Wait a minute... what day is it again?

Anywho, what are your top 10 composers!

Mine are:

1) John Williams
2) James Horner
3) Jerry Goldsmith
4) Joe Hisaishi
5) Michael Giacchino
6) Danny Elfman
7) James Newton Howard
8) Patrick Doyle
9) John Debney
10) Alexandre Desplat

Runners up would probably be Bear McCreary, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Brian Tyler, and Alan Silvestri in some order.

For this list, I was largely looking at the number of scores I own by each composer and the number of ****+ star rated scores I have by each composer, and ranked them accordingly. The first four are pretty easy for me to rank but things get slightly more difficult after that.

Looking at classical composers, my ten favorite there are:

1) George Frederick Handel
2) Gustav Mahler
3) Joseph Haydn
4) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
5) Sir Edward Elgar
6) Johann Sebastian Bach
7) Antonin Dvorak
8) Ludwig van Beethoven
9) Ralph Vaughan Williams
10) Antonio Vivaldi

What sayeth y'all?!!!!

> Wait a minute... what day is it again?

> Anywho, what are your top 10 composers!

> Mine are:

> 1) John Williams
> 2) James Horner
> 3) Jerry Goldsmith
> 4) Joe Hisaishi
> 5) Michael Giacchino
> 6) Danny Elfman
> 7) James Newton Howard
> 8) Patrick Doyle
> 9) John Debney
> 10) Alexandre Desplat

> Runners up would probably be Bear McCreary, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer,
> John Powell, Brian Tyler, and Alan Silvestri in some order.

I'd say
1) Jerry Goldsmith
2) John Williams
3) James Horner
4) Ennio Morricone
5) John Barry
6) Howard Shore
7) Michael Giacchino
8) Miklos Rosza
9) Elliot Goldenthal
10) David Arnold

John Powell, Alexandre Desplat, Bear McCreary, Alan Silvestri, Christopher Young, James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman, Marco Beltrami, Basil Poledouris and Joe Hisaishi would be my runner-ups but anyone of these guys honestly deserves a place among #6-10. My top-three are very close and basically interchangeable, as are Morricone and Barry.

I don't keep a ranked list, but of film composers, there's certainly some level of childhood bias:

1) James Horner - the sound of my childhood, the music of my soul
2) Basil Poledouris - emotionally generous, a bear of a man and his music is a big warm hug
3) John Williams - What is there to say? An astonishing composer, his music approachable and memorable and hummable yet sophisticated and intricate.

Beyond that I don't know how to rank. Powell, Herrmann, Waxman probably on there. Goldsmith, certainly. Probably Doyle. Is McCreary or Giacchino or Arnold on there? Desplat? Kamen? Not Barry or Bernstein for me. Not Zimmer. Do I have any in my top 10 who aren't white men?

> Wait a minute... what day is it again?

> Anywho, what are your top 10 composers!

> Mine are:

> 1) John Williams
> 2) James Horner
> 3) Jerry Goldsmith
> 4) Joe Hisaishi
> 5) Michael Giacchino
> 6) Danny Elfman
> 7) James Newton Howard
> 8) Patrick Doyle
> 9) John Debney
> 10) Alexandre Desplat

> Runners up would probably be Bear McCreary, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer,
> John Powell, Brian Tyler, and Alan Silvestri in some order.

> For this list, I was largely looking at the number of scores I own by each
> composer and the number of ****+ star rated scores I have by each
> composer, and ranked them accordingly. The first four are pretty easy for
> me to rank but things get slightly more difficult after that.

> Looking at classical composers, my ten favorite there are:

> 1) George Frederick Handel
> 2) Gustav Mahler
> 3) Joseph Haydn
> 4) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
> 5) Sir Edward Elgar
> 6) Johann Sebastian Bach
> 7) Antonin Dvorak
> 8) Ludwig van Beethoven
> 9) Ralph Vaughan Williams
> 10) Antonio Vivaldi

> What sayeth y'all?!!!!

