''Fifty Shades of Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'' is the soundtrack to the film of the same name adapted from

E. L. James Erika Mitchell (born 7 March 1963), known by her pen name E. L. James, is a British author. She wrote the best-selling erotic romance trilogy ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', ''Fifty Shades Darker'', and ''Fifty Shades Freed'', along with the companio ...

's eponymous novel that was released through

Republic Records Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...

on February 10, 2015. It was the seventh best-selling album of 2015 with 2.2 million copies sold worldwide.

Background

Meetings about the album took place nearly two years prior the album's release when plans of a film were announced. Mike Knobloch, president of film music and publishing at Universal said: "We really wanted the songs to be part of the fiber of the film — nothing crowbarred in or just auxiliary to the experience. There was a very deliberate effort to create as much original material as possible, to tailor the production, the lyrics, and the performance."

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

was one of the first singers approached for the film. Knobloch said: "She thought it was an opportunity to do something that aligned nicely with her brand and agenda."

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

was approached by Knobloch and music supervisor Dana Sano with a scene they had in mind: "It's a pivotal moment, when the two protagonists have an ecstatic and intimate first sexual encounter. iaplayed us songs and we would say, 'That's good, but could it be more of this, or less of that?'. By the end we left her spinning her wheels about what she had to do to deliver just the right song to us for the film."

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

was involved in the project very early. Tom Mackay, a manager at Republic Records, explained: "He worked on a number of songs for a number of scenes. Some were working and some weren't, but he just kept at it, and kept at it, and kept at it. In the end, he wrote 'Earned It' and it's the biggest song of his career to date. It's the only song that's in the movie twice." On January 12, 2015,

E.L. James EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

announced the soundtrack would be released on February 10, 2015.

Singles

The soundtrack was preceded by the release of two singles. "

Earned It "Earned It", alternatively titled "Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)", is a song by Canadian singer the Weeknd. The song was released as the lead single from the soundtrack to the 2015 film ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' and was included on the Weeknd' ...

", performed by

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

, was released as the album's lead single on December 23, 2014, peaked at number three on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

and was included on his second album ''

Beauty Behind the Madness ''Beauty Behind the Madness'' is the second studio album by Canadian singer the Weeknd, released on August 28, 2015, through XO and Republic Records. It features guest appearances from Labrinth, Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey. The album was executi ...

''.

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...

's " Love Me like You Do" was released as the second single on January 7, 2015; it reached number one on the national charts of 16 countries including the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and peaked at number three on the Hot 100 and was included on her third album ''

Delirium Delirium (also known as acute confusional state) is an organically caused decline from a previous baseline of mental function that develops over a short period of time, typically hours to days. Delirium is a syndrome encompassing disturbances in ...

''.

Promotional singles

"Salted Wound" by

was released as the first promotional single on January 27, 2015. Two further promotional singles, "One Last Night" by Vaults and " I Know You" by

Skylar Grey Holly Brook Hafermann (born February 23, 1986), known professionally as Skylar Grey, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Mazomanie, Wisconsin. In 2004, at the age of 17, Grey signed a publishing deal with Universal Music ...

, were released on February 3, 2015. "

I'm on Fire "I'm on Fire" is a song written and performed by American rock performer Bruce Springsteen. Released in 1985, it was the fourth single from his album ''Born in the U.S.A.'' History "I'm on Fire" was first recorded in January 1982 during the fir ...

", a

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

cover performed by

Awolnation Awolnation (stylized in all caps) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed and fronted by Aaron Bruno, formerly of Under the Influence of Giants, Home Town Hero, and Insurgence. The band is signed to Better Noise Music, formerly being s ...

, was released as the fourth promotional single on February 9, 2015.

Reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200 with sales of 258,000 units (210,000 copies of traditional albums) in its first week behind

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's ''

If You're Reading This It's Too Late ''If You're Reading This It's Too Late'' is a commercial mixtape by Canadian rapper Drake. It was released on February 13, 2015, without prior announcement, by OVO Sound, Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Republic Records. Th ...

''. As of January 2017, it had sold 913,000 copies in the United States. The album debuted at number two on the

Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocea ...

, selling 18,000 copies. As of July 2015, it had sold 89,000 copies in the country.

Critical reception

In contrast to the near-universal panning of the film, its soundtrack has received generally favorable reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the soundtrack received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 65, based on 7 reviews. Kenneth Partridge of ''

'' rated the soundtrack three-and-a-half out of five stars, writing that the soundtrack "wisely skews mainstream". Chuck Arnold of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' compared the soundtrack to those of '' The Twilight Saga'' and ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set ...

'' while noting that

's "

" brings "

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-theme drama" to the soundtrack. However,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the soundtrack as "suitable for any romantic evening" and a seduction. Jim Farber of the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' claimed that the lyrics speak of "romanticized sex", while highlighting the album's "soft-edged production". Writing for

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

, Allan Raible described the soundtrack as a collection of "sultry electro blues pop", but criticized the inclusions of older publications. Mikael Wood of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' called the soundtrack a "slog" and criticized the album's

midtempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

tracks, while comparing the album's commercial performance to that of

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

's ''

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''.

Track listing

Notes * signifies a vocal producer * signifies a

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

er * signifies a remixer and main producer * signifies a co-producer * "Crazy in Love (2014 Remix)" contains samples from "

Are You My Woman (Tell Me So) ''I Like Your Lovin' (Do You Like Mine?)'' is the second studio album by American soul group The Chi-Lites, produced and largely written by lead singer Eugene Record. The album was released in 1970 on the Brunswick label. History Although the a ...

", written by

Eugene Record Eugene Booker Record (December 23, 1940 – July 22, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was best known as the lead vocalist of the Chicago-based vocal group The Chi-Lites from their formation in 1959 un ...

and performed by

The Chi-Lites The Chi-Lites (, ) are an American R&B/soul vocal quartet from Chicago, Illinois, United States. Forming at Chicago's Hyde Park High School in 1959, The group's original lineup consisted of singers Robert Lester, Eugene Record, Creadel Jones, ...

