10 Best Disney End Credits Songs, Ranked
Written by on June 12, 2023
One hallmark of the modern era of Disney animation is the use of musical end-credit sequences. These end credits always feature either: an original pop song that ties directly into the movie or a cover version of the movie’s main musical theme performed by a prominent pop artist. Disney’s tradition of closing out their movies in song officially began in 1991 when Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson’s duet version of “Beauty and the Beast” from Beauty and the Beast reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
More than thirty years later, that same tradition of musical-narrative closure remains consistent across the Disney canon. A new Disney movie always promises a new end credits sequence, and thus, another addition to the studio’s ever-expanding catalog of original songs. The following are the ten best Disney end credits songs of all time, ranked according to a combination of their cultural impact, historical significance, and pure enjoyment factor.
10 “Never Knew I Needed” — ‘The Princess and the Frog’ (2009)
Ne-yo‘s pop-soul ballad “Never Knew I Needed” serenaded audiences back in 2009 as the credits rolled over Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, a jazzy and enchanting modern retelling of the classic fairytale. No stranger to the wide world of Disney, Ne-yo went on to record a version of “Friend Like Me” from the Aladdin soundtrack for a 2015 Disney covers album called, We Love Disney.
While the movie’s score and lyrics were written by legendary Oscar-winning composer Randy Newman, “Never Knew I Needed” is a Ne-yo original. The song’s inclusion in the closing credits gives the movie a very specific and nostalgic sense of the time and place that was 2009.
9 “Lead the Way” — ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ (2021)
Jhené Aiko’s “Lead the Way” is the perfect musical sendoff for Raya and the Last Dragon. Her purifying lead vocals dance across a blissful instrumental that sonically evokes the movie’s two central elements (air and water), which shape Raya’s and Sisu’s journey, and define the spiritual essence of the land of Kumandra.
Aiko’s lyrics encapsulate the movie’s defining message about the importance of unity, the preservation of nature, and the true meaning of family. The artwork used in the closing credits is deeply informed by Southeast Asian culture and folklore, and it summarizes the movie’s visual palette in a colorful closing collage.
8 “True To Your Heart” — ‘Mulan’ (1998)
The end-credits song for Disney’s Mulan, “True to Your Heart,” resulted from an unlikely collaboration between the 1990s boy band 98 Degrees and the immortal musical icon himself, Stevie Wonder. Funnily enough, the song was originally written for another ’90s pop sensation, Hanson, but the song was subsequently rewritten to fit a pop-soul musical pocket more akin to Wonder’s classic sound.
The music video for “True to Your Heart” may be a hilariously dated product of its time, but the song’s irresistibly sweet and celebratory vibe, its infectious chorus, and the instant credibility that Wonder brings to any track that he appears on makes this end-credits tune a stone-cold ’90s Disney classic.
7 “You’ll Be in My Heart” — ‘Tarzan’ (1999)
Phil Collins won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 1999 Oscars for “You’ll Be in My Heart” from Disney’s Tarzan. Along with stampeding jams like “Two Worlds” and inspiring anthems of self-discovery like “Son of Man,” Collins’ music for Tarzan is used so much it legitimately becomes one of the movie’s main characters.
The Genesis singer/songwriter may have been hired to compose songs for this Jungle adventure based on his background as a Rock ‘n Roll drummer, but the song that ultimately won him his Oscar was a heartfelt tear-jerker about parental love, set to a mostly subdued orchestral piece of music.
6 “How Far I’ll Go” — ‘Moana’ (2016)
Not since Frozen‘s “Let it Go” in 2013 had Disney experienced a global smash phenomenon in the form of an original song like they had with “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana. Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara lent her talents to this end-credits sequence by belting out a soaring, chills-inducing pop version of Moana’s signature power ballad.
