EntertainmentTVThe 35 greatest TV theme songsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
EntertainmentTVThe 35 greatest TV theme songsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Warner Bros. Television)
If television shows are a gift, then a good theme song is like the color-coordinated bow on top. Be it jingles made for the show or pre-existing pop songs the producers obtained the rights for, a good TV theme song does so much more than mark the start of a new episode. The best of them expand the world of the show just a teensy bit wider, making the stories being told and the characters in them feel that much more alive, and maybe even relatable. More often than not, TV themes help make a show more iconic in pop culture than any single episode could.
Frankly, if you’re one of the privileged few who have control over a TV show, choosing the right theme song ought to be one of the most important decisions you ever make. While the long history of television is brimming with amazing theme songs, only few deserve recognition as “iconic.” From cartoons to prestige dramas, these are the 35 greatest TV theme songs of all time.
35. X-Men: The Animated Series
(Image credit: Marvel)
34. Miami Vice
(Image credit: Universal Television)
33. The Walking Dead
(Image credit: AMC Studios)
32. Sex and the City
(Image credit: HBO)
It’s not easy for any one song to epitomize metropolitan sophistication. So it’s a testament to Sex and the City composer Douglas Cuomo, who did just that with his instrumental theme for the hit HBO comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker. With its overall vibe sounding like a Latin cocktail party inside a space age hotel lounge, Cuomo’s piece is both comical and sexy, which is an apt description of Sex and the City itself. In a 2017 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cuomo revealed he was given just 10 days to write and record his theme. It was also composed for an animated-style sequence, but that idea was scrapped without Cuomo knowing about it.
31. Beverly Hills 90210
(Image credit: Paramount)
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30. Cowboy Bebop
(Image credit: Sunrise)
29. Twin Peaks
(Image credit: CBS Studios)
28. Peter Gunn
(Image credit: Multicom Entertainment Group)
For the influential NBC detective series Peter Gunn, which aired on TV between 1958 to 1961, composer Henry Mancini created this impossibly cool track that still drips so much style after all these years. Just listening to it makes you want to put on a trenchcoat and a fedora and go snooping for clues. In Mancini’s 1989 autobiography, he said of his work: “The Peter Gunn theme actually derives more from rock and roll than from jazz. I used guitar and piano inunison, playing what is known in music as anostinato, which means obstinate. It was sustained throughout the piece, giving it a sinister effect, with some frightened saxophone sounds and some shouting brass. The piece has one chord throughout and a super-simple top line.”
27. The Greatest American Hero
(Image credit: Stephen J. Cannell Productions)
Long before the Marvel and DC cinematic universes, TV’s best crime-fighter was a substitute teacher named Ralph whose alien costume gave him amazing powers. The theme song to The Greatest American Hero, a collaboration between musicians Mike Post, Stephen Geyer, and singer Joey Scarbury, was written just for the cult action-comedy series. When Post first heard about the show from its producer, he thought it was “nuts,” or so he described it in a 2005 interview with the Television Academy. But he and Geyer, a lyricist, were still inspired to write a fun song that found parallels between falling in love and feeling like a superhero.
26. The Jeffersons
(Image credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment)
25. Nip/Tuck
(Image credit: Warner Bros. Television)
24. Mission: Impossible
(Image credit: Paramount Television)
23. Three’s Company
(Image credit: DLT Entertainment)
22. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(Image credit: 20th Television)
21. Star Trek
(Image credit: Paramount Television)
20. The Brady Bunch
(Image credit: Paramount Television)
19. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
(Image credit: NBC Productions)
18. The Wonder Years
(Image credit: 20th Television)
Joe Cocker’s slowed-down cover of The Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends” was already 20 years old when The Wonder Years made its television premiere in 1988. But the show’s heartfelt nostalgia for late ‘60s Americana makes it a case of perfect pairing of show and theme. Its title sequence is memorable too; watching the Arnold family enjoy a summer barbecue through a vintage Super 8 camera can make anyone want to dig up their own home videos. We don’t know we’re living the best days of our lives until they’re over. That’s what The Wonder Years is all about, with a little help from Joe Cocker.
17. Knight Rider
(Image credit: Universal Televisions)
16. True Blood
(Image credit: HBO)
15. Dawson’s Creek
(Image credit: Sony Pictures Television)
14. Firefly
(Image credit: 20th Television)
13. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
(Image credit: Hasbro)
A remixed import of the Japanese show Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger and a pop culture phenom of the 1990s, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers also has an energizing theme song that makes us want to jump into Megazords. During the show’s pre-production phase, producer Haim Saban tasked musician Ron Wasserman to write what would become its iconic theme; his only instruction was for Wasserman to use “Go” in the lyrics, based on their previous success with Inspector Gadget. With just one day to write and record a piece, Wasserman submitted what he thought would be little more than a starting point for someone else to take over. But when Saban and Fox execs heard what Wasserman recorded, they were floored. In a 2012 DVD interview, Wasserman cited influence from Van Halen, and that he wrote it “for adults,” hence the show’s complex power metal instrumentation.
12. Grey’s Anatomy
(Image credit: ABC)
11. Full House
(Image credit: Warner Bros. Television)
What ever happened to predictability? Full House, about a widower whose best friends move into his San Francisco home to help raise his daughters, featured the soft rock song “Everywhere You Look” as its theme tune. (Series creator Jeff Franklin was involved in its production.) Written and recorded exclusively for the show, the song is bespoke to Full House’s wholesome spirit with angelic backing vocals and lyrics that express yearning for a simpler time. When the sequel series Fuller House hit Netflix, pop star Carly Rae Jepsen covered the song, re-energizing it for a whole new generation.
10. Friends
(Image credit: Warner Bros. Television)
9. Cheers
(Image credit: Paramount Television)
8. Breaking Bad
(Image credit: Sony Pictures Television)
7. Mad Men
(Image credit: AMC)
6. The Simpsons
(Image credit: 20th Television)
5. The Sopranos
(Image credit: HBO)
4. Succession
(Image credit: HBO)
3. The X-Files
(Image credit: 20th Television)
2. I Love Lucy
(Image credit: Paramount Television)
1. Game of Thrones
(Image credit: HBO)
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