The Best TV Scores of 2024 (So Far)

In addition to the IndieWire Craft team’s best cinematography and best film score lists of 2024, we’re keeping a close eye on television scores that strike us as exceptional. The music that made this list has amped up the emotion of their stories far beyond the small screen. With big summer releases soaring over the horizon, we feel that it’s time to celebrate the music from the first part of 2024. 

There are several expected culprits in the mix so far this year — it seems like Jeff Russo and his team are as consistent as the United States Postal Service, delivering at least one straight-up orchestral banger every six months come rain, sleet, or snow; Ramin Djawadi is already responsible for enriching not one two intricate sci-fi worlds with an iconic sound of their own and therefore stranded us in the brutal emotional wasteland of having to pick just one; and that Atticus Ross, alongside Leopold Ross and Nick Chuba, bares at least medium responsibility for a series feeling epic is anything but a surprise. 

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Still, even among TV score stalwarts, there are plenty of wonderful and well-earned surprises this year. We’ve had great, fresh twists on existing sounds from second seasons and remakes alike; we’ve had gleefully twisted takes on classical sounds that help create a sense of playfulness in what might otherwise be quite stuffy settings; and we’ve had some tender, haunting music that helps the drama of their series have true staying power.  

Read on for the best television scores of 2024.

Television shows are listed in alphabetical order. This article also features contributions by Jim Hemphill. 

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