In 2017 Cara and the voice of Moana herself, Auli’i Cravalho, brought the house down together by performing “How Far I’ll Go” live on stage at the Radio Disney Music Awards. Lin-Manuel Miranda may have lost the Oscar to “City of Stars” from La La Landin 2017, but Cara’s version reached #56 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “How Far I’ll Go” won the Grammy for best song written for visual media the same year.
5 “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” — ‘The Lion King’ (1994)
Hans Zimmer’s triumphant score glides The Lion King to a joyous and cathartic close. But as the credits begin to roll, Zimmer’s score soon fades away, making room for Elton John‘s piano ballad version of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” to take center stage. The song won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 1995 Academy Awards, and John performed his version of the song live with his piano that same night.
The Kristle Murden version may be slightly better known as it provides the soundtrack for Nala and Simba’s romantic evening scene in the movie, but the Rocket Man’s end credits rendition of the song contains a stronger sense of finality. This entire closing credits sequence will elicit a warm feeling that is deeply ’90s to its core.
4 “Remember Me (Dúo)” — ‘Coco’ (2017)
As if the ending of Coco wasn’t emotional enough, the end credits see singers Miguel and Natalia Lafourcade forming a musical match made in Mexico and laying down a soothing duet version of the movie’s heartbreaking lullaby of love, “Remember Me (Dúo).” Beautiful hand-drawn images of colorful papel picado decorations accented by golden Marigold petals floating in the evening breeze set the perfect visual backdrop for both singers to melt the aching hearts of the movie’s audience.
Miguel and Laforcade performed their wonderful duet of “Remember Me (Dúo)” live at the 2018 Academy Awards, while the original song won Robert Lopez and Kristin Anderson Lopez their second Oscar for best original song. Both versions are incredibly emotionally potent, but the choice to include Laforcade’s native Spanish verses in “Remember Me (Dúo)” makes the end credits version of the song remarkably special.
3 “Let It Go” — ‘Frozen’ (2013)
It’s mind-blowing to consider the fact that Demi Lovato‘s smash-hit version of “Let It Go” has over 600 million views on Youtube, and yet it still trails behind both the original Idina Menzel theatrical version and the Disney UK sing-along version by several hundred-million views apiece.
Lovato has said that she deeply identified with the journey that Elsa embarks on in Frozen, recognizing her struggles with self-identity within the underlying internal conflict that motivates Elsa’s big musical number, growing into who she truly is and finally embracing her power instead of shielding it from the world. “Let It Go” predictably took home the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2014, and parents everywhere heard their children sing along to it approximately five-trillion times.
2 “A Whole New World” — ‘Aladdin’ (1992)
Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle‘s version of “A Whole New World” (also known as “Aladdin’s Theme”), which plays over the end credits of Aladdin, spent a week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992, making it the first song from a Disney animated movie to do so.
The definition of an anthem, “A Whole New World,” has become such a ubiquitous piece of pop culture that the song transcends the movie’s legacy. The Bryson/Belle version is just as swooning and uplifting as the original but elevated to an even higher degree of vocal power and emotional range. This quintessential ’90s Disney pop ballad will still provide the soundtrack for countless Karaoke sessions, late-night cruises, and romantic first dances at weddings long after we are all gone.
1 “Beauty and the Beast” — ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1991)
The one song that started it all; in 1991, supreme vocalist Celine Dion and Disney musical all-star Peabo Bryson combined their titanic vocal chops and dramatic gravitas to deliver a Disney duet for the ages. Built around the transcendent harmonies of the track’s two powerhouse lead vocalists, “Beauty and the Beast” is the sonic equivalent of Belle’s iconic yellow ball gown: a shimmering, swirling, cascading river of elegant golden light.
The song was a critical and commercial game changer for Disney, earning a Golden Globe, several Grammy Awards, and an Oscar for Best Original Song. Dion and Bryson included the song on subsequent solo records and performed it live at the 1992 Academy Awards. “Beauty and the Beast” helped to carve out a truly enduring cultural legacy for Disney animation. It not only set the template for all future Disney end credits songs, but it remains the most iconic and beloved of the bunch to this day.
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