AFI's 100 YEARS...100 SONGS

THE WIZARD OF OZ, CASABLANCA AND SINGIN' IN THE RAIN TOP THE SCALES IN AFI's 100 YEARS...100 SONGS: AMERICA'S GREATEST MOVIE MUSIC

The American Film Institute (AFI) revealed the top movie songs of all time in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs three-hour special television event hosted by John Travolta. Having contributed to the list himself-his dance moves helped SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER'S Stayin' Alive disco its way into a Top 10 spot and he made his own way onto the final list with his performance of GREASE'S Summer Nights-Travolta was a natural representative for 100 years of American movie music.

In the venerated #1 spot was Judy Garland's soulful and iconic rendition of Over the Rainbow from the beloved family classic, THE WIZARD OF OZ.

Nabbing the rest of the top spots were classics of every kind-from timeless favorites of yesteryear to contemporary tunes-including As Time Goes By (CASABLANCA), Singin' In The Rain (SINGIN' IN THE RAIN), Moon River (BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S), White Christmas (HOLIDAY INN/WHITE CHRISTMAS), Mrs. Robinson (THE GRADUATE), When You Wish Upon a Star (PINOCCHIO), The Way We Were (THE WAY WE WERE), Stayin' Alive (SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER) and The Sound of Music (THE SOUND OF MUSIC).

The Criteria

The jurors were asked to consider the following criteria while making their selections:

• Feature-Length Fiction Film: The film must be in narrative format, typically more than 60 minutes in length.

• American Film: The film must be in the English language with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States.

• Song: Music and lyrics featured in an American film that set a tone or mood, define character, advance plot and/or express the film's themes in a manner that elevates the moving image art form. Songs may have been written and/or recorded specifically for the film or previously written and/or recorded and selected by the filmmaker to achieve the above goals.

• Cultural Impact: Songs that have captured the nation's heart, echoed beyond the walls of a movie theater, and ultimately stand in our collective memory of the film itself.

• Legacy: Songs that resonate across the century, enriching America's film heritage and captivating artists and audiences today.

The special is the seventh installment in AFI's centennial celebration of American cinema, following the six critically-acclaimed network specials-AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies, AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs, AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills, AFI'S 100 Years...100 Passions and AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains-which, each year, spark a national discussion of America's film history among movie lovers across the nation. Each year the AFI program has garnered the highest rating for its time slot.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs: America's Greatest Movie Music is distributed by SFM Entertainment, LLC. Among the sponsors of this series are Pepsi, Sony, Johnson & Johnson, Best Buy, Napster, Citibank, General Motors, S.C. Johnson, Gillette, Anheuser-Busch, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and Colgate-Palmolive.

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