Star Wars Soundtrack: Composers and Notable Songs

John Williams composed the music for all nine main Star Wars saga films, from Star Wars (1977), also known as A New Hope, to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), among 13 Star Wars theatrical films. The remaining four are spin-offs, and each one has a different composer.

The nine Williams films run in release order from Star Wars (1977), directed by George Lucas, through The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). They continue with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), and then with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). For the films in the order they were made or the order the story runs, the Star Wars movies in order page sets out both.

The spin-offs break that pattern, and they run here in release order. Kevin Kiner is the credited composer on Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), directed by Dave Filoni. Michael Giacchino scored Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), directed by Gareth Edwards, and John Powell scored Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), directed by Ron Howard. Ludwig Göransson scored The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026), directed by Jon Favreau.

The clearest pattern is how composer credits line up with directors. Williams worked under five different directors across the saga. Lucas directed four of his films (Star Wars and the three prequels), Irvin Kershner directed The Empire Strikes Back, Richard Marquand directed Return of the Jedi, J.J. Abrams directed two (The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker) and Rian Johnson directed The Last Jedi. The spin-offs run the other way: four films, four directors, four composers. As opinion, that makes the saga score a continuous thread and each spin-off a fresh start, with no composer credited twice outside Williams.

The budgets show how different the two groups were. Star Wars (1977) cost $11 million to make, The Empire Strikes Back $18 million and Return of the Jedi $32.5 million. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), the first of the 13 films without Williams, had a budget of $8.5 million and a 98 minute running time, the shortest of the 13. By comparison, Solo: A Star Wars Story cost $275 million and The Mandalorian and Grogu $165 million. The composer credit did not track budget: Williams scored films at both ends of the cost range, while the spin-off composers were hired film by film.

The span is also striking. Williams's credits cover 1977 to 2019, a stretch of 42 years. Within it sits a ten-year gap between Revenge of the Sith (2005) and The Force Awakens (2015) in which the only Star Wars film was The Clone Wars, scored by Kiner. The Last Jedi, at 152 minutes, is the longest film Williams scored.

Some of the films also share a story anchor that the composer credits cut across. Star Wars opens with rebel spies who have stolen the plans to the Death Star, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story follows the family of the scientist Galen Erso, who is pressed to finish work on that same weapon. Giacchino therefore scored a film about the machine that Williams's 1977 music introduced. No musical connection between the two scores is documented in the credits, so none is claimed.

Published credits for these scores name no orchestra, so none is attributed. Cue titles such as Main Title, Imperial March and Princess Leia's Theme are likewise not placed on any film, because a title assigned to the wrong film would mislead.

The next film, Star Wars: Starfighter, is in production with a confirmed US release date of May 28, 2027. No composer is named for it yet. The Star Wars Starfighter page carries the latest status.

The notable Star Wars soundtrack songs with a documented film are Duel of the Fates from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Across the Stars from Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Battle of the Heroes from Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, all by John Williams. Only track titles appear here, never lyrics. For a Star Wars soundtrack playlist, these three titles are the firm starting point; ranking them as the most famous Star Wars songs would be a matter of taste.

Duel of the Fates is the notable track for The Phantom Menace (1999), directed by George Lucas, and no soundtrack album for that film is documented. That film's story opens with the Trade Federation's blockade of Naboo, and the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi stopping on Tatooine to repair their ship. The track is not tied to a specific scene, because no source says where it plays.

Across the Stars is the love theme from Attack of the Clones, and it appears on the album Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, released by Sony Classical in 2002. The title fits the film's setup, in which Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala grow close while he guards her. StarWars.com says the film was captured fully digitally, with more than 2,000 visual effects shots, mostly by ILM. That is a very different working method from the 1977 original, which was filmed with a Tunisian shoot and nine Elstree stages.

Battle of the Heroes is the notable John Williams track from Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005); the film's Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album was released by Sony Classical on May 3, 2005. That is about two weeks before the film's US release on May 19, 2005, and the film had shown out of competition at Cannes on May 15, 2005. As opinion, the album timing makes Revenge of the Sith the best documented of the prequel releases, because it is the only one with both a label and an exact album date.

Two more albums exist. Solo: A Star Wars Story has an Original Motion Picture Soundtrack that Walt Disney Records released on May 25, 2018, the same day as the film in the US. Star Wars: The Last Jedi also has an Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album, but no label or release date is documented for it. No album is documented for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

A comparison across the series shows the gaps. Of the nine Williams films, three have a notable track (the three prequels), and two prequel albums carry a label and year. Among the original trilogy, the sequels and all four spin-offs, no notable track is documented. Of the 13 films, only Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith and Solo: A Star Wars Story have an album with both a label and a date, and the Solo album is the only one released by Walt Disney Records.

What about the rest? Track lists for the original trilogy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Mandalorian and Grogu are not documented, so no tracks are named from them. That includes cue titles such as Main Title, Imperial March and Princess Leia's Theme, which listeners often look for: which film or album carries each is unconfirmed, so none is placed. That is a deliberate limit, because a title placed on the wrong film would mislead. For a complete track listing, the album pages on the labels' own sites remain the authority.