The 15 Best ‘Hunger Games’ Soundtrack Songs

The Hunger Games films use music to echo their characters’ emotions and the story’s political tensions, from Katniss’s opening lullaby to songs of rebellion and loss. Across the franchise, the soundtracks bring together artists from different genres, and the article selects 15 songs it considers the best.

The article describes Lorde’s “Yellow Flicker Beat” as an attempt to capture Katniss’s anger and unexpected power, while Taylor Swift’s “Safe & Sound” keeps the first film’s song in a haunting lullaby style. Olivia Rodrigo’s contribution was inspired by Lucy Gray Baird and the film’s closing image of mockingjays. The franchise began on screen in 2012, concluded its original four-film run in 2015 and later expanded with prequels.