This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series. Starting in 2019, the category recognizes scripted programs. Unscripted programs compete for Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special.

Winners and nominations

1960s

Note: Award titled Outstanding Individual Achievements in Music Composition (1966–69)

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Total awards by network

* CBS – 12 * ABC – 7 * NBC – 6 * Fox – 3 * PBS – 3 * Syndicated – 3 * Discovery Channel – 2 * Disney+ – 2 * HBO – 2 * Netflix – 3 * UPN – 2 * The WB – 2 * Apple TV+ – 1 * Showtime – 1 * USA – 1

Programs with multiple awards

;3 awards * ''24'' ;2 awards * ''Beauty and the Beast'' * ''Dallas'' (consecutive) * ''Downton Abbey'' (consecutive) * ''Game of Thrones'' (consecutive) * ''Hawaii Five-O'' * ''House of Cards'' * ''Little House on the Prairie'' * ''The Mandalorian'' (consecutive) * ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'' (consecutive)

Programs with multiple nominations

;12 nominations * ''The Simpsons'' (Fox) ;8 nominations * ''24'' (Fox) ;6 nominations * ''Dallas'' (CBS) ;5 nominations * ''Hawaii Five-O'' (CBS) * ''House of Cards'' (Netflix) * ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (Syndicated) * ''Star Trek: Voyager'' (UPN) * ''The X-Files'' (Fox) * ''Xena: Warrior Princess'' (Syndicated) ;4 nominations * ''Little House on the Prairie'' (NBC) * ''Lou Grant'' (ABC) * ''Moonlighting'' (CBS) ;3 nominations * ''Beauty and the Beast'' (CBS) * ''Columbo'' (NBC) * ''The Crown'' (Netflix) * ''Downton Abbey'' (PBS) * ''Family Guy'' (Fox) * ''Game of Thrones'' (HBO) * ''I Spy'' (NBC) * ''Lost'' (ABC) * ''Love, American Style'' (ABC) * ''Matlock'' (NBC) * ''Mission: Impossible'' (CBS) * ''Murder, She Wrote'' (CBS) * ''Run for Your Life'' (NBC) * ''SeaQuest DSV'' (NBC) * ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'' (ABC) ;2 nominations * ''Bonanza'' (NBC) * ''The Borgias'' (Showtime) * ''Bronk'' (CBS) * ''CBS Playhouse'' (CBS) * ''Chef's Table'' (Netflix) * ''The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd'' (NBC) * ''Dynasty'' (ABC) * ''Enterprise'' (UPN) * ''Ghost Whisperer'' (CBS) * ''Gunsmoke'' (CBS) * ''The Handmaid's Tale'' (Hulu) * ''House'' (Fox) * ''JAG'' (CBS) * ''Knots Landing'' (CBS) * ''The Mandalorian'' (Disney+) * ''Miami Vice'' (NBC) * ''Penny Dreadful'' (Showtime) * ''Rome'' (HBO) * ''Roots'' (ABC) * ''St. Elsewhere'' (NBC) * ''Succession'' (HBO) * ''30 Rock'' (NBC) * ''This Is Us'' (NBC)

Composers with multiple awards

;3 awards *

Bruce Broughton Bruce Harold Broughton (born March 8, 1945) is an American orchestral composer of television, film, and video game scores and concert works. He has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career and has contributed man ...

Sean Callery Sean Callery (born 1964) is an American musician and composer, best known for composing the music for the action/drama '' 24'' and the Marvel adaptation ''Jessica Jones''. Other projects include the 2004 James Bond video game, '' James Bond 007: ...

* David Rose ;2 awards *

Jeff Beal Jeff Beal (born June 20, 1963) is an American composer of music for film, television, recordings, and the concert hall. Highly regarded as a jazz instrumentalist and versatile composer, Beal creates music that often incorporates a synthesis of im ...

* Don Davis *

John Debney John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores. His work encompasses a variety of mediums and genres including comedy, horror, thriller, and action-adventure. He is a l ...

Ramin Djawadi Ramin Djawadi (, fa, رامین جوادی; born 19 July 1974) is an Iranian and German score composer. He is known for his scores for the 2008 Marvel film ''Iron Man'' and the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', for which he was nominated for Gramm ...

George Fenton George Richard Ian Howe (born 19 October 1949), known professionally as George Fenton, is an English composer. Best known for his work writing film scores and music for television, he has received five Academy Award nominations, several Ivor No ...

Billy Goldenberg William Leon Goldenberg (February 10, 1936 – August 3, 2020) was an American composer and songwriter, best known for his work on television and film. Early life Goldenberg was born in February 10, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, New York. His ...

Ludwig Göransson Ludwig Emil Tomas Göransson (; ; born 1 September 1984) is a Swedish composer, conductor and record producer. He has scored films such as ''Fruitvale Station'', the ''Rocky'' franchise entries ''Creed'' and ''Creed II'', ''Venom'', and ''Tene ...

* Joseph LoDuca * John Lunn * Joel Rosenbaum *

Laurence Rosenthal Laurence Rosenthal (born November 4, 1926) is an American composer, arranger, and conductor for theater, television, film, and the concert hall. Biography Born in Detroit, Michigan, Rosenthal attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N ...

Morton Stevens Morton Stevens (January 30, 1929 – November 11, 1991) was an American film score composer. In 1965, he became director of music for CBS West Coast operations. He is probably best known for composing the theme music for '' Hawaii Five-O'', a ...

Composers with multiple nominations

;16 nominations * Alf Clausen ;10 nominations *

* Patrick Williams ;8 nominations *

* Dennis McCarthy * David Rose ;7 nominations *

Mark Snow Mark Snow (born Martin Fulterman; August 26, 1946) is an American composer for film and television. Among his most famous compositions is the theme music for science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. The theme reached no. 2 on the UK Si ...

;6 nominations *

* Joseph LoDuca *

Angela Morley Angela Morley (10 March 192414 January 2009) was an English composer and conductor who became a familiar household name to BBC Radio listeners in the 1950s. She attributed her entry into composing and arranging largely to the influence and en ...

;5 nominations *

* Bruce Babcock * Don Davis * W. G. Snuffy Walden ;4 nominations *

Jay Chattaway Jay Chattaway (born July 8, 1946) is an American composer of film and television scores. He is mainly known for his work as composer for several ''Star Trek'' television series: '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ...

* Dick DeBenedictis * Charles Fox *

Pete Rugolo Pietro "Pete" Rugolo (December 25, 1915 – October 16, 2011) was an American jazz composer, arranger and record producer. Life and career Rugolo was born in San Piero Patti, Sicily. His family emigrated to the United States in 1920 and settle ...

* Lalo Schifrin * Nan Schwartz ;3 nominations * Jon Ehrlich *

Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino (; born October 10, 1967) is an American composer of music for films, television and video games. He has also served as a director for television. He has received many awards, including an Oscar for his work on '' Up'' (2009), ...

Earle Hagen Earle Harry Hagen (July 9, 1919 – May 26, 2008) was an American composer who created music for movies and television. His best-known TV themes include those for ''Make Room for Daddy'', ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', ''I Spy'', ''That Girl'' and ...

Siddhartha Khosla Goldspot is a New York-based band. Founded by singer/songwriter/producer and television and film composer Siddhartha Khosla, the group has since received critical acclaim for its debut album ''Tally of the Yes Men'' (''Tally''), and second alb ...

* John Lunn * Martin Phipps *

Joel Rosenbaum Joel Rosenbaum (born October 4, 1933) is a professor of cell biology at Yale University. Rosenbaum received his bachelor's degree from Syracuse University in 1955, and later his M.Sc. Ed. from St. Lawrence University in 1957. He returned later to ...

;2 nominations * Chris Bacon * Steven Bramson *

Nicholas Britell Nicholas Britell (born October 17, 1980) is an American film composer. He has scored both of Barry Jenkins's studio films, ''Moonlight'' (2016) and ''If Beale Street Could Talk'' (2018), both of which received nominations for Best Original Sco ...

Velton Ray Bunch Velton Ray Bunch (born January 22, 1948 in Goldsboro, North Carolina) is a film and television composer. Sometimes credited as ''Ray Bunch''. Bunch has been nominated for an Emmy three times for his work, and won the fourth time for his score t ...

* John Cacavas *

* Jason Derlatka * Robert Duncan *

* Gerald Fried * Joel Goldsmith *

* Jan Hammer *

Natalie Holt Natalie Ann Holt is a British composer who has worked on numerous film and television projects. She is primarily recognised for her work on several notable productions, including ''Paddington'' (2014) and '' Loki'' (2021). She trained at the R ...

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

* Ron Jones * Fred Karlin * Laura Karpman * Abel Korzeniowski * Trevor Morris * Blake Neely * J. A. C. Redford *

Jeff Richmond Jeffrey Wayne Richmond (born January 7, 1961) is an American composer, actor, director, and producer. He composed the music for, and directed multiple episodes of ''30 Rock'', a sitcom created by and starring his wife, Tina Fey. He also executive ...

* Adam Taylor * Duncan Thum * Jack Urbont

References

{{Primetime Emmy Award categories Film music awards Music Composition for a Series