Every Canadian who has ever been nominated for best original song at the Oscars

The 2024 Oscar nominations have officially been announced, and Barbie has emerged as one of the most nominated films, up for eight awards. (The most nominated film this year is Oppenheimer with 13 nods.) 

Barbie's most dominant category was for best original song, where two tracks are battling it out for the win: Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?" and the Ryan Gosling-performed "I'm Just Ken." They will go up against "The Fire Inside" from Flamin' Hot, "It Never Went Away" from American Symphony and "Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)" from Killers of the Flower Moon.

Gosling, who is also nominated for best supporting actor for his role in Barbie, now joins an exclusive list of Canadians who have been nominated for best original song. Though technically, Gosling himself would not receive the award: credit will go to its songwriters and lyricists, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt. 

In the category's 90-year history, only two Canadians have won this award: Buffy Sainte-Marie in 1982 for "Up Where we Belong" (from An Officer and a Gentleman) and Howard Shore in 2003 for "Into the West" (from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King). 

Below, we've rounded up every Canadian who has ever been honoured in the best original song category. Tune in to the Oscars on Sunday, March 10, to see if Barbie and "I'm Just Ken" prevail. (Similar to the Gosling technicality, Céline Dion has performed at the Oscars four times, but was not a credited songwriter on any of her nominated/winning tracks thus explaining her absence on this list.)

'Earned It' (2015)

Film: Fifty Shades of Grey.
Music and lyrics by: The Weeknd, Belly, DeHeala, Stephan Moccio.
Did it win? No. 

The most recent Canadian to score a best original song nomination, Toronto R&B star the Weeknd, was brought on to write music for the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack early in the film's process. While the soundtrack was packed with A-list stars like Beyoncé and Sia, the Weeknd's contribution, the slinky, sensual number "Earned It," became the biggest hit, earning the then-rising star three Grammy nominations on top of the Oscar nod. "Earned It" also marked another Canadian musician's first Academy Award nomination: Celine Dion collaborator, Stephan Moccio.  

'Everything Is Awesome' (2014) 

Film: The Lego Movie.
Music and lyrics by: Shawn Patterson, the Lonely Island, JoLi.
Did it win? No. 

Twin sister duo Tegan and Sara didn't write The Lego Movie's smash hit, "Everything Is Awesome," but their performance of the hook was what every kid was singing along to in 2014. The song was actually written by Shawn Patterson, the Lonely Island and songwriting duo JoLi (Lisa Harriton and Canadian artist Joshua Bartholomew), and while Tegan and Sara and the Lonely Island's performance at the Oscars was one of the most joyous of the evening, it lost the award to Common and John Legend's Selma cut, "Glory."

'Pi's Lullaby' (2012)

Film: Life of Pi.
Music and lyrics by: Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayashri.
Did it win? No.

Winnipeg-born composer Mychael Danna has been writing music for film since he made his debut with Atom Egoyan's 1987 film, Family Viewing. But in 2012, he received his first Oscar nominations, for best original score and best original song, for Ang Lee's adaptation of Life of Pi. Danna won for best original score, but lost best song to Adele's James Bond theme for Skyfall. 

'Belleville Rendez-vous' (2003)

Film: The Triplets of Belleville.
Music and lyrics by: Benoît Charest and Sylvain Chomet.
Did it win? No. 

2003 was an unprecedented year for Canadians in the best original song category with two nominated songs: Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings entry, "Into the West," and Benoît Charest and Sylvain Chomet's "Belleville Rendez-vous" from the animated feature, The Triplets of Belleville. Charest, who has been composing music for TV, film and commercials since 1992, didn't take home the Oscar, but was honoured elsewhere for his work on this film, taking home a César Award for best music written for a film in addition to a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for best music.

'Into the West' (2003)

Film: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Music and lyrics by: Howard Shore, Annie Lennox and Fran Walsh.
Did it win? Yes. 

"Into the West" was written by Howard Shore, Fran Walsh and Annie Lennox, the last of whom also performs the track. It's one of 11 wins that Return of the King earned that year, making history as one of the biggest Oscar sweeps by a single film. Shore, who is best known for his work with David Cronenberg and Martin Scorsese outside of his monumental contribution to the Lord of the Rings series, also took home the award for best original score that year. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King currently ties Titanic and Ben-Hur for the title of most wins. 

