Box Office Star Records > Domestic > Lifetime Specific Technical Role > Top Domestic Composers

Top Grossing Composer at the Domestic Box OfficeBETA


See also: Top Domestic Art Directors - Top Domestic Assistant Directors - Top Domestic Assistant Editors - Top Domestic Associate Producers - Top Domestic Casting Directors - Top Domestic Cinematographers - Top Domestic Co-Producers - Top Domestic Costume Designers - Top Domestic Costume Supervisors - Top Domestic Dialogue Editors - Top Domestic Directors - Top Domestic Editors - Top Domestic Executive Producers - Top Domestic Make-up and Hair Designers - Top Domestic Music Editors - Top Domestic Music Supervisors - Top Domestic Producers - Top Domestic Production Designers - Top Domestic Re-recording Mixers - Top Domestic Screenwriters - Top Domestic Second Unit Directors - Top Domestic Set Decorators - Top Domestic Set Designers - Top Domestic Sound Designers - Top Domestic Sound Editors - Top Domestic Sound Effects Editors - Top Domestic Sound Mixers - Top Domestic Story Creators - Top Domestic Stunt Coordinators - Top Domestic Supervising Sound Editors - Top Domestic Unit Production Managers - Top Domestic Visual Effects Supervisors - Top International Composers - Top Worldwide Composers

This list shows the highest grossing Composers based on the domestic box office of the movies they worked on.

Since we are still actively researching technical roles, we consider this chart to be in beta mode. The table includes data for movies in The Numbers database. While we make every effort to collect all available data, there are inevitably omissions and errors. Please help us by sending corrections to corrections@the-numbers.com.

  1
Hans Zimmer photo
Hans Zimmer
Best known as a Composer based on credits in that role in 111 films.
Top films contributed to this record: Top Gun: Maverick ($718,732,821 in 2022), The Lion King ($543,638,043 in 2019), The Dark Knight ($534,235,491 in 2008), The Dark Knight Rises ($448,139,099 in 2012), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($423,315,812 in 2006), The Lion King ($421,785,283 in 1994), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($330,360,194 in 2016), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($309,420,425 in 2007), Inception ($292,576,195 in 2010), Man of Steel ($291,045,518 in 2013)

Full Information...

  2
John Williams photo
John Williams
Best known as a Composer based on credits in that role in 80 films.
Top films contributed to this record: Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens ($936,662,225 in 2015), Star Wars Ep. VIII: The Last Jedi ($620,181,382 in 2017), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ($515,202,542 in 2019), Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace ($474,544,677 in 1999), Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Hope ($460,998,007 in 1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ($439,454,989 in 1982), Jurassic Park ($415,404,543 in 1993), Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith ($380,270,577 in 2005), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ($317,871,467 in 2001), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($317,101,119 in 2008)

Full Information...

  3
James Newton Howard photo
James Newton Howard
Best known as a Composer based on credits in that role in 123 films.
Top films contributed to this record: The Dark Knight ($534,235,491 in 2008), The Hunger Games ($408,010,692 in 2012), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 ($337,135,885 in 2014), The Sixth Sense ($293,506,292 in 1999), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 ($281,723,902 in 2015), I am Legend ($256,393,010 in 2007), Maleficent ($241,407,328 in 2014), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ($234,037,575 in 2016), Signs ($227,969,295 in 2002), King Kong ($218,080,025 in 2005)

Full Information...

