984 American rock musical drama film directed by Albert Magnoli and written by Magnoli and William Blinn. In it, Prince makes his film debut, which was developed to showcase ...more
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 Australian–American pastiche-jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It tells the story of a young English poet/writer, Christian, who ...more
jobas a added DeparturesRyoko Hirosue, Masahiro Motoki, Kimiko Yo
Departures is a 2008 Japanese drama film directed by Yōjirō Takita and starring Masahiro Motoki, Ryōko Hirosue, and Tsutomu Yamazaki. Loosely based on Coffinman, a memoir by Shinmon Aoki, the ...more
jobas a added VitusBruno Ganz, Teo Gheorghiu, Urs Jucker
Vitus is a drama film written and directed by Fredi M. Murer. It was released on February 2, 2006, in Switzerland. It stars real-life piano prodigy Teo Gheorghiu, Bruno Ganz, Julika Jenkins, and ...more
Eddie and the Cruisers is a 1983 American film directed by Martin Davidson with the screenplay written by the director and Arlene Davidson, based on the novel by P.F. Kluge. It was marketed with ...more
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Riot18 added Sid and NancyCourtney Love, Gary Oldman, Kathy Burke
Sid and Nancy is a 1986 British biopic directed by Alex Cox. The film portrays the life of Sid Vicious, and his relationship with girlfriend Nancy Spungen. Despite failing to recoup its ...more
but chickens double d added FlashdanceJennifer Beals, Lee Ving, Michael Nouri
Flashdance is a 1983 American romantic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne. It was the first collaboration of producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and the presentation of some sequences in ...more
WoodstockJimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Pete Townshend
Woodstock is a 1970 American documentary of the watershed counterculture Woodstock Festival that took place in August 1969 at Bethel in New York. Entertainment Weekly called this film the ...more
Green BookViggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini
Green Book is a 2018 comedy-drama film directed by Peter Farrelly. A bouncer (Viggo Mortensen) at a New York nightclub takes a job as a pianist's (Mahershala Ali) chauffeur during a tour in the ...more
Countermoon added Help!Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison
Help! is a 1965 film directed by Richard Lester, starring the Beatles–John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John ...more
Jilla is a 2014 Tamil action-masala film written and directed by R. T. Neason. It stars Mohanlal, Vijay and Kajal Aggarwal. The film, produced by R. B. Choudary, will have music composed by D. ...more
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Riot18 added A Mighty WindJane Lynch, Jennifer Coolidge, Parker Posey
A Mighty Wind is a 2003 American mockumentary comedy-drama film about a folk music reunion concert in which three folk bands reunite for a television performance for the first time in decades. ...more
The Phantom of the Opera is a 2004 British film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical of the same name, which in turn is based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra ...more
NickMerchant added OnceGlen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Darren Healy
Once is a 2007 Irish musical film written and directed by John Carney. Set in Dublin, Ireland, the naturalistic drama stars musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. ...more
AndyRoberts added Detroit Rock CityEmmanuelle Chriqui, Edward Furlong, Gene Simmons
Detroit Rock City is a 1999 American comedy film directed by Adam Rifkin and written by Carl V. Dupré. It tells of four teenage boys in a KISS cover band who try to see their idols in ...more
August RushRobin Williams, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
August Rush is a 2007 drama film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and written by Nick Castle, James V. Hart, and Paul Castro, and produced by Richard Barton Lewis. Deciding to run away to New York ...more
charlesminorversion1 added HairsprayDebbie Harry, Jerry Stiller, John Waters
Hairspray is a 1988 American romantic musical comedy film written and directed by John Waters, and starring Ricki Lake, Divine, Debbie Harry, Sonny Bono, Jerry Stiller, Leslie Ann Powers, ...more
looksharp added The CommitmentsAndrea Corr, Colm Meaney, Maria Doyle Kennedy
The Commitments is a 1991 comedy-drama film directed by Alan Parker. A film adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel of the same name, the film tells a story of working class Dubliners who form a soul ...more
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jbeuscher01 added DrumlineZoe Saldana, Nick Cannon, Orlando Jones
Drumline is a 2002 American drama film directed by Charles Stone III. The screenplay, a fictional story about a historically black college and university marching band, was written by Tina ...more
LanaYoshii added FameDebbie Allen, Irene Cara, Meg Tilly
Fame is a 1980 American musical film conceived and produced by David De Silva and directed by Alan Parker. Its screenplay is by Christopher Gore, its choreography by Louis Falco and musical ...more
The Last Waltz was a concert by the Canadian rock group the Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The Last Waltz was advertised as ...more
lostshadow added CrossroadsSteve Vai, Jami Gertz, Ralph Macchio
Crossroads is a 1986 musical dramatic feature film inspired by the legend of blues musician Robert Johnson. Starring Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca and Jami Gertz, the film was written by John Fusco ...more
looksharp added The Legend of 1900Tim Roth, Bill Nunn, Pruitt Taylor Vince
The Legend of 1900 is a 1998 Italian drama film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and starring Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Mélanie Thierry. It was Tornatore's first English-language ...more
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is a 1993 American comedy film loosely based on the life of Crenshaw High School choir instructor Iris Stevenson, and starring Whoopi Goldberg. Directed by Bill ...more
