Remembering the 25 Greatest Songs From Spider-Man Soundtracks New and Old

The Spider-Man franchise is easily one of the biggest and most successful on the silver screen, but don’t sleep on the spider-soundtracks, either. Going back to the early 2000s, Sam Raimi’s trilogy of Spider-Man films were massive hits and banked billions at the box-office.

Those films also came right in the thick of an era full of big-budget movie soundtracks, featuring songs written and recorded specifically for the films, as well as a mix of hits that were generally in the zeitgeist around the releases. That OG Spider-Man trilogy leaned hard into the soundtrack concept, and, though, the approach faded a bit more in the Amazing Spider-Man and Marvel Studios era, there are still some killer tunes worth webbing up.

As for highlights, things truly heated up when Sony took the Spider-Man franchise into the animated multiverse with the first Spider-Verse film, which featured a soundtrack loaded top-to-bottom with absolute bangers, spawning one of the biggest and most successful film soundtracks of the modern era.

So how do you build the ultimate Spider-Man movie soundtrack? We’ve dug back into the annals of Spider-lore, spotlighting tunes ranging from a ballad by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, a Beastie Boys classic and a Post Malone song you’ve most definitely hummed along to at some point.

Editor’s Note: Some of these films have proper soundtrack scores, but we’ve elected to zero in on needle drops used in the films themselves.

Spider-Man (2002)

One of the earliest films to take the comic book genre seriously, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man introduced Tobey Maguire as everyone’s favorite wall-crawler, Peter Parker. It also introduced a soundtrack featuring a smattering of songs written for and inspired by his hero’s journey, including the on-the-nose “Hero” from Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger (this was 2002, remember, at the height of the band’s cultural power), and the groovy “My Nutmeg Phantasy” from Macy Gray (featuring Angie Stone and Mos Def). One deep cut you might’ve missed is Black Lab’s “Learn to Crawl,” which finds the alt-rock group (who are actually still around!) doing their best spin on a hero’s song about learning the ropes, with some crunchy guitars tying it all together.

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Spider-Man 2 (2004)

With Spider-Man 2, no one was caught by surprise at the film’s success, and the soundtrack followed suit—loaded with hits from some of the biggest bands from the early-aughts. This collection leaned a bit more into the alt-rock of it all, led by the hit Dashboard Confessional rocker “Vindicated,” and the deep, electric Train tune “Ordinary.” One of the better surprises is garage rockers Jet coming in and slowing things down with the ballad “Hold On,” which rounds out a wider setlist filled with the likes of Hoobastank, Maroon 5, The Ataris and, of course, that classic scene featuring B.J. Thomas’ “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head.”

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

The third and final entry in Raimi’s Spider-Man series leaned harder than ever into the concept album, with, essentially, every song on the soundtrack created or recorded exclusively for the release—which makes sense, considering that the franchise was one of the biggest things of the 2000s and could do pretty much whatever it wanted by this point. Highlights from the third chapter include Aussie hard rock outfit Wolfmother’s blistering “Pleased to Meet You” (which evokes plenty of White Stripes vibes), The Killers’ catchy “Move Away” and breakout single “Signal Fire” from Snow Patrol, which can still rip your heart out more than 15 years later.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

After scrapping plans for a fourth Spider-Man film in Sam Raimi’s series, Sony opted to instead reboot the franchise and cast Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker in an effort to bring the comic book royalty further into the modern age. With that new approach also came a new way of dealing with the soundtrack, which this time around consisted, essentially, of just the film’s score from composter James Horner. But the film itself did feature some quality tunes—most notably The Shins’ “No Way Down,” to evoke the more indie vibe of the story, and Coldplay’s “’Til Kingdom Come,” a sparse acoustic tune that taps into the emotion of Garfield’s more somber take on the character of Peter.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

This is a bit of an interesting soundtrack, as composer Hans Zimmer teamed up with Pharrell Williams to handle scoring duties, while tapping hitmakers like Alicia Keys and Kendrick Lamar along the way. If you’re a Pharrell fan, it’s a unique collaboration all on its own. As for bangers? We’d recommend “It’s On Again” from Keys and Lamar, a single put together for the film.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Another few years go by, another Spider-Man reboot hits the big screen. This time around, Sony partnered with Marvel Studios to bring Spider-Man into the world of Iron Man, Captain America and the rest of the Avengers—casting young actor Tom Holland in the title role. The film (not surprisingly) was a smash and spawned its own trilogy. But, as for soundtracks, the new film followed the more standard Marvel formula (Guardians of the Galaxy not withstanding) of using a film score and a few tunes mixed in along the way. On that front, Homecoming had a good mix, most notably with the addition of the Ramones’ thrashing, catchy “Blitzkrieg Bop” and Spoon’s biting “The Underdog,” featuring a more-than-fitting message for an upstart hero.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

If you only have space for one Spider-Man soundtrack in your record stack, we’ll save you some time: Just get this one, period. Not many soundtracks absolutely evoke the film they’re built for, but this one lives and breathes in the world of Miles Morales. Post Malone’s “Sunflower” became the breakout hit for the film, as it plays a central role in the story as Miles’ favorite song he sings to calm down. But, beyond that, the film features plenty of needle drops that could’ve been built as much for the song as the scene. Blackway and Black Caviar’s “What’s Up Danger” is a swelling romp, and you can’t help but headband when Duckwrth and Shaboozey’s “Start a Riot” fires up. Digging deeper, the film even spawned its own Christmas album (yes, really) featuring performances from the film’s cast. It was a project born from a funny inside joke in Into the Spider-Verse, around the idea of an in-world Christmas album recorded by Spider-Man himself.

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Far From Home, second film in Marvel Studios and Sony’s big screen team-up followed the same formula as Homecoming when it comes to the score, but like its predecessor, still managed to squeeze some quality tunes in the film itself. The Ramones make a return trip with “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.” The Go-Go’s 1982 single “Vacation” also makes the cut, and it remains as catchy as ever (and it’s also on theme, considering the film’s story revolves around Spider-Man and his pals heading out of the country on a vacation).

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

The latest live action Spider-Man film is also, arguably, the most ambitious, featuring stars and elements from all the prior incarnations in a big ol’ multi-versal adventure. To that end, the film’s soundtrack pays homage to many of the scores that came before, and, if you’re a fan of Spider-Man soundtracks, it’s a wildly creative effort on that front. But the film also features some quality songs along the way, most notably Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” (a fitting track for the New York-set adventure) and the Talking Heads’ toe-tapper “I Zimbra.”

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

After the massive success of the Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack, Sony looked to replicate that success with an even bigger outing for the sequel. The effort was shepherded by producer and DJ Metro Boomin, and the tracklist features an absolute slew of artists such as Swae Lee, Lil Wayne, Nas, 2 Chains, Future, Ei8ht, Wizkid and a whole lot more. Some of the highlights include James Blake’s “Hummingbird,” “Calling” from Swae Lee, A Boogie wit da Hoodie and Nav and “Annihilate” from Swae Lee, Lil Wayne and Offset. They all have some great hooks, and an equally strong potential to become the next “Sunflower”-style hit.

Listen to our ultimate Spider-Man soundtrack playlist below.