Complete List

Rank Name Domestic
Box Office
Movies Average
1 Hans Zimmer $13,127,470,195 111 $118,265,497
2 John Williams $11,957,493,868 80 $149,468,673
3 James Newton Howard $8,837,569,004 123 $71,850,155
4 Michael Giacchino $8,747,534,330 45 $194,389,652
5 Danny Elfman $8,414,618,734 97 $86,748,647
6 Alan Silvestri $8,369,007,797 91 $91,967,119
7 James Horner $6,227,658,604 101 $61,659,986
8 John Powell $5,743,611,526 54 $106,363,176
9 John Debney $5,635,198,208 97 $58,094,827
10 Christophe Beck $5,407,686,040 75 $72,102,481
11 Brian Tyler $4,919,567,178 62 $79,347,858
12 Thomas Newman $4,712,834,251 84 $56,105,170
13 Howard Shore $4,323,815,922 68 $63,585,528
14 Harry Gregson-Williams $4,113,270,220 54 $76,171,671
15 Henry Jackman $3,966,942,171 35 $113,341,205
16 Jerry Goldsmith $3,835,875,511 107 $35,849,304
17 Alexandre Desplat $3,517,667,842 58 $60,649,446
18 David Newman $3,403,786,129 76 $44,786,660
19 Marco Beltrami $3,367,108,828 68 $49,516,306
20 Randy Newman $3,353,192,090 24 $139,716,337
21 Mark Mothersbaugh $3,318,678,122 72 $46,092,752
22 Carter Burwell $3,025,674,710 88 $34,382,667
23 Lorne Balfe $2,824,968,291 38 $74,341,271
24 Heitor Pereira $2,767,416,925 30 $92,247,231
25 Rupert Gregson-Williams $2,746,559,897 30 $91,551,997
26 Tyler Bates $2,681,607,279 45 $59,591,273
27 Steve Jablonsky $2,559,483,761 29 $88,258,061
28 Theodore Shapiro $2,547,252,361 60 $42,454,206
29 Ludwig Göransson $2,405,534,068 17 $141,502,004
30 Trevor Rabin $2,373,918,624 39 $60,869,708
31 Mark Isham $2,274,946,497 98 $23,213,740
32 Alan Menken $2,272,572,964 13 $174,813,305
33 John Ottman $2,140,507,814 32 $66,890,869
34 Michael Kamen $2,107,612,584 53 $39,766,275
35 Christopher Lennertz $2,048,133,936 35 $58,518,112
36 Patrick Doyle $2,006,349,666 47 $42,688,291
37 Graeme Revell $1,973,130,278 73 $27,029,182
38 Christopher Young $1,930,366,502 70 $27,576,664
39 David Arnold $1,911,939,749 24 $79,664,156
40 Aaron Zigman $1,808,704,105 48 $37,681,336
41 Tom Holkenborg $1,756,058,557 23 $76,350,372
42 Mark Mancina $1,696,196,661 28 $60,578,452
43 Harold Faltermeyer $1,556,066,439 13 $119,697,418
44 Rolfe Kent $1,437,333,082 42 $34,222,216
45 Teddy Castellucci $1,429,708,472 19 $75,247,814
46 Benjamin Wallfisch $1,406,985,066 24 $58,624,378
47 Ramin Djawadi $1,392,296,618 22 $63,286,210
48 George S. Clinton $1,352,678,063 45 $30,059,513
49 Mychael Danna $1,323,356,107 50 $26,467,122
50 Lalo Schifrin $1,275,184,888 40 $31,879,622
51 Marc Shaiman $1,224,762,147 16 $76,547,634
52 Michael Andrews $1,176,537,677 32 $36,766,802
53 Daniel Pemberton $1,175,988,673 19 $61,894,141
54 George Fenton $1,139,282,316 60 $18,988,039
55 Craig Armstrong $1,024,458,786 28 $36,587,814
56 Elmer Bernstein $1,007,017,894 18 $55,945,439
57 Randy Edelman $992,130,753 16 $62,008,172
58 Basil Poledouris $975,938,586 44 $22,180,422
59 Klaus Badelt $961,063,729 30 $32,035,458
60 Steven Price $910,625,785 12 $75,885,482
61 Joseph Bishara $839,682,039 17 $49,393,061
62 Simon Franglen $812,927,145 3 $270,975,715
63 Dario Marianelli $792,857,193 28 $28,316,328
64 Elliot Goldenthal $752,910,098 10 $75,291,010
65 Joseph Trapanese $738,021,443 18 $41,001,191
66 Jon Brion $721,362,383 15 $48,090,826
67 Lady Gaga $718,732,821 1 $718,732,821
68 Lyle Workman $701,897,456 12 $58,491,455
69 Harald Kloser $699,792,699 7 $99,970,386
70 Ennio Morricone $693,026,879 29 $23,897,479
71 Terence Blanchard $681,296,094 35 $19,465,603
72 Rachel Portman $662,894,136 24 $27,620,589
73 Joby Talbot $657,076,326 5 $131,415,265
74 Don Davis $642,836,796 4 $160,709,199
75 Nicholas Hooper $638,816,811 5 $127,763,362
76 John Morris $637,239,227 29 $21,973,766
77 Geoff Zanelli $634,425,563 21 $30,210,741
78 Bruce Broughton $579,515,664 37 $15,662,586
79 Rob Simonsen $562,496,380 31 $18,145,045
80 Andrew Lockington $560,379,883 14 $40,027,135
81 Atticus Ross $560,354,769 21 $26,683,560
82 John Murphy $557,780,280 8 $69,722,535
83 Edward Shearmur $557,477,724 15 $37,165,182
84 David Holmes $534,842,650 21 $25,468,698
85 Marc Streitenfeld $523,283,789 11 $47,571,254
86 Bill Conti $516,962,533 9 $57,440,281
87 Charlie Clouser $508,999,921 12 $42,416,660
88 Marcelo Zarvos $508,750,332 27 $18,842,605
89 Robert Rodriguez $507,069,776 9 $56,341,086
90 Matthew Margeson $497,601,467 11 $45,236,497
91 Joel J. Richard $493,215,552 4 $123,303,888
92 Pinar Toprak $492,192,151 3 $164,064,050
93 David Buckley $491,663,748 15 $32,777,583
94 Eric Clapton $489,541,466 5 $97,908,293
95 Dominic Lewis $481,366,343 11 $43,760,577
96 Michael Abels $477,209,357 6 $79,534,893
97 Maurice Jarre $476,758,338 6 $79,459,723
98 Jeff Danna $472,148,163 10 $47,214,816
99 John Paesano $468,665,072 12 $39,055,423
100 David Kitay $462,327,079 7 $66,046,726

The Domestic Market is defined as the North American movie territory (consisting of the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam).

This table is updated daily to reflect the latest studio reports.

Note: This chart is not adjusted for inflation.

Image attributions

Hans Zimmer: Richard Yaussi [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

John Williams: TashTish at en.wikipedia [GFDL or CC-BY-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

James Newton Howard: By JNH et HZ.jpg: Yann de la marnederivative work: Butko [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons