MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
When you hear this song, what comes to mind?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T YOU (FORGET ABOUT ME)")
SIMPLE MINDS: (Singing) Don't you forget about me. Don't, don't, don't, don't.
MARTIN: How about actor Judd Nelson crossing an empty football field with his fist in the air? That iconic scene in John Hughes' movie "The Breakfast Club" helped send the song by Simple Minds to No. 1. Movie soundtracks used to be reliable hit generators, but today? Not so much. NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento looked into why.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: If you turned on the radio in the 1980s, chances are you would hear plenty of songs associated with a blockbuster movie, like "Top Gun"...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAKE MY BREATH AWAY")
BERLIN: (Singing) Take my breath away.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: ..."Dirty Dancing"...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "(I'VE HAD) THE TIME OF MY LIFE")
BILL MEDLEY AND JENNIFER WARNES: (Singing) I've had the time of my life.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: ...Or "Footloose," to name a few.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOOTLOOSE")
KENNY LOGGINS: (Singing) Now I got to cut loose, footloose.
KEITH CAULFIELD: The 1980s were kind of the sweet spot of when multiartist compilation soundtracks really took hold in America.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: That's Keith Caulfield, managing director of charts at Billboard. He says the rise of MTV played a huge role in promoting both films and their soundtracks.
CAULFIELD: It became this great kind of synergy between the audio and the visual.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Into the '90s and 2000s, movie studios and music labels developed stronger relationships. Julianne Jordan is an Academy Award-winning music supervisor.
JULIANNE JORDAN: Labels realized it was a place to market their artists.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU")
WHITNEY HOUSTON: (Singing) And I will always love you. I...
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Music labels invested heavily in soundtracks - with strings attached.
JORDAN: We would get an advance from a label, and the label would basically force you to put songs in there that may not work in your film. But that was part of the deal.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: At the turn of the century, the momentum behind big blockbuster soundtracks started to decline. Here's Randall Poster, music supervisor for "The Wolf Of Wall Street" and "School Of Rock."
RANDALL POSTER: The most seismic change was the digital revolution, right? So in order to be able to get any of these songs, you had to buy the soundtrack.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: The internet and streaming changed everything. Today you can easily find a song from a film online without having to pay for the whole album. But that doesn't mean soundtracks no longer make an impact.
JULIA MICHAELS: It seems like, in order for, you know, soundtracks to make a splash today, they have to be associated with either a cultural movement or all new songs.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: That's Julia Michaels. She's been Julianne Jordan's music supervising partner for over a decade. Together, they've developed soundtracks for films like "Pitch Perfect"...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CUPS (PITCH PERFECT'S "WHEN I'M GONE")")
ANNA KENDRICK: (Singing) When I'm gone. When I'm gone. You're going to miss me when I'm gone.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: ...And "A Star Is Born."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHALLOW")
LADY GAGA: (Singing) I'm off the deep end. Watch as I dive in. I'll never meet the ground.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Those soundtracks spawned major hits on the pop charts. Michaels and Jordan both say that soundtracks with all original songs still find strong audiences, especially when they're attached to well-known stars.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DANCE THE NIGHT")
DUA LIPA: (Singing) Watch me dance, dance the night away. My heart could be burning, but you won't see it on my face. Watch me dance...
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: In recent years, "Barbie" and "Twisters" have both had massively successful albums, in no small part due to the participation of artists like Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Luke Combs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA")
LUKE COMBS: (Singing) Ain't no love in Oklahoma, just the whistle of a long black train. You'll know when it's coming for you, riding in on the wind and rain.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: "Twisters" capitalized on the country music boom that's been ruling the charts for the past few years. Similarly, the Netflix animated movie "KPop Demon Hunters" seized on K-pop's popularity.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOLDEN")
HUNTR/X: (Singing) We're going up, up, up. It's our moment.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: This song from the soundtrack, "Golden," is currently at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOLDEN")
HUNTR/X: (Singing) Oh, up, up, up with our voices.
(Singing in Korean).
(Singing) Going to be, going to be golden.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Keith Caulfield from Billboard says we may no longer see soundtracks dominating the pop charts, the way they did 30 years ago.
CAULFIELD: But when you find the right film, the right vibe and the right idea, it still can work.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: It just requires that music labels and movie studios do it intentionally.
Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOLDEN")
HUNTR/X: (Singing) We're going up, up, up. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
