Nominated songs are usually performed live at the televised Academy Awards ceremonies. Although pre-televised ceremonies were broadcast on the radio, the tradition of performing the nominated songs did not begin until the
18th Academy Awards in 1946, in which performers included
Frank Sinatra,
Kathryn Grayson,
Dinah Shore, and
Dick Haymes. In the early years, the songs were usually not performed by the original artists, as in the film. For example, in 1965,
Robert Goulet performed all the nominated songs at the ceremony, and in the case of "
The Look of Love", sung by
Dusty Springfield in
Casino Royale, the positive reaction to the performance by
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 on the 1968 telecast led to their version being released as a single and eventually becoming very popular and successful. In 1970, this was reversed and only the people who had performed the song in the film were permitted to perform the song on the live telecast, even if a popular version was performed by another act. However, since Oscar nominees for 1970, 1971 and 1972 had all been successful records covered by other artists, in 1973, the rule was amended again, and it became standard to first offer either the original artist who performed the song in the film a chance to perform it at the ceremony, followed by the artist who had covered the record to popularity. When neither of those is able to do so (or in rare cases where the telecast producers decide to go with someone else), the Academy chooses other entertainers to perform the song at the ceremony. For example,
Robin Williams performed "
Blame Canada" from
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut at the
72nd Academy Awards instead of the film's voice actors,
Trey Parker and
Mary Kay Bergman (Bergman died a few months before the show).
Beyoncé sung three nominated songs (one of which was a duet with
Josh Groban for "Believe" from
The Polar Express) during the
77th Academy Awards even though she did not perform those songs in any of the respective films. That same year, the song "
Al otro lado del río" ("On the Other Side of the River"), which was featured in the film
The Motorcycle Diaries, won the award, becoming the first song in Spanish and the second in a non-English language to receive the award (the first winner was the
title song to
Never on Sunday, which was sung in Greek in the film by its star,
Melina Mercouri). It was written by
Uruguayan composer
Jorge Drexler, but the producers would not allow Drexler perform the song during the show for fear of losing ratings. Instead, the song was performed by
Carlos Santana and
Antonio Banderas. Drexler's acceptance speech for the award consisted of him singing a few lines
a cappella and closed by simply saying "thank you". In 1985, the Academy rejected
Phil Collins to perform his nominated composition "
Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)". According to representatives of both Collins' record company and Columbia Pictures, this was because the producers of the telecast were not familiar with his work.
Ann Reinking performed the song instead, with Collins sitting in the audience. At the
80th Academy Awards, "
That's How You Know" from the film
Enchanted was performed by
Kristin Chenoweth, rather than the film's star,
Amy Adams. However, Adams performed "
Happy Working Song", which was nominated from the same film. In 2009,
Peter Gabriel, who was originally scheduled to perform his nominated song "
Down to Earth" during the live broadcast, declined to perform after learning that he would be allowed to sing only 65 seconds of the song during the ceremony's Best Original Song nominee performance medley. Gabriel still attended the ceremony, with
John Legend performing the song in his song, and the
Soweto Gospel Choir singing with Legend. Likewise, the
Pussycat Dolls performed the eventual winning song, "
Jai Ho", instead of the original performers that same night due to their version being a hit song in the U.S. The
84th Academy Awards did not feature performances from either nominated song ("
Man or Muppet" from
The Muppets or "Real in Rio" from
Rio). No reason for this was given by Oscar producers. This was only the third time that Best Original Song nominees were not performed (the others were in 1989 and 2010). At the
85th Academy Awards, only three of the five nominees were performed, with the eventual winner, the
theme from
Skyfall, being the only song performed separately on its own (by
Adele) as opposed to being part of a musical medley (the performance followed a tribute to the
James Bond film series, including a complete performance of the
theme from
Goldfinger by
Shirley Bassey). The
88th Academy Awards also had three of the five nominees performed.
Anohni, performer and writer of "Manta Ray", one of the two nominated songs cut from the ceremony, boycotted the ceremony for this reason. It was originally announced that the
91st Academy Awards would only feature two live performances due to time constraints: "
Shallow" from
A Star is Born and "
All the Stars" from
Black Panther. However, this decision was reversed days later. It was announced soon after that
Kendrick Lamar and
SZA had canceled their performance due to "logistics and timing" issues, making "All the Stars" the only nominee of the four not to be performed live. Rapper
Eminem's song "
Lose Yourself", which won the award in
2003, was the only nominated song not performed at the ceremony that year. Eminem later gave a surprise performance of the song at the Oscars in
2020. He received a standing ovation following his performance. In
2021, performances of the nominees for Best Original Song were shown during the ceremony's pre-show,
Oscars: Into the Spotlight. The live performances returned for
the following year's ceremony. In
2025, the Academy did not feature live performances of the nominated songs. In
2026, only two of the five nominees for were performed live during the ceremony, "
Golden" from
KPop Demon Hunters and "
I Lied to You" from
Sinners. ==Winners and nominees==