Best Original Song

Women received 12% of the nominations for Best Original Song, while men received 88%.* The first woman was nominated in 1936 (Dorothy Fields) and won in 1937 (Dorothy Fields). A total of 19 women have won in this category. Two percent of nominees were women of color– a total of 18 nominations. The first woman of color to be nominated and win was Irene Cara, which occurred in 1984. Three women of color have won the Oscar® for Best Original Song.

 Three-fourths of women (77%) were nominated once, compared to 65% of men. Two women, Diane Warren and Marilyn Bergman, have received the most nominations– 15 each (including one for Diane Warren in 2024). However, three men– Sammy Cahn (26 nominations), Johnny Mercer (18 nominations), and Paul Francis Webster (16 nominations) all have more nominations than these two women.

Of the 937 nominees for Best Original Song, 8% were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group.* The first of the 77 nominees appeared in 1943 (Ernesto Lecuona). There have been 21 winners who were underrepresented, which is 11% of all winners. The first underrepresented winner was in 1972 (Isaac Hayes). Forty-two of the nominees in this category were Black/African American, 10 were Asian, 8 were Hispanic/Latino, 2 were Middle Eastern/North African, and 14 were multiracial/multiethnic.

Eighty-eight percent of the underrepresented nominees received only 1 nomination, versus 64% of white nominees.  There were 4 underrepresented nominees with 3 nominations (Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, Robert Lopez, and A.R. Rahman). The top white nominee had  26 nominations (Sammy Cahn).