What makes a great theme? Is it the use of a grand orchestra? A chilling synthesizer? Or perhaps an awesome guitar solo from a rock band? It all comes down to how it makes the audience feel, whether that’s making them smile, laugh, excited or terrified, overall you want to make them excited for what’s coming next.
We’ve put together the list of our favorite twenty Netflix Original theme songs. Out of the hundreds of titles to be enjoyed, this was no mean feat but we feel that those listed below you’re going to absolutely love.
Here are the top twenty theme songs on Netflix:
20. Kengan Ashura
Theme: King & Ashley “First Performed By”
Theme By: My First Story
If you’re going to have a kick-ass series, you need a killer kick-ass theme song, and the track King & Ashley is an awesome choice. Performed by the Japanese rock band, My First Story, it gets you all kinds of pumped up to watch some epic fights scenes and a killer anime.
19. The Last Kingdom
Theme: The Last Kingdom (Main Titles)
Theme By: John Lunn
While The Last Kingdom theme doesn’t have the seem grandiose as Game of Thrones, it is beautiful in its own right. Composer, John Lunn, opted to use percussion, analogue synthesizers, and Eivør Pálsdóttir, who provided her stunning vocals, singing in Faroese.
The Faroese language is spoken by less than a 100,000 people and is North Germanic in origin. It is the native language of the Faroe Islands but also is also spoken in Denmark.
18. Castlevania
Theme: Main Title (Castlevania Theme)
Theme By: Trevor Morris
While fans of the classic video game franchise were disappointed that the music from the series didn’t feature in the show, regardless, the theme and score throughout was nothing short of excellent. Chilling and Gothic, Trevor Morris hit the tone of the series with his score and that reflected right through the entire series.
Paired with a visually striking opening sequence that looked like it was torn from the pages of a manga, Morris can be incredibly proud of the work he produced.
17. F is for Family
Theme: Come and Get Your Love
Theme By: Redbone
Instant Guardians of the Galaxy vibes make F is for Family one of the most enjoyable themes to listen too. Not much more can be said other than the fact that Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” is an all-time classic.
16. One Day at a Time
Theme: This Is It “Performed By Gloria Estefan
Theme By: Gloria Estefan
Using the same song from the 70s sitcom, but with a Latin flair was an excellent way to introduce a brand new audience to the revitalized show. Estefan herself was a senior in high school when the original show aired on CBS. When the executive producers decided to keep the old theme tune, but introduce it with “Latin Rhythms” it was a no brainer for them to bring in Gloria Estefan to record the theme.
15. Fuller House
Theme: Everywhere You Look
Theme By: Carly Rae Jepsen
Just like One Day at a Time, the theme for Fuller House is a modern update on the classic 90s sitcom, Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Everywhere You Look” is certainly a lot more upbeat. You can’t help but bob your head to the theme, and for longtime fans, it must have felt like a welcome return watching beloved characters from their childhood return to the screen with an old but new song.
14. Green Eggs and Ham
Theme: Watch Me Backflip “Performed by Rivers Cuomo
Theme By: Rivers Cuomo, Nathan Cunningham, Aaron Pearce, Marc Sibley, Shaun Lopez, and Rami Yacoub
Anyone that grew up in the 90s and early 2000s will remember Weezer’s ever beloved smash hit single “Teenage Dirtbag” and is likely still being played at your high school dance. Rivers Cuomo, the frontman of Weezer, provided the vocals to “Watch Me Backflip” and was also one of the co-writers of the song.
Rivers Cuomo discussed the song with Billboard, “Backflip’ was something I’d been messing around with sonically and melodically, so I thought it might be a decent fit.” A decent fit indeed good sir as Wach Me Backflip is an awesome tune. Cuomo has been hard at work creating a new album for Weezer and will also feature in the upcoming Frozen 2 soundtrack.
13. Seis Manos
Theme: Seis Manos (Main Titles)
Theme By: Carl Thiel
Inspired by the traditional Far East and Mexican music, the theme of Seis Manos has a beautifully unique blend of the two, creating an absolutely incredible theme tune. Throughout the score, it transitions from Chinese bamboo flute to Mexican mariachi trumpets without ever missing a beat.
Composer, Carl Thiel, described the series as “an amazing musical playground to explore” and it’s easy to see why.
12. Money Heist
Theme: My Life Is Going On
Theme By: Cecilia Krull
If you were to cut this theme and splice straight into a James Bond film, it would fit beautifully. Cecilia Krull did an excellent job in creating the theme of the series, and despite her Spanish nationality, the lyrics of the song are in English as this was the language that came naturally to her at the time she was writing the theme.
My Life is Going On was a smash hit across Europe and South America, with the song earning a gold record in France and Italy. On the music app Shazam, My Life is Going On reached number one in Italy, France, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey and more.
11. A Series of Unfortunate Events
Theme: “Look Away” performed by Neil Patrick Harris
Theme By: Nick Urata and Daniel Handler
The wonderfully whimsical Neil Patrick Harris is well known for his theatre background and his love of musicals, not to mention hosting the Tony Awards on a many number of occasions. Portraying the villain of the series, Count Olaf, it was only fitting that Harris would be the one to perform the tune.
The theme also provided a fantastic fourth wall breaking synopsis but to Count Olaf’s dismay, we simply could not look away.