1, Jerry Goldsmith, my Maestro
2. James Horner, the greatest composer ever
3. John Barry, the romance king
4. Leonard Rosenman, the king of avant-garde composers
5. Michael Kamen, the biggest heart in film scoring
6. Alan Silvestri, the heir to Jerry Goldsmith in action scoring
7. Dennis McCarthy, the humblest, nicest composer ever, yet one of the few who does all his own orchestration
8. Cliff Eidelman, the talented genius Hollywood forgot
9. Michael Giacchino, my favourite composer in work today
and
10. John Williams, the longest serving composer of all time and still doing it

After that comes:

11. Jay Chattaway, composer of my favourite horror score, Maniac and The Inner Light theme
12. John Powell, the greatest composer in work today
13. David Arnold, give this guy another Bond film EON!
14. Basil Poledouris, the master of seafaring scores
15. Marco Beltrami, an underrated genius and one of the best horror composers in work today
16. Georges Delerue, the greatest melodic composer of all time
17. Paul Baillargeon, his Star Trek TV scores are most melodic and he's the first Canadian to score for Star Trek
18. John Ottman, my favourite superhero composer, although with very bad taste in collaborators
19. Ennio Morricone, need I say any more?
and
20. Thomas Newman, the master at quirky, yet melancholic music

> Wait a minute... what day is it again?

> Anywho, what are your top 10 composers!

> Mine are:

> 1) John Williams
> 2) James Horner
> 3) Jerry Goldsmith
> 4) Joe Hisaishi
> 5) Michael Giacchino
> 6) Danny Elfman
> 7) James Newton Howard
> 8) Patrick Doyle
> 9) John Debney
> 10) Alexandre Desplat

> Runners up would probably be Bear McCreary, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer,
> John Powell, Brian Tyler, and Alan Silvestri in some order.

I'm somewhat surprised that a man of your listening has picked almost entirely living composers. In fact, the only reason I know you don't just mean living composers is the presence of Horner and Goldsmith.

> For this list, I was largely looking at the number of scores I own by each
> composer and the number of ****+ star rated scores I have by each
> composer, and ranked them accordingly. The first four are pretty easy for
> me to rank but things get slightly more difficult after that.

Maybe that explains it. Fair enough.

Anyway, here's my off-hand attempt:

1. James Horner
2. Nino Rota
3. Max Steiner
4. John Barry
5. John Williams
6. Jerry Goldsmith
7. A. R. Rahman
8. Randy Newman
9. Bernard Herrmann
10. John Powell

> Looking at classical composers, my ten favorite there are:

> 1) George Frederick Handel
> 2) Gustav Mahler
> 3) Joseph Haydn
> 4) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
> 5) Sir Edward Elgar
> 6) Johann Sebastian Bach
> 7) Antonin Dvorak
> 8) Ludwig van Beethoven
> 9) Ralph Vaughan Williams
> 10) Antonio Vivaldi

> What sayeth y'all?!!!!

Oh goodness I'm going to do this way too fast, and regret the whole thing. Oh well.

1. Elgar
2. Richard Strauss
3. Mozart
4. Mahler
5. Rachmaninov
6. Beethoven
7. Bach
8. Puccini
9. Chopin
10. Wagner

> I'm somewhat surprised that a man of your listening has picked almost
> entirely living composers. In fact, the only reason I know you don't just
> mean living composers is the presence of Horner and Goldsmith.

> Maybe that explains it. Fair enough.

I should have included Rozsa in the list of runners up, but I do have something of a blind spot, and haven't really done any deep dives into golden age composers yet.

I do have a bunch of golden age scores in my top 100 but most of those are ones that have had a relatively new, digital recording (I actively seek out new recordings of golden age scores!) and Craig's wonderful review series on Movie Music UK has led to some wonderful discoveries too.

There are also many composers outside of the ones I listed on my top 10 I should seek to do a deeper dive of as well. If you are interested, here are the 27 composers where I've heard 10+ scores or more, with the number of scores I have by them. I have 1450 soundtracks in my collection altogether with a similar sized collection of classical albums!

67 John Williams
61 James Horner
52 Jerry Goldsmith
44 Michael Giacchino
44 Danny Elfman
40 Joe Hisaishi
35 Patrick Doyle
30 John Debney
29 James Newton Howard
29 Alexandre Desplat
27 Brian Tyler
24 Hans Zimmer
21 Alan Silvestri
20 Bear McCreary
18 Howard Shore
16 Christopher Lennertz
14 Christopher Young
13 John Powell
12 Basil Poledouris
12 Miklos Rozsa
12 Joel McNeely
11 David Arnold
11 Bill Conti
11 George Fenton
11 Fernando Velazquez
10 John Ottman
10 Bruce Broughton

> I should have included Rozsa in the list of runners up, but I do have
> something of a blind spot, and haven't really done any deep dives into
> golden age composers yet.