'The Prayer' (1998)

Film: Quest for Camelot.
Music and lyrics by: David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager, Tony Renis and Alberto Testa.
Did it win? No. 

"The Prayer" earned Canadian David Foster his third Oscar nomination. The song, co-written by Carole Bayer Sager, Alberto Testa and Tony Renis, was originally performed by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli separately, for the 1998 film Quest for Camelot. But it later became a duet that was featured on both artists' respective albums. While the song won a Golden Globe Award for best original song, it would go on to lose the 1999 Academy Award to Stephen Schwartz's "When You Believe" from the movie, The Prince of Egypt.

'I Finally Found Someone' (1996)

Film: The Mirror Has Two Faces.
Music and lyrics by: Bryan Adams, Barbra Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch and Mutt Lange.
Did it win? No. 

Barbra Streisand tapped Canadian musician Bryan Adams for "I Finally Found Someone," a power ballad for the soundtrack of the Streisand-directed film, The Mirror Has Two Faces. Co-written by Marvin Hamlisch and eventual Shania Twain collaborator Mutt Lange, and produced by David Foster, this track peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, but lost the Academy Award to "You Must Love Me" from that year's big musical juggernaut, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Evita.  

'Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?' (1995) 

Film: Don Juan DeMarco.
Music and lyrics by: Bryan Adams, Michael Kamen and Mutt Lange. 
Did it win? No. 

Bryan Adams' mid-'90s reign continued with the flamenco-inspired "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?," a song he co-wrote and co-produced with Michael Kamen and Mutt Lange for the Johnny Depp film, Don Juan DeMarco. The song lost the award to Pocahontas' "Colours of the Wind," but "Have You Ever Loved a Woman?" topped the Billboard Hot 100, staying at No. 1 for five weeks in the U.S. 

'Philadelphia' (1993)

Film: Philadelphia. 
Music and lyrics by: Neil Young.
Did it win? No. 

Just like Barbie and various other films in Oscars history, Jonathan Demme's legal drama Philadelphia earned multiple nominations in the best original song category. Neil Young got his first and only nomination for "Philadelphia," but ultimately lost to the film's bigger hit, "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen.  

'I Have Nothing' (1992)

Film: The Bodyguard.
Music and lyrics by: David Foster and Linda Thompson.
Did it win? No. 

1992 saw two films enter the best original song race with two contenders: Aladdin had "A Whole New World" and "Friend Like Me," and The Bodyguard had two Whitney Houston tracks, "Run to You" and "I Have Nothing." The latter was produced by David Foster and co-written by Foster and his then-partner Linda Thompson. And even though it was the best-selling soundtrack of 1993, staying at the top of the Billboard 200 for 20 non-consecutive weeks, it wasn't strong enough to beat the Disney classic, "A Whole New World." 

'(Everything I Do) I Do it For You' (1991)

Bryan Adams' first Oscar nomination was for his Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves track, "(Everything I Do) I Do it For You," which was also co-written by Michael Kamen and Mutt Lange. The song was also the lead single to his sixth album, Waking Up the Neighbours. This is still one of Adams' most successful singles to date, selling 15 million copies worldwide, but Adams left the Academy Awards empty-handed, losing to the title track of the Disney hit, Beauty and the Beast (performed by Canadian pop star Celine Dion). 

'Glory of Love' (1986)

Film: The Karate Kid Part 2.
Music and Lyrics by: David Foster, Peter Cetera and Diane Nini.
Did it win? No. 

David Foster's first Academy Award recognition was for "Glory of Love" from The Karate Kid Part 2. Co-written and performed by Peter Cetera, this marked Cetera's first chart-topping hit after he left the rock band Chicago. The song was also nominated for a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award, but it lost the Oscar to Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock's even bigger smash, "Take My Breath Away," written for the Tom Cruise blockbuster, Top Gun.  

'Up Where We Belong' (1982)

The first Canadian to be nominated and to win an Academy Award for best original song, Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Up Where We Belong," written for 1982's An Officer and a Gentleman, beat out Stephen Bishop's "It Might be You" and Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" for the trophy.