10. Big Mouth
Theme Name: Changes
Theme By: Charles Bradley
Many Netflix Originals receive their own themes and are composed from scratch, this isn’t the case for Big Mouth. One of the hardest and grossest periods of a human’s life, puberty, is perfectly reflected through Charles Bradley’s cover of the classic Black Sabbath tune and we wouldn’t change that for the world.
Sadly, Charles Bradley passed away in September 2017, literally 6 days before Big Mouth premiered on Netflix.
9. The Haunting of Hill House
Theme Name: The Haunting of Hill House (Main Titles)
Theme By: The Newton Brothers
One of the best additions of 2018, The Haunting of Hill House was a masterclass of storytelling, and its theme was equally brilliant. Composers, the Newton brothers had already worked with Mike Flanagan before on Ouija: Origin of Evil. The opening titles to the series are visually astounding, and perfectly encapsulates the themes of the series.
8. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Theme Name: Unbreakable
Theme By: The Gregory Brothers and Mike Britt
Once you’ve sampled the theme tune from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, good luck getting it out of your head anytime soon. It’s easy to see where some of the inspiration came from, that being the viral hit “Bed Intruder Song” from the famous Antoine Dodson interview.
Unbreakable is in incredibly fun theme and one that perfectly fits the series.
7. Orange Is the New Black
Theme Name: You’ve Got Time
Theme By: Regina Spektor
Some fans will be shocked by the fact that the theme for OItnB isn’t in the top three, but don’t let that be any indication that we don’t like the theme, as that is far from the truth. A great them tune is one you can sing along to, like Cheers and Friends, and OItNB definitely falls into that category. You know when a theme reaches an iconic status when for the final season a trailer is released with cast members paying homage to it.
Regina Spektor, the composer of the theme, was highly inspirational for Jenji Kohan while she was writing the series, and would often listen to her music. When the time came for a theme to be developed, Kohan immediately had Spektor in mind. After receiving some rough edits during the early stages of production, Spektor composed the song while thinking about what prison life might be like and the different states of mind individuals would be in. Kohan loved the theme and the rest is history, the theme even earned an Emmy nomination but lost out to Adele’s Skyfall.
6. House of Cards
The House of Cards theme resonates in the minds of many as subscribers bore witness to the very first, but certainly not the last, Netflix Original series. With an incredible score, perfectly visualized through landscapes of America’s capital city, you just knew you were in a for a wild ride. And it was fun, while it lasted.
5. Daredevil
Theme Name: Main Title “Daredevil”
Theme By: Braden Kimball and John Paesano
Daredevil, for its limited time on Netflix, was nothing short of incredible. Upon watching the series for the very first time, one of the elements that stuck with me instantly was the opening sequence and score. Long before the skip intro button existed, Daredevil was one theme tune you didn’t want to miss out on.
The theme for the series was co-composed by John Paesano and Braden Kimball and was attained from the former’s first demo tape, which he submitted during the audition process.
4. Godless
Theme Name: Godless Main Theme
Theme By: Carlos Rafael Rivera
Perfectly befitting the genre, the Godless theme is an excellent piece of music and greatly reflects the score that Carlos Rafael Rivera crafted. Subscribers would have loved to of seen more of Godless, but alas it was the first of many limited series now available on Netflix.
During the pre-production of the limited series, Rivera began scoring. By starting early, those on set who listened to the music, “helping them set the tone of the storytelling.” At first, Rivera looked to classical western scores but found the use of instruments like the harmonica as “too much baggage” and cliché. Instead, a classical guitar was used (performed by Rivera), and further instruments such as the cello, organ, and harmonium. T Bone Burnett was brought in as the Executive Music Producer and mixed the main theme.
3. Lost in Space
Theme: Lost in Space Theme
Theme By: Christopher Lennertz, John Williams
By using the core of the original theme by John Williams, Christopher Lennertz was able to produce one of the most spectacular themes for an Original series. Williams is a genius of storytelling, and from his music alone you know you’re about to go in a grand adventure, and Lennertz perfectly reflected that notion with his modern interpretation of the classic sci-fi series.
2. Narcos / Narcos: Mexico
Theme Name: Tuyo
Theme By: Rodrigo Amarante
A theme song so nice they used it twice, the Narcos and Narcos: Mexico theme, Tuyo by Rodrigo Amarante is passionate, tranquil and beautiful. Accompanied by an equally fantastic opening sequence, you can’t help but feel excited to see Pablo Escobar in action once again. Not to mention the lack of English subtitles through the opening sequence leaves a sense of intrigue and mystique that you can’t wait to explore.
To skip the intro to Narcos is a grave sin and one you shouldn’t commit lightly!
1. Stranger Things
Theme Name: Stranger Things
Theme by: Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein
Created by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of the synth band S U R V I V E, the Stranger Things theme has already reached iconic status and is instantly recognizable thanks to that beautiful bass synthesizer. The theme tune has influenced other forms of media, in Eminem’s “Tragic Endings” the synthesizer used throughout is very reminiscent of the Stranger Things theme.
Compared to other titles that have spared no expense on the opening sequence like Game of Thrones and Westworld, Stranger Things’ opening title is far simpler but incredibly effective. The theme will live on beyond the lifeblood of the series and will easily go down as one of the best theme tunes of all time.
What is your favorite Netflix Original theme tune? Let us know in the comments below.