Credits

Credits for the soundtrack adapted from

. *Graham Archer - additional production, programming *AWOLNATION - primary artist, vocals *Ahmad Balshe - composer *Steve Bartek - orchestration *Jonathan Martin Berry - guitar *Beyoncé - featured artist, primary artist *Jay Bicknell - engineer, programming *Alison Bjorkedal - harp, instrumentation, programming *Simon Bloor - guitar, keyboards *Boots - composer, engineer, instrumentation, producer, remix producer, string arrangements, vocals (background) *Richard Brook - percussion *Sandy Brummels - art direction, package design *Aaron Bruno - instrumentation, mixing, primary artist, producer, programming *David Bukovinszky - cello *Paul Bushnell - bass *Mattias Bylund - editing, engineer, string arrangements, strings *Peter Carlsson - vocal editing, vocals (background) *Shawn Carter - composer *Dave Cavanaugh - producer *Michael Chaves - guitar, instrumentation, omnichord, programming *Adam Christgau - instrumentation, percussion, programming *Philip Cohen - music business affairs *Cy Coleman - composer *Martin Cooke - engineer *Jason Cooper - drums, instrumentation, programming *Rich Costey - mixing *Mike Dean - composer, drums, engineer, guitar, keyboards, mixing, producer, programming *Michael Diamond - remixing *Derek Dixie - mixing consultant *Gerald Eaton - composer *Danny Elfman - composer, primary artist, producer *Mike Fennel - engineer *Simon Finch - trumpet *Nicolas Fournier - engineer *Robin Fredriksson - vocals (background) *Vanessa Freebairn-Smith - cello *Barnabas Freeman - composer *Barney Freeman - producer, programming *Sia Furler - composer, instrumentation, programming, vocals *Brian Gardner - mastering *Serban Ghenea - mixing *Amanda Ghost - composer *Oscar Görres - vocals (background) *Ellie Goulding - primary artist, vocals *Skylar Grey - composer, featured artist, primary artist, vocals *John Hanes - engineer *Rich Harrison - composer *Jay Hawkins - composer *Emile Haynie - composer, producer *Dan Heath - producer *Justin Hergett - mixing assistant *Chris Hill - guitar (bass) *Hit-Boy - drum programming *Sam Holland - engineer *Oscar Holter - vocals (background) *Ivan Hussey - cello *Stephen Hussey - orchestration, viola, violin *Devonté Hynes - composer *Mick Jagger - composer, vocals, vocals (background) *Mattias Johansson - violin *Jessica Kelly - art direction, package design *Mike Knobloch - executive in charge of music *Beyoncé Knowles - composer, producer, vocal producer *Savan Kotecha - composer, vocals (background) *Oliver Kraus - cello, composer, instrumentation, producer, programming *James Krausse - mixing assistant *Mattias Larsson - vocals (background) *Carolyn Leigh - composer *Annie Lennox - featured artist, percussion, piano, primary artist, string arrangements, vocals *Rachel Levy - music supervisor *Tom MacKay - A&R *Blake Mares - assistant engineer *Margot - string arrangements *Andre Marsh - A&R *Max Martin - bass, composer, drums, keyboards, percussion, producer, programming, vocals (background) *Tony Maserati - mixing *Stephan Moccio - arranger, composer, keyboards, piano, producer, programming *Yoad Nevo - mixing *Tove Nilsson - composer *Evin O'Cleary - assistant engineer *Dave Okumu - composer, engineer, instrumentation, producer, programming *

Ali Payami Ali Payami is an Iranian-Swedish record producer, songwriter, and DJ. Payami's first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 was The Weeknd's single "Can't Feel My Face". In 2016, he won a Grammy for Album of the Year for his contributions on ...

- bass, composer, drums, keyboards, percussion, producer, programming, vocals (background) *Blythe Pepino - composer, producer, programming *Jason "DaHeala" Queeneville - composer, engineer, producer, vocal engineer *Eugene Record - composer *Dave Reitzas - mixing *Keith Richards - composer, guitar, vocals, vocals (background) *Ramon Rivas - engineer, mixing assistant *Eric Robinson - engineer *Kate Robinson - violin *The Rolling Stones - featured artist, primary artist *Ilya Salmanzadeh - composer, vocals (background) *Dana Sano - soundtrack producer *Sia - featured artist, primary artist *Jo Silverston - cello *Frank Sinatra - primary artist, vocals *Noah Snyder - engineer, mixing *Ludvig Söderberg - vocals (background) *Bruce Springsteen - composer *Eric Stenman - engineer, mixing *Mike Stevens - guitar, keyboards, mixing, organ (hammond), programming, string arrangements *Jordan Stilwell - engineer *Rob Suchecki - assistant engineer *Patricia Sullivan - mastering *Sean Tallman - engineer *Abel Tesfaye - composer, vocals *Nicol Thomson - trombone *Urban Soul Orchestra - string engineer *Vaults - primary artist *Ben Vella - producer, programming *Benjamin Vella - composer *Jessica Ware - composer *Jessie Ware - primary artist, vocals *Charlie Watts - drums *The Weeknd - primary artist, vocals *Laura Welsh - composer, primary artist, vocals *Brian West - composer *Stuart White - engineer, mixing, vocal engineer *Neal Wilkinson - drums *Ron Wood - guitar, vocals, vocals (background) *Bill Wyman - guitar (bass)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2015 soundtrack albums Albums produced by Emile Haynie Albums produced by Ilya Salmanzadeh Albums produced by Max Martin Albums produced by Mike Dean (record producer) Fifty Shades film music Republic Records soundtracks Romance film soundtracks Drama film soundtracks