Want to know the best Music Biopic movies? How about the worst Music Biopic movies? Curious about Music Biopic movie box office grosses or which Music Biopic movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Music Biopic movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which ones got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
This page will rank 82 Music Biopic movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in North American theaters were not included in the rankings. If one of your favorites is missing please comment at the bottom and we will see if we can include it in the rankings.
Music Biopic Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Music Biopic Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Music Biopic by the stars in movie
- Sort Music Biopic Movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Music Biopic Movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Music Biopic Movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Music Biopic Movie received.
- Sort Music Biopic Movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
You are missing an important musical biopic, Bruce: GYPSY starring Natalie Wood as GYPSY ROSE LEE,who started dancing on the stage with her sister and then becoming a famous burlesque dancer who stripped. It should be added.
I have seen 33 of these musical biopics, one of my favourite genres. Thanks for creating this page.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Funny Girl.
The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is Amadeus.
The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is De-Lovely.
I have seen 6 of the top ten:
Funny Girl
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Coal Miner’s Daughter
Walk the Line
The Glenn Miller Story
Ray
I have seen 16 of the top 20:
Love Me or Leave Me
The Great Caruso
With a Song in My Heart
The Eddy Duchin Story
The Dolly Sisters
A Song to Remember
I have seen 23 of the top 30 Movies:
A Song to Remember
Lady Sings the Blues
The Five Pennies
Words and Music
Night and Day
Funny Lady
My Wild Irish Rose
La Bamba
Favourite Musical Biopics:
The Glenn Miller Story
Love Me or Leave Me
Funny Girl
Interrupted Melody
Coal Minor’s Daughter
Your Cheatin’ Heart
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Walk the Line
La Bamba
The Benny Goodman Story
I love all musical biopics, even those that are not my favourites.
Hey Flora..Gyspy was considered….but in the end….I did not include that movie because she did not do much singing….one day I will do a similar page on entertainers…and then that one will get included. Another one I seriously considered was The Idolmaker with Ray Sharkey pretty much playing Bob Marcucci….but like Gyspy….his character does not do much singing until the very end. Thanks for the suggestion….it is greatly appreciated.
I am shocked that I have seen slightly more of these movies than you have….36 for me and 33 for you…granted a lot of the ones I have seen were made in the last 20 years.
I have sen 7 of your Top 10 favorites….with La Bamba, Coal Miner’s Daughter and Love Me Or Leave Me in my favorites as well. I would also include Bohemian Rhapsody in my favorites. That movie blew me away…especially Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. Great feedback as always.
Excellent movies listed here. Loved Bohemian Rhapsody, Great Balls of Fire, Immortal Beloved and Coal Miner’s Daughter. I will be curious how well Judy will do later this year.
Hey Taylor…..thanks for stopping by and commenting. I am right there with you on Bo Rap and Coal Miner’s Daughter. I saw the trailer for Judy.. it looks so depressing…but it might put Renee Z. back on the map. Good feedback.
An interesting subject Bruce. And topical too thanks to the likes of Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman. I like that you’ve added the name of the real singer/composer next to the star of the film. Good stuff.
I’ve only seen 12 of the 82 films listed, and I call myself a musicals fan.
My favorites are Yankee Doodle Dandy and Amadeus.
I saw Bohemian Rhapsody, good film, good songs but not one of my favorites. Rami Malek did an excellent job as Freddie Mercury but the fake teeth were distracting. Apparently Freddie’s teeth were even more prominent!
Nice work Bruce. Vote Up!
Hey Steve….thanks for checking out our Music Biopic movies. I think Bohemian Rhapsody’s massive success got many movies green lit in Hollywood. Judy is coming…Elvis is about to start filming….with Tom Hanks as Colonel Parker….and I imagine lots more in the works. I am really looking forward to the Justin Bieber one…lol.
Tally count….I am shockingly leading the way…as I have seen 36 of these movies, with Flora right behind me with 33. Your 12 is currently holding down the third spot.
