This is a list of winners and nominees of the

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special. Starting in 2019, the category recognizes scripted programs. Unscripted programs compete for Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special.

Winners and nominations

1950s

Note: The award presented in 1955 was for "Best Original Music Composed for TV"

1960s

Note: Award titled Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composed for Television 1962–64

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Notes

Programs with multiple nominations

;4 nominations * '' Fargo'' ;3 nominations * '' Sherlock'' ;2 nominations * ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the '' American Story'' media franchise, each season is conceived as a ...

'' * ''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fictio ...

* ''

Masada Masada ( he, מְצָדָה ', "fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dea ...

'' * '' Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams''

Composers with multiple awards

;6 awards *

Bruce Broughton Bruce Harold Broughton (born March 8, 1945) is an American orchestral composer of television, film, and video game scores and concert works. He has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career and has contributed man ...

(3 consecutive) ;5 awards *

Laurence Rosenthal Laurence Rosenthal (born November 4, 1926) is an American composer, arranger, and conductor for theater, television, film, and the concert hall. Biography Born in Detroit, Michigan, Rosenthal attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New ...

(3 consecutive) ;4 awards *

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the Rambo (franchise) ...

(2 consecutive) ;2 awards *

Jeff Beal Jeff Beal (born June 20, 1963) is an American composer of music for film, television, recordings, and the concert hall. Highly regarded as a jazz instrumentalist and versatile composer, Beal creates music that often incorporates a synthesis of im ...

(consecutive) *

Leonard Rosenman Leonard Rosenman (September 7, 1924 – March 4, 2008) was an American film, television and concert composer with credits in over 130 works, including ''East of Eden (film), East of Eden'', ''Rebel without a Cause'', ''Star Trek IV: The Voyage Ho ...

* Patrick Williams

Composers with multiple nominations

;11 nominations *

;10 nominations *

Billy Goldenberg William Leon Goldenberg (February 10, 1936 – August 3, 2020) was an American composer and songwriter, best known for his work on television and film. Early life Goldenberg was born in February 10, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, ...

;8 nominations *

* Patrick Williams ;6 nominations *

Allyn Ferguson Allyn Malcolm Ferguson Jr. (October 18, 1924 – June 23, 2010) was an American composer, whose works include the themes for 1970s television programs ''Barney Miller'' and '' Charlie's Angels'' (1976-1981), which he co-wrote with Jack Elliott ...

Lee Holdridge Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is a Haitian-born American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. A 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News & Documentary Emmy Awards, and one S ...

;5 nominations *

Fred Karlin Frederick James Karlin (June 16, 1936 – March 26, 2004) was an American composer of more than 130 scores for feature films and television movies. He also was an accomplished trumpeter adept at playing jazz, blues, classical, rock, and mediev ...

Jeff Russo Jeff Russo (born August 31) is an American composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and music producer, and one of the two founding members of American rock band Tonic. He is also a founding member of acoustic rock band Low Stars. Russo is a ...

David Shire David Lee Shire (born July 3, 1937) is an American songwriter and composer of stage Musical theater, musicals, film and television film score, scores. The soundtracks to the 1976 film ''The Big Bus'', ''The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974 f ...

Mark Snow Mark Snow (born Martin Fulterman; August 26, 1946) is an American composer for film and television. Among his most famous compositions is the theme music for science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. The theme reached no. 2 on the UK Si ...

* Ernest Troost ;4 nominations *

David Arnold David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is a British film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as ''Stargate'' (1994), '' Independence Day'' (1996), ''Godzilla'' (1998) and the television series '' Little Britain'' ...

* Robert Lane ;3 nominations *

Richard Bellis Richard Roe Bellis (who was born on April 3, 1946 in Pasadena, California) is an American film and television music composer, former CLGA president, former ATAS governor, USC lecturer, musical director and former actor. He composed the music for the ...

* Don Davis *

Johnny Mandel John Alfred Mandel (November 23, 1925June 29, 2020) was an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. The musicians he worked with include Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, Tony Benn ...

Peter Matz Peter Matz (November 6, 1928 – August 9, 2002) was an American musician, composer, arranger and conductor. His musical career in film, theater, television and studio recording spanned fifty years, and he worked with a number of prominent ...

* Michael Price *

Pete Rugolo Pietro "Pete" Rugolo (December 25, 1915 – October 16, 2011) was an American jazz composer, arranger and record producer. Life and career Rugolo was born in San Piero Patti, Sicily. His family emigrated to the United States in 1920 and settle ...

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

;2 nominations *

John Addison John Mervyn Addison (16 March 19207 December 1998) was a British composer best known for his film scores. Early life Addison was born in Chobham, Surrey to a father who was a colonel in the Royal Field Artillery, and this influenced the de ...

* John Altman * Nathan Barr * John Barry *

Robert Russell Bennett Robert Russell Bennett (June 15, 1894 – August 18, 1981) was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, ...

Charles Bernstein Charles Bernstein may refer to: * Charles Bernstein (composer) (born 1943), American composer of film and television scores * Charles Bernstein (poet) Charles Bernstein (born April 4, 1950) is an American poet, essayist, editor, and literary sc ...

Chris Boardman Christopher Miles Boardman, (born 26 August 1968) is a British former racing cyclist. A time trial and prologue specialist, Boardman won the inaugural men's World time trial championship in 1994, won the individual pursuit gold medal at the 19 ...

