Ice Age Soundtrack: Composers, Songs and Albums for Every Film

Four composers have scored the Ice Age films: David Newman for Ice Age (2002), John Powell for The Meltdown, Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Continental Drift, John Debney for Collision Course and Batu Sener for the Disney+ spinoff The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild. If you want the films in sequence first, the ice age movies in order guide lays out the run.

David Newman scored Ice Age (2002), directed by Chris Wedge. The album, "Ice Age: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack", came out on May 6, 2002, with 13 tracks. The cues people look for are "Opening Travel Music", "Angered Rhinos", "Tigers Going for Baby", "Baby's Wild Ride" and "Running from the Lava".

John Powell then scored three films in a row. Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), directed by Carlos Saldanha, has a 32 track album, "Ice Age: The Meltdown", released by Colosseum on March 27, 2006. Its best-known cues are "The Waterpark", "The Vulture of Doom", "Call of the Mammoth", "Manny and Ellie Meet" and "Extreme Possum".

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), also directed by Saldanha, has a 44 track album of the same name from Varèse Sarabande, released on June 23, 2009. Fans tend to go straight to "Code Blue", "Magic Eggs", "Egg Roll" and "Sid's Kids".

Powell's third film, Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), directed by Michael Thurmeier and Steve Martino, has a 14 track album, "Ice Age: Continental Drift", from Varèse Sarabande, dated July 13, 2011 in the music record. The standout cues are "Morning Peaches", "Schism", "Storm", "No Exit Gutt" and "Pirating The Pirates".

John Debney scored Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), directed by Michael Thurmeier. The 30 track album, "Ice Age: Collision Course", was released by Varèse Sarabande on July 22, 2016. Its main themes include "Ice Age: Collision Course Main Title", "Cosmic Scrat-Tastrophe", "Peaches and Julian" and "Meteor Shower".

Batu Sener scored The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (2022), directed by John Donkin. The 22 track album, "The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack", was released by Hollywood Records on January 28, 2022. Its cues include "Prelude to a New Adventure", "Mission: Possums Out", "Buck's Den" and "Orson, the Brainiac".

Sener has also been reported as the composer of Ice Age: Boiling Point, set for a US release on February 5, 2027. That credit is reported rather than confirmed by the studio.

The best known song in the Ice Age films is "Send Me on My Way" by Rusted Root, which belongs to Ice Age (2002). After that, the saga mixes pop tracks, a classical symphony and an opera aria, so the answer to which song is playing changes quite a bit from film to film.

Ice Age (2002) carries "Send Me on My Way" by Rusted Root. Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) features "Food, Glorious Food" by Lionel Bart. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) has two songs: "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" by Lou Rawls and "Alone Again" by Chad Fischer.

Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) has the busiest song list of the saga. "We Are (Family)" by Keke Palmer, Drake and Nicki Minaj plays over the end credits, and so does "Chasing the Sun" by The Wanted. "Master of the Seas" is the one performed inside the story: the pirate crew sings it during the film, with Peter Dinklage (who voices Captain Gutt) credited as the artist. The film also opens with Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9" in place of an original cue, which is a bold choice for a comedy about a continent splitting apart.

Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) features "My Superstar" by Jessie J and Blaze n Vill. It also includes "Largo al factotum", Rossini's aria, sung by Simon Pegg as Buck while he saves an egg from three dromaeosaurs.

The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (2022), the Disney+ spinoff, has three songs. "Bad Boy (Family Version)" by Yung Bae, bbno$ and MAX plays during a dream sequence where Crash and Eddie imagine a place of their own, again when Ellie calls for them, and over the end credits. "Tripping in Hawaii" by Abandoned Jukebox plays at the watering hole while Buck warns the other animals of a threat, and it fades out as raptors arrive and cause trouble. "Planet Rock" by Jonny Pakfar and Shane Eli is the third.

If you want the voices behind these scenes, the Ice Age cast guide covers who plays each character, and where to watch Ice Age shows which service has each film.

Our picks: the best songs in the Ice Age films (opinion)

1. "Send Me on My Way" (Ice Age, 2002): in my opinion it is the song most people mean when they ask about Ice Age music, and it suits the easygoing tone of the first film.
2. "Master of the Seas" (Continental Drift): a pirate crew performing inside the story gives the film a proper set piece, and Dinklage suits it well.
3. "Largo al factotum" (Collision Course): hearing Buck sing an opera aria in the middle of an egg rescue is, perhaps, the funniest use of music in the series.
4. "Symphony No. 9" (Continental Drift): opening with Beethoven instead of an original cue is a confident way to start a film.
5. "We Are (Family)" (Continental Drift): a big ensemble track over the credits that fits the family theme of the story.
6. "Tripping in Hawaii" (Buck Wild): the way it fades out as the raptors arrive is a neat piece of timing.
7. "Food, Glorious Food" (The Meltdown): it could be argued that this is the most surprising pairing for a prehistoric adventure, which is exactly why it sticks.