This is a list of the winning and nominated programs of the

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the award was presented with the "possibility of one, more than one, or no award given," resulting in several years where there were nominees without a winner. In the following list, the first titles listed in gold are the winners; those not in gold are nominees, which are listed in alphabetical order. The years given are those in which the ceremonies took place: __TOC__

Winners and nominations

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Individuals with multiple wins

;2 wins *

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his ...

* Trevor Morris

Individuals with multiple nominations

;7 nominations *

W. G. Snuffy Walden William Garrett Walden, known as W. G. Snuffy Walden (born February 13, 1950), is an American musician and composer of film and television soundtracks. Walden is an Primetime Emmy Award, Emmy Award winner for the theme music to ''The West Wing'' ...

;5 nominations *

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 impr ...

;4 nominations *

Nathan Barr Nathan Barr (born February 9, 1973; also known as Nate Barr) is an American film and television composer and musician. His television scores include ''True Blood'', ''The Americans'', ''Carnival Row'', and ''The Great''. He won a Primetime Emmy A ...

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 video game, '' James Bond 007: Everythin ...

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, science fiction, thriller, fantasy and ...

Mark Isham Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic music, electronic. He is also a prolific and acclaimed composer of Film ...

Thomas Newman Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is best known for his film scores, earning accolades of six Grammy Award, Grammy Awards, an Emmy Awards, Emmy Award, two British Academy F ...

Mike Post Mike Post (born Leland Michael Postil; September 29, 1944) is an American composer, best known for his television theme music for various shows, including '' The White Shadow''; ''Law & Order''; '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''; ''The A-Tea ...

;3 nominations *

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 many ...

Mychael Danna Mychael Danna (born September 20, 1958) is a Canadian composer of film and television scores. He won both the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Original Score for '' Life of Pi''. He has also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Compositio ...

Lee Holdridge Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is a Haitian-born American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. An 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News and Documentary Emmy Awards, and o ...

James Newton Howard James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, orchestrator and music producer. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards. His film scores ...

Bear McCreary Bear McCreary (born February 17, 1979) is an American composer of film, television, and video game scores. His work includes the scores of the television series '' Battlestar Galactica'' (2004), '' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'', '' Black Sails'', '' ...

Blake Neely Blake Neely (born April 28, 1969) is an American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards for his work on '' Everwood'', '' The Pacific'', ''Pan Am'', '' Pamela, a Love Story'', '' Good Night Oppy'' and ...

;2 nominations *

Rachel Bloom Rachel Leah Bloom (born April 3, 1987) is an American actress, comedian, singer, writer, and producer. She is best known for co-creating and starring as Rebecca Bunch in The CW musical comedy-drama series ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' (2015– ...

Nicholas Britell Nicholas Britell (born October 17, 1980) is an American film and television composer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and a Grammy Award. He has received Academy Award nom ...

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jazz-fus ...

* Lisa Coleman *

Jeff Danna Jeff Danna is a Canadian film composer. He has composed or co-composed scores for a wide range of films and television, including ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999), '' Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' (2004), ''Silent Hill'' (2006)'', The Imaginarium of D ...

Ramin Djawadi Ramin Djawadi (born 19 July 1974) is an Iranian-German film score composer, conductor, and record producer. He is known for his scores for the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', for which he was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2018 and 2020. He is al ...

* Jay Gruska *

Laura Karpman Laura Anne Karpman (born March 1, 1959) is an American composer, whose work has included music for film, television, video games, theater, and the concert hall. She has won five Emmy Awards for her work. Karpman was trained at the Juilliard Schoo ...

* Christopher Klatman *

Russ Landau Russ Landau is an American composer of film and television scores and themes including '' seaQuest 2032'', ''Survivor'', ''Fear Factor'', and '' Pirate Master'' for which he won an Emmy in 2008. He is an alumnus of the University of Bridgeport cla ...

* Mark Leggett *

Stewart Levin Stewart Levin is an American musician and composer who has composed music for television shows, including ''The Wonder Years'', ''Picket Fences'', ''The Practice'' and ''thirtysomething''. He won an ASCAP Film and Television Music Award for his wo ...

* Jeff Lippencott *

Joseph LoDuca Joseph LoDuca (born 1958) is an American television and film score composer best known for his work writing television scores for the series ''Spartacus'', '' Leverage'', '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', '' You ...

Daniele Luppi Daniele Luppi (born January 1, 1972, in Padua, Italy) is an Italian film and television composer and music producer. He has received two Emmy nominations and has collaborated with artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gnarls Barkley, Depe ...

Danny Lux Daniel Scott Lux (born June 5, 1969) is an American composer, music composer who has created music for television and film productions. He has been credited in many movies including ''Halloween: Resurrection'' and ''Stolen Summer'' (both 2002). H ...

Wendy Melvoin Wendy Ann Melvoin (born January 26, 1964) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band the Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy ...

* Trevor Morris *

Martin Phipps Martin Phipps (born 1 August 1968) is a British composer who has worked on numerous film and television projects. Early life and education He is the son of Sue Pears and Jack Phipps, an arts administrator who had previously founded a manageme ...

* Carlos Rafael Rivera *

Adam Schlesinger Adam Lyons Schlesinger (October 31, 1967 – April 1, 2020) was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He was a founding member of the bands Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, and Tinted Windows, and was also a member of the ban ...

David Schwartz David Schwartz is an American composer, known for his scoring of the music for several television series. He composed most of the songs for ''Arrested Development'', and he returned as the series composer for the fourth season, which debuted on ...

* Michael Skloff *

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 X Files'' instrumental wa ...

Jonathan Tunick Jonathan Tunick is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer. He is best known for orchestrating the works of Stephen Sondheim, their collaboration starting in 1970 with ''Company'' and continuing until Sondheim's death in 2021. ...

* Mark Williams

Programs with multiple wins

;2 wins * ''

Monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

Programs with multiple nominations

;2 nominations * ''

Chicago Hope ''Chicago Hope'' is an American medical drama television series created by David E. Kelley, that originally aired for six seasons on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000, with a total of 141 episodes. The series is set in a fictional pr ...

'' * ''

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...

'' * ''

Feud A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...

'' * ''

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is produced by the PBS member statio ...

'' * ''

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Primetime Emmy Award For Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Film music awards Main Title Theme Music Television music awards