Listicle: 10 soundtracks that surpassed the shows they were in

You may love the show, hate it or just hatewatch. Either way, its music does for the ear what the blind-casting does for the eye – it forces you to loosen the corset and draw new rules. At the balls, they play orchestral covers of hits by Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Rihanna, Nirvana, and Taylor Swift. Can anyone listen to Wildest Dreams without dreaming of a certain handsome duke? Dearest gentle reader, we think not.

Estranged siblings with superpowers reunite at their father’s funeral and try prevent apocalypse. Already there’s a lot to grapple with. But the show also jumps timelines, bends the laws of physics, has family drama and action. Thankfully, the soundtrack holds it together, offering eclectic cues to help the plot along. There’s The Doors, Radiohead, Mary J Blige, David Gray, Morcheeba, and The Kinks. A hard-to-choose highlight moment: I Was Made for Lovin’ You, by Kiss, plays during a fight scene in S2E4.

When your opening-credits track is your calling card, you know you’ve won. Mirzapur feels desi (thank you, tabla) but sounds international. S1 features 12 songs, composed by Anand Bhaskar and John Stewart Eduri, and is the best of the three seasons. There’s just so much diversity: A Sufi song (Varoon), a Bhojpuri number (Sajanwa Ki Gunwa), a Punjabi wedding tune (Saure Chali Ve) and of course, the Munna rap, a rare hit song about a villain.

Rewind to two years ago, when we all had Runnin’ Up That Hill by Kate Bush on loop. And think back – there’s bound to be at least one song in every episode that made you go “OMG, I remember this!” The story is set in the 80s, and the music is all cassette-era nostalgia. The Clash, Madonna, The Bangles, Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, The Police. The show’s won awards for its soundtrack almost every season.

Raj and DK collaborated with composers, musicians and artists across the country for both seasons of the spy thriller series. There’s Sachin-Jigar, Shreya Ghoshal, The Local Train, Underground Authority. The theme song starts off with a sitar and builds up into a rap, which incorporates a doha by Kabir. Listen close, you’ll hear Sach Mere Yaar Hai on multiple episodes. It’s the soundtrack to play on your commute. It’s full of surprises.

Netflix India’s first original series knew its soundtrack had to shine independently of the show. It also needed a Mumbai sound that the world could appreciate. So, a song by rapper Divine (Kaam 25) and instrumental tunes that never overshadowed the cat-and-mouse mood of the show. Yashraj Jaiswal and Alokananda Dasgupta composed the score and also worked on the music for Netflix’s Leila and Amazon Prime’s Breathe, which we love too.

How did a sitcom about life in a hospital manage to nail every single feeling on screen with the music? They picked right, making us hear Joshua Radin, The Fray, Tom Petty, Deathcab for Cutie, The Coral, Keane, Five for Fighting, Outkast and even Abba in a new way. Listening to it now is nostalgic too. One of our top moments: When Ain’t No Reason by Brett Dennen plays after Laverne’s crash. Argh. Right in the feels.

For a British teen sex-comedy-drama that managed to impart some actual sex education, it had a pretty banging soundtrack (See what we did there?) Salt-N-Pepa’s Push It and Rod Stewart’s Do Ya Think I’m Sexy are obvious picks. But there’s also The Breeze/My Baby Cries by Bill Callahan, which plays when Otis and Maeve first kiss. And Ezra Furman’s Every Feeling, and Good Book. Man, Netflix seems to know what it’s doing.

It would be weird if this wasn’t on the list, right? It’s literally set in the world of Indian classical music. Our hero, a young YouTube pop star, finds himself in a professional (and romantic) partnership with a classical Hindustani singer. The songs, composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, do full justice to the show, with Sajan Bin, Chedkaaniyaan, Labb Par Aaye, Garaj Garaj. There’s pop, there’s fusion, and there’s classical and freestyle. A little tasting platter for our ears.

HBO has put out killer opening tracks: Game of Thrones, True Blood, Succession, The Sopranos, Big Little Lies. It’s hard to pick the best, but we’ll go with Watchmen. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails were the series’ composers. They found ways to tie the music and lyrics with the narrative elements without ever being showy or obvious. In E8, when the blue-skinned Doctor Manhattan is introduced, listen carefully: Rhapsody in Blue and The Blue Danube Waltz. Chef’s kiss.