I have seen Yankee Dooble Dandy and Amadeus…..both like your opinion on my favorite Bo Rap…both good movies just not my favorites. Last year I was rooting for Christian Bale to win the Oscar for Vice…but then I saw Bohemian Rhapsody…and realized Bale did not give the best performance. Good feedback as always.
HI BRUCE With a Song in my heart is the story of singer Jane Froman played by Susan Hayward. When the film was made in 1952 Jane was a cripple and as far as I can recall didn’t personally appear live in the film but was heavily involved in its production and provided Susan’s singing voice. Certainly Jane is
not on any published cast lists anywhere, even as an uncredited artist
Your co-star credits could give the impression that she did actually act in it but maybe you feel her participation such as it was is sufficient for her to be given co-star link credit. If not removal of her name would leave room for my Rory who was Susan’s equal-billed leading man.
[For goodness sake give my favourite B western star of the 1950s some Cogerson love! Larry Buster Crabbe – Flash Gordon serials/B westerns – said in an interview once that prestigious actors like Spencer Tracy wouldn’t sit at the same table as the likes of Larry in the studio canteen. It therefore logically follows that Rory was not deemed good enough to be included in the pompous Master’s 1983 Book of ‘The Cream’ of the cinema.]
NOTORIOUS TRIVIA ABOUT WITH A SONG IN MY HEART
The film was released containing an extremely brief exposure of Susan Hayward’s left breast. This occurs during an overhead long shot of a lavish dance number, when the actress’ strapless gown very briefly separates from her bosom. The moment was subsequently excised from some–but not all–prints in release.
Hey Bob…..I had to make a decision about the co-star link column…..in the end I went with UMR subjects first and then the real subject of the movie second. As for With A Song In My Heart…..Susan Hayward has an UMR page so she went first….and she played Jane F….who went second. In The Helen Morgan Story….I gave Paul Newman the first spot since he has an UMR page…even though he did not play Helen Morgan. Sorry Rory did not get the Joel treatment…but maybe he will get the UMR treatment in the future. Interesting notorious trivia on Hayward and her costume malfunction. Thanks for the excellent feedback.
HI BRUCE: Interesting treatment of a ‘musical’ filmography and “Voted Up!”. I have seen 11 of the top 30 highest domestic grossing ones and some of the titles bring nostalgic memories flooding back to me. My personal faves are:
Amadeus
Yankee Doodle Dandy
The Seven Little Foys [Bob’s final mega hit and penultimate Cogerson 100 million barrier crasher]
A Song to Remember
The I Don’t Care Girl
The Five Pennies [Danny’s last hit. Only 3 more films after it.]
Interrupted Melody
The Doors
The Helen Morgan Story [aka titles Both Ends of the Candle and The Jazz Age]
The Great Caruso***
With a Song in my Heart [Rory taking a rest from westerns – albeit in a supporting role but gets billed above Cogerson favourite Thelma Ritter].
***REPORTED REAL-LIFE MEETING BETWEEN CARUSO AND HIS GREAT FRIEND AND PERSONAL FAN IRISH TENOR JOHN McCORMACK
McCORMACK: “And how is the greatest tenor in the world today?”
CARUSO:”Have you become a baritone, John?”
McCORMACK: “I see Enrico that for once I’ve sold more records than you.”
CARUSO:”Don’t let it happen again, John!”
NOTE: There were plans for Archie Leach to follow up Cole Porter by playing McCormack but they fell through
Hey Bob…thanks for the two part comment on our Music Biopic Movie Page. I have seen 5 of your favorites…thanks for the mini-breakdowns on some of those movies. Sorry Rory did not get any love on this UMR page…one day he just might get lots of UMR love.
Good McCormack/Caruso interaction. I did not know that Cary Grant was thinking about playing your favorite McCormack. I know he did not like Night and Day at all….but the movie was a pretty big success at the box office.
Glad our page…as you put it….”bring nostalgic memories flooding back to me”….always glad when one of pages does that. Good stuff as always.