> I do have a bunch of golden age scores in my top 100 but most of those are
> ones that have had a relatively new, digital recording (I actively seek
> out new recordings of golden age scores!) and Craig's wonderful review
> series on Movie Music UK has led to some wonderful discoveries too.

> There are also many composers outside of the ones I listed on my top 10 I
> should seek to do a deeper dive of as well. If you are interested, here
> are the 27 composers where I've heard 10+ scores or more, with the number
> of scores I have by them. I have 1450 soundtracks in my collection
> altogether with a similar sized collection of classical albums!

> 67 John Williams
> 61 James Horner
> 52 Jerry Goldsmith
> 44 Michael Giacchino
> 44 Danny Elfman
> 40 Joe Hisaishi
> 35 Patrick Doyle
> 30 John Debney
> 29 James Newton Howard
> 29 Alexandre Desplat
> 27 Brian Tyler
> 24 Hans Zimmer
> 21 Alan Silvestri
> 20 Bear McCreary
> 18 Howard Shore
> 16 Christopher Lennertz
> 14 Christopher Young
> 13 John Powell
> 12 Basil Poledouris
> 12 Miklos Rozsa
> 12 Joel McNeely
> 11 David Arnold
> 11 Bill Conti
> 11 George Fenton
> 11 Fernando Velazquez
> 10 John Ottman
> 10 Bruce Broughton

Marvellous. I admire this numerical approach, partly in the knowledge I'll never be wired to match it.

> Oh goodness I'm going to do this way too fast, and regret the whole thing.
> Oh well.

> 1. Elgar

Elgar is a composer that has climbed way up on my list over the last 5 or so years after exploring his choral works further!

The Apostles, The Dream of Gerontius, The Kingdom, Caractacus, The Black Knight, Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands, Sea Pictures, The Music Makers, The Light of Life are all extremely good. I can't get enough of the sound of Elgar's choral works, and that of his English contemporaries!

Richard Hickox and Sir Mark Elder's recordings of Elgar's works are usually top of the line too!

> Elgar is a composer that has climbed way up on my list over the last 5 or
> so years after exploring his choral works further!

For me, it's probably more his symphonies that put him quite so high up - the first has become my favourite symphony over several years, and is closer to my heart than I can express - but yes, the choral works are glorious, and intensely moving.

> The Apostles, The Dream of Gerontius, The Kingdom, Caractacus, The Black
> Knight, Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands, Sea Pictures, The Music
> Makers, The Light of Life are all extremely good. I can't get enough of
> the sound of Elgar's choral works, and that of his English contemporaries!

Delighted to hear it. Not certain I've heard 'The Black Knight', but I love the others. You like Howells, I trust?

> Richard Hickox and Sir Mark Elder's recordings of Elgar's works are
> usually top of the line too!

Indeed. I also love Andrew Davis for Elgar - he's to thank for the complete recording of 'The Crown of India', which is very pleasant indeed (the second disc without the twee narration is, of course, to be preferred).

> For me, it's probably more his symphonies that put him quite so high up -
> the first has become my favourite symphony over several years, and is
> closer to my heart than I can express - but yes, the choral works are
> glorious, and intensely moving.

I should listen to his symphonies again soon. It's been a while since I've given them a spin.

> Delighted to hear it. Not certain I've heard 'The Black Knight', but I
> love the others. You like Howells, I trust?

I've just heard a wonderful Hickox recording of Howell's 'Hymnus Paradisi.'

> Indeed. I also love Andrew Davis for Elgar - he's to thank for the
> complete recording of 'The Crown of India', which is very pleasant indeed
> (the second disc without the twee narration is, of course, to be
> preferred).

Definitely! I also have that recording, and should have included it in my list above!

Edit: Somehow I posted my initial reply with your username (I deleted the post). You should create a profile before a troll takes over your account!

Movie/TV composers:

1 - Jerry Goldsmith
2 - Hans Zimmer
3 - James Horner
4 - John Williams
5 - Thomas Newman
6 - Bear McCreary
7 - Lorne Balfe
8 - John Powell
9 - James Newton Howard
10 - Michael Giacchino

Classical composers:

1 - Ralph Vaughan Williams
2 - Jean Sibelius
3 - Gustav Holst
4 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
5 - Felix Mendelssohn
6 - Igor Stravinsky
7 - Claude Debussy
8 - Johannes Brahms
9 - Frederick Delius
10 - Aaron Copland

1 - Jerry Goldsmith
2 - Bernard Herrmann
3 - Miklós Rózsa
4 - John Williams
5 - Ennio Morricone
6 - Nino Rota
7 - Basil Poledouris
8 - Dimitri Tiomkin
9 - Alex North
10 - James Horner
11 - Zbigniew Preisner
12 - John Barry
13 - Wojciech Kilar

Order? Only the first three positions are important to me.

> Wait a minute... what day is it again?

> Anywho, what are your top 10 composers!

> Mine are:

> 1) John Williams
> 2) James Horner
> 3) Jerry Goldsmith
> 4) Joe Hisaishi
> 5) Michael Giacchino
> 6) Danny Elfman
> 7) James Newton Howard
> 8) Patrick Doyle
> 9) John Debney
> 10) Alexandre Desplat

> Runners up would probably be Bear McCreary, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer,
> John Powell, Brian Tyler, and Alan Silvestri in some order.

> For this list, I was largely looking at the number of scores I own by each
> composer and the number of ****+ star rated scores I have by each
> composer, and ranked them accordingly. The first four are pretty easy for
> me to rank but things get slightly more difficult after that.

> Looking at classical composers, my ten favorite there are:

> 1) George Frederick Handel
> 2) Gustav Mahler
> 3) Joseph Haydn
> 4) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
> 5) Sir Edward Elgar
> 6) Johann Sebastian Bach
> 7) Antonin Dvorak
> 8) Ludwig van Beethoven
> 9) Ralph Vaughan Williams
> 10) Antonio Vivaldi

> What sayeth y'all?!!!!

With my favourite scores of theirs -

1: John Williams (The Empire Strikes Back/The Last Crusade/Jurassic Park/The Philosopher’s Stone
2: Bear McCreary (God of War/Masters of the Universe: Revelation/TLOTR: The Rings of Power/The Cloverfield Paradox
3: Michael Giacchino (Star Trek Into Darkness/John Carter/Spider-Man: Homecoming/Cars 2
4: Hans Zimmer (At World’s End/The Lion King/King Arthur/The Dark Knight
5: James Newton Howard (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald/Maleficent/Unbreakable/Jungle Cruise
6: Alan Silvestri (Ready Player One/The Mummy Returns/Van Helsing/Back to the Future Part III
7: Danny Elfman (Batman/Beetlejuice/Dolittle/Justice League
8: James Horner (Titanic/Braveheart/The Amazing Spider-Man/Avatar
9: John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon 2/Solo/The Call of the Wild/Pan
10: Ramin Djawadi (Eternals/Pacific Rim/Game of Thrones/Clash of the Titans

Runner ups -
Basil Poledouris (Conan the Barbarian/RoboCop/Starship Troopers/The Blue Lagoon
Howard Shore (The Return of the King/The Aviator/Hugo/Eclipse
Jerry Goldsmith (Rudy/Rambo II/Supergirl/Basic Instinct
Patrick Doyle (Death on the Nile/Rise of the Planet of the Apes/Thor/Frankenstein
Craig Armstrong (Elizabeth: The Golden Age/The Incredible Hulk/The Bone Collector/Love Actually
Alexandre Desplat (The Deathly Hallows Part 2/The Imitation Game/Godzilla/New Moon
Christopher Young (Drag Me to Hell/Priest/Hellraiser/Untraceable

I mean, this is almost impossible. I love so many scores by so many composers. Today I gotta go with these, but this would change frequently:

1. James Horner
2, John Williams
3. Jerry Goldsmith
4. Ennio Morricone
5. John Barry
6. Patrick Doyle
7. Basil Poledouris
8. Danny Elfman
9. Wojciech Kilar
10. Georges Delerue

But, you know, there also Zimmer and Michael Kamen and JNH and Thomas Newman and Shore and Rachel Portman and Debbie Wiseman, Silvestri, Chris Young, Elliot Goldenthal, Powell, Bruce Broughton... freakin' Miklos Rozsa and Korngold and Herrmann and Nino Rota nd... ugh!

Too many!

> Wait a minute... what day is it again?

> Anywho, what are your top 10 composers!

> Mine are:

> 1) John Williams
> 2) James Horner
> 3) Jerry Goldsmith
> 4) Joe Hisaishi
> 5) Michael Giacchino
> 6) Danny Elfman
> 7) James Newton Howard
> 8) Patrick Doyle
> 9) John Debney
> 10) Alexandre Desplat

> Runners up would probably be Bear McCreary, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer,
> John Powell, Brian Tyler, and Alan Silvestri in some order.

> For this list, I was largely looking at the number of scores I own by each
> composer and the number of ****+ star rated scores I have by each
> composer, and ranked them accordingly. The first four are pretty easy for
> me to rank but things get slightly more difficult after that.

> Looking at classical composers, my ten favorite there are:

> 1) George Frederick Handel
> 2) Gustav Mahler
> 3) Joseph Haydn
> 4) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
> 5) Sir Edward Elgar
> 6) Johann Sebastian Bach
> 7) Antonin Dvorak
> 8) Ludwig van Beethoven
> 9) Ralph Vaughan Williams
> 10) Antonio Vivaldi

> What sayeth y'all?!!!!

> I mean, this is almost impossible. I love so many scores by so many
> composers. Today I gotta go with these, but this would change frequently:

> 1. James Horner
> 2, John Williams
> 3. Jerry Goldsmith
> 4. Ennio Morricone
> 5. John Barry
> 6. Patrick Doyle
> 7. Basil Poledouris
> 8. Danny Elfman
> 9. Wojciech Kilar
> 10. Georges Delerue

> But, you know, there also Zimmer and Michael Kamen and JNH and Thomas
> Newman and Shore and Rachel Portman and Debbie Wiseman, Silvestri, Chris
> Young, Elliot Goldenthal, Powell, Bruce Broughton... freakin' Miklos Rozsa
> and Korngold and Herrmann and Nino Rota nd... ugh!

> Too many!

For how often we disagree on modern scores, it's funny how very similar our Top 10's are. I mean, besides your lack of Trevor Rabin haha

> 1. James Horner
> 2, John Williams
> 3. Jerry Goldsmith
> 4. Ennio Morricone
> 5. John Barry
> 6. Patrick Doyle
> 7. Basil Poledouris
> 8. Danny Elfman
> 9. Wojciech Kilar
> 10. Georges Delerue

> But, you know, there also Zimmer and Michael Kamen and JNH and Thomas
> Newman and Shore and Rachel Portman and Debbie Wiseman, Silvestri, Chris
> Young, Elliot Goldenthal, Powell, Bruce Broughton... freakin' Miklos Rozsa
> and Korngold and Herrmann and Nino Rota nd... ugh!

Zimmer, eh? What happened to "I can name 100 film composers better than Hans Zimmer?"

> Zimmer, eh? What happened to 'I can name 100 film composers better than
> Hans Zimmer?'

Oh, i still can. Better and favorite are two different things

1. James Horner
.
.
2. Alan Silvestri
3. John Powell

After that.... take your pick.

Craig Armstrong, Olafur Arnalds, Marco Beltrami, Anne-Kathrin Dern, Michael Danna, Patrick Doyle, Danny Elfman, Ilan Eshkeri, Simon Franglen, Elliot Goldenthal, Jerry Goldsmith, Harry Gregson-Williams, James Newton Howard, Trevor Jones, Michael Kamen, Dario Marianelli, Joel McNeely, Maurizio Malagnini, Mychael Nyman, Thomas Newman, Miguel d'Oliveira, Daniel Pemberton, Steven Price, Rachel Portman, Yuri Poteyenko, Max Richter, Christopher Tin, Fernando Velazquez, Amelia Warner, Christopher Willis, John Williams, Timothy Williams, Christopher Young, Hans Zimmer.

From the classical side... Adams, Beethoven, Borodin, Copland, Khachaturian, Elgar, Prokofiev, R Strauss.

> Wait a minute... what day is it again?

> Anywho, what are your top 10 composers!

> Mine are:

> 1) John Williams
> 2) James Horner
> 3) Jerry Goldsmith
> 4) Joe Hisaishi
> 5) Michael Giacchino
> 6) Danny Elfman
> 7) James Newton Howard
> 8) Patrick Doyle
> 9) John Debney
> 10) Alexandre Desplat

> Runners up would probably be Bear McCreary, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer,
> John Powell, Brian Tyler, and Alan Silvestri in some order.

> For this list, I was largely looking at the number of scores I own by each
> composer and the number of ****+ star rated scores I have by each
> composer, and ranked them accordingly. The first four are pretty easy for
> me to rank but things get slightly more difficult after that.

> Looking at classical composers, my ten favorite there are:

> 1) George Frederick Handel
> 2) Gustav Mahler
> 3) Joseph Haydn
> 4) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
> 5) Sir Edward Elgar
> 6) Johann Sebastian Bach
> 7) Antonin Dvorak
> 8) Ludwig van Beethoven
> 9) Ralph Vaughan Williams
> 10) Antonio Vivaldi

> What sayeth y'all?!!!!

1. John Williams (The GOAT)
2. James Horner
3. Danny Elfman
4. Jerry Goldsmith
5. Hans Zimmer
6. Michael Giacchino
7. James Newton Howard
8. Alan Silvestri
9. Alan Menken
10. Basil Poledouris

I don't expect my top 2 to ever change. Goldsmith may eventually pass Elfman based on how much more work of his I explore. Elfman's place is a sentimental pick due to him being a big influence in getting me into scores in the 90's and early 2000's.

Same with Giacchino bumping Zimmer for my top 5. Giacchino is more consistent these days, but those top scores from Zimmer, some of my all time favorites, are too hard to ignore.

I recently moved Poledouris into my number 10 spot, who grows on me with each new score of his I explore. I had David Arnold in that slot previously.

1.John Williams- my favorite composer overall I don't think this will change ever
2. Michael Giacchino- my favorite composer for the last six, seven years
3. James Newton Howard- one of my favorite fantasy film composers
4. James Horner- Even if Horner hadn't scored anything else but Avatar he would still be this high on the list
5. Hans Zimmer- the composer I listen to most often ironically
6. Alan Silvestri- my favorite action composer
7. John Powell- the HTTYD trilogy and Solo
8. Danny Elfman- also one of my favorite fantasy/ superhero composers
9.Alexandre Desplat- I just really any of his scores in any genre
10. Jerry Goldsmith (I've only listened to about 7,8 of his scores)

I also love Bear McCreary, Benjamin Wallfisch, Brian Tyler, John Debney, Henry Jackman, Howard Shore, and Patrick Doyle

Based on my most recently methodology, my weighted rankings are
-50% based on rank of total scores awarded to all scores heard (Goldsmith is #1 with 537 stars)
-5% based on rank of average score rating (Prokofiev is #1 with a 4.5 rating; unsurprisingly composers with low score counts in my collection tend to do very well here)
- 25% based on composer of the year contention in each year with different points for winning vs. being first or second runner-up (Williams is #1 with 17 points; Goldsmith is the only other one with more than 9 points)
- 20% based on how I tiered their 5-star scores, with each appearance in my top 25 worth more than my top 50 worth more than my top 75 and so on (Williams is #1 with 24 points; Goldsmith and Horner are the only other ones in double digits)

10 is a four-way tie between John Powell, Franz Waxman, Hans Zimmer, and Max Steiner.

9. Michael Giacchino
8. John Barry
7. Bear McCreary

5 is a two-way tie between Elmer Bernstein and Bernard Herrmann.

4. James Horner
3. Miklós Rózsa
2. Jerry Goldsmith
1. John Williams

Favorite classical composer is probably Mahler - but I have no unnecessary quasi-scientific methodology on that front.

1. Jerry Goldsmith
2. Bernard Herrmann
3. John Williams
4. Stephen Sondheim
5. Erich Wolfgang Korngold
6. Franz Waxman
7. Elmer Bernstein
8. Howard Shore
9. Danny Elfman
10. James Horner

Runners up include Michael Giacchino, Alan Silvestri, John Powell, John Barry and of course everyone with the surname Newman.

For comparison, there is composer by the volume of their music that I own:
1. Jerry Goldsmith
2. John Williams
3. Bernard Herrmann
4. Stephen Sondheim
5. Michael Giacchino
6. Danny Elfman
7. Elmer Bernstein
8. Howard Shore
9. Alan Silvestri
10. John Barry

> What sayeth y'all?!!!!

Dude.... you're asking a near impossible task for all of us here.

Anyway, I'll attempt to answer this but keep in mind most of the rankings could easily change in the next few days or just the next time you ask me this:

10. Danny Elfman
9. Howard Shore
8. John Barry
7. Ennio Morricone
6. Christopher Young
5. Hans Zimmer
4. Bernard Herrmann
3. John Williams

These next two are pretty much forever locked into place... but the placement can vary.

2. Jerry Goldsmith
1. James Horner

But of course there's also Akira Ifukube, Elliot Goldenthal, Michial Kamen, Basil Poledouris, Yoko Kanno, Shiro Sagisu, Naoki Sato, Nina Rota, Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Elmer Bernstein, Yuki Kajiura, Pino Donaggio, Gabriel Yared, Bear McCreary, John Powell, Patrick Doyle, Joe Hisaishi, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Wojciech Kilar, Alex North and... you see what you've done?!?!?!??

> Dude.... you're asking a near impossible task for all of us here.

Impossible? But we rank everything here at Filmtracks! Including random scores selected by Riley!

> What sayeth y'all?!!!!

1) John Williams
2) Jerry Goldsmith
3) James Horner
4)Hans Zimmer
5) John Powell
6) James Newton Howard
7) Michael Giacchino
8) Joe Hisaishi
9) Alan Silvestri
10) Bear McCreary

Runners up: Ennio Morricone, Brian Tyler, Ramin Djawadi, Christopher Lennertz, Lorne Balfe, Gareth Coker, Trevor Rabin, Hiroyuki Sawano, Henry Jackman, Thomas Newman, David Newman, Roque Banos, Terrance Blanchard, Steven Price, Ludwig Gorranson, Pinar Toprak, Kevin Penkin, Justin Hurwitz, John Paesano, Steve Jablonsky, Naoki sato, Yutaka Yamada, Martin O’Donnel, Harry Gregson Williams, Yuki Kajira, Yugo Kanno, Yoko Kanno, Austin Wintory. This list goes on and quite a few of those are personal enjoyment more so than just my opinion of them being actual GOATs.

Also shout out to Thomas Bergerson for being my favorite non game/anime/movie/tv (technically) composer

(Message edited on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, at 6:57 p.m. and Wednesday, February 8, 2023, at 7:01 p.m.)

> What sayeth y'all?!!!!

1. Jerry Goldsmith
2. James Horner
3. Elliot Goldenthal
4. Carter Burwell
5. Thomas Newman
6. Hans Zimmer
7. James Newton Howard
8. John Williams
9. Michael Kamen
10. Alan Silverstri

As of now (This is mostly a rough ranking):

1. John Williams
2. Jerry Goldsmith
3. Alan Silvestri
4. David Arnold
5. James Newton Howard
6. Trevor Jones
7. Basil Poledouris
8. Don Davis
9. John Scott
10. Michael Giacchino

The Contenders:

11. James Horner
12. Alexandre Desplat
13. Bruce Broughton
14. Craig Safan
15. Joel McNeely
16. Robert Folk
17. John Ottman
18. Danny Elfman
19. Christopher Young
20. John Debney

1. Jerry Goldsmith
2. John Williams
3. Franz Waxman
4. Miklos Rozsa
5. James Horner
6. John Barry
7. Alex North
8. Erich Wolfgang Korngold
9. Elmer Bernstein
10. Bernard Herrmann

Honourable mentions (listed alphabetically, not preferentially):

Georges Delerue
Jerry Fielding
Ennio Morricone
Alfred Newman
Max Steiner

> 1. Jerry Goldsmith
> 2. John Williams
> 3. Franz Waxman
> 4. Miklos Rozsa
> 5. James Horner
> 6. John Barry
> 7. Alex North
> 8. Erich Wolfgang Korngold
> 9. Elmer Bernstein
> 10. Bernard Herrmann

> Honourable mentions (listed alphabetically, not preferentially):

> Georges Delerue
> Jerry Fielding
> Ennio Morricone
> Alfred Newman
> Max Steiner

Finally, Williams' anecdote about all the better composers being dead rings true. *runs very far away...and doesn't return*

10. John Morris
9. Basil Poledouris
8. Bernard Herrmann
7. Elmer Bernstein
6. Alan Silvestri
5. Shirley Walker
4. Bruce Broughton
3. David Newman
2. John Williams
1. Jerry Goldsmith

> Wait a minute... what day is it again?

> Anywho, what are your top 10 composers!

> What sayeth y'all?!!!!

1. Miklos Rozsa
2. Max Steiner
3. Erich Wolfgang Korngold
4. John Williams
5. James Horner
6. Jerry Goldsmith
7. Alfred Newman
8. Franz Waxman
9. Dimitri Tiomkin
10. Georges Delerue

All the best