Todd Boekelheide Todd Boekelheide (born June 27, 1954) is an American composer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, best known for his work scoring documentary films. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound (''Amadeus'', 1984) and was nominated for another in the ...

Kris Bowers Kristopher Bowers (born 1989) is an American composer and pianist. He has composed scores for films, video games, television and documentaries including ''Bridgerton'', '' Green Book'', ''Madden NFL'', '' Dear White People'', and ''Kobe Bryant's ...

Sean Callery Sean Callery (born 1964) is an American musician and composer, best known for composing the music for the action/drama '' 24'' and the Marvel adaptation '' Jessica Jones''. Other projects include the 2004 James Bond video game, '' James Bond 007 ...

Joseph Conlan Joseph Richard Conlan is an American film and television composer based in Los Angeles. He is best known for his scores to the television series ''NCIS'', ''Tour of Duty'' and ''Simon & Simon'', and films ''Spiders 3D'' and '' Behind Enemy Lin ...

Normand Corbeil Normand Corbeil (April 6, 1956 – January 25, 2013) was a Canadians, Canadian composer known for his work on films, video games and television. Biography Corbeil won a BAFTA Award and an Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences award for composin ...

Mychael Danna Mychael Danna (born September 20, 1958) is a Canadian composer of film and television film score, scores. He won both the Golden Globe Award, Golden Globe and Academy Awards, Oscar for Academy Award for Best Original Score, Best Original Score f ...

Dick DeBenedictis Richard “Dick” DeBenedictis (born January 23, 1937) is an American composer noted for composing music for television shows including ''Perry Mason'' and its movies from 1985 until 1993, '' Police Story'', '' Columbo'', '' Father Dowling Myster ...

James Di Pasquale James Di Pasquale (born April 7, 1941) is an American musician and composer of contemporary classical music and music for television and films. Biography Pasquale was born on April 7, 1941 in Chicago to Hugo and Lucille (née Ciccone) Di Pasqua ...

Gerald Fried Gerald Fried (born February 13, 1928) is an American composer, conductor, and oboist known for his film and television scores. He composed music for well-known television series of the 1960s and 70s, including ''Mission: Impossible'', ''Gilliga ...

* Richard Hartley *

John Kander John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including ''Ca ...

Michel Legrand Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many son ...

John Lunn John Lunn (born 13 May 1956) is an Emmy Award winning Scottish composer, known for the music of the series ''Downton Abbey'' and many other television and movie soundtracks. Early life and education Lunn was born in May 1956. His father was a ...

Rob Mathes Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ( ...

Gian-Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept ...

Lennie Niehaus Leonard Niehaus (June 1, 1929 – May 28, 2020) was an American alto saxophonist, composer and arranger on the West Coast jazz scene. He played with the Stan Kenton Orchestra and served as one of Kenton's primary staff arrangers. He also played ...

Alex North Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), ''Viva Zapata!'', ''Spa ...

Mac Quayle Mac Quayle is an American composer for film, television and video games, best known for his work on the USA Network's ''Mr. Robot'' and for FX's ''American Horror Story''. Quayle was born in Suffolk, Virginia, but moved around the state, living i ...

Martin Phipps Martin Phipps (born 1 August 1968) is a British composer, who has worked on numerous film and television projects. Life and career He is the son of Sue Pears and Jack Phipps, an arts administrator who had previously founded a management agen ...

Rachel Portman Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman,
FilmReference.com Carlos Rafael Rivera Carlos Rafael Rivera (born 18 August, 1970) is an American composer based out of Guatemala. In 2014, his music score for the movie '' A Walk Among the Tombstones'' advanced for Oscar in the Best Original Score category. He has won an Emmy Awar ...

* Lawrence Shragge *

Harry Sukman Harry Sukman (December 2, 1912 – December 2, 1984) was an American film and television composer. Life and career Sukman was born in Chicago in 1912. He started his musical career in the 1920s, when he was a teenager. He composed music scores f ...

Cristobal Tapia de Veer Juan Cristóbal Tapia de Veer is a Chilean-born Canadian film and television score composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is best known for his score of the British TV series ''Utopia'', for ...

Brian Tyler Brian Theodore Tyler (born May 8, 1972) is an American composer, conductor, arranger, and record producer, best known for his film, television, and video game scores. In his 24-year career, Tyler has scored '' Transformers: Prime'', ''Eagle E ...

Alex Wurman Alex Wurman (born October 5, 1966) is an American composer who hails from Chicago. He is best known for his film scores to ''March of the Penguins'', '' Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'', '' Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby'', an ...

Christopher Young Christopher Young (born April 28, 1957) is an American composer and orchestrator of film and television scores. Many of his compositions are for horror and thriller films, including ''Hellraiser'', ''Species'', ''Urban Legend'', ''The Grudge'', ...

Victor Young Albert Victor Young (August 8, 1899– November 10, 1956)"Victor Young, Composer, Dies of Heart Attack", ''Oakland Tribune'', November 12, 1956. was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. Biography Young is commonly said to ...

Geoff Zanelli Geoffrey Zanelli is an American composer working primarily in the medium of film, television, and video game scores. His early career was notable for scoring additional music on roughly 30 film scores written by Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Harry ...

Marcelo Zarvos Marcelo Uchoa Zarvos is a Brazilian pianist and composer. Life and career Zarvos was born in São Paulo. He began in classical music in his teens and studied at the Berklee College of Music. He is more known for jazz and had success with the al ...

References

{{Primetime Emmy Award categories Film music awards Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special