TV's Top Soundtracks: Cobra Kai, Euphoria, Yellowjackets And More Shows With The Best Song Selections

We love watching TV, of course — but sometimes, we also just love listening to it.

Music is an essential element of making great television, and some of our favorite shows are like virtual jukeboxes, pairing the action on screen with the perfect song choice, from buzzy new hits to retro classics. (Hey, they don't play videos on MTV anymore, so we have to get our music recommendations somewhere.) On occasion, we've even been known to run off to Spotify and search for the song we just heard in an episode. But which TV shows have the very best soundtracks?

We're putting on our headphones and highlighting more than 20 current and recently ended TV shows with excellent musical taste, from the angsty '90s grunge of Yellowjackets to the thoughtful R&B and soul of Insecure. Keep in mind: This is about pre-existing music playing on the soundtrack, not original scores or songs sung by the characters like on Schmigadoon! and Girls5eva. (Also note: We're only looking at current and recently ended shows here, so no "But you missed Miami Vice!" comments, OK?)

Read on to find out which shows made our ultimate playlist, and hit the comments to share your own favorite soundtracks from the small screen.

Donald Glover's FX dramedy may be "all about that paper, boy," but real talk: Everything this show spins absolutely slaps. From classic and current hip-hop cuts from Nas, Lauryn Hill, Vince Staples and Kendrick Lamar to the sounds of icons like Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield, Atlanta more than deserves a spot here. In fact, to omit it would deem this or any other Best TV Soundtracks list null and void.  

The ABC drama set a real "jukebox in a backwater bar" feel with its music in the series premiere, and it's kept the quarters rolling ever since. Good ol' artists like Johnny Cash and Muddy Waters groove out next to folk troubadours like Steve Earle and Alison Krauss, all of it blending nicely with contemporary covers of classics. (Heavy Young Heathens' take on "House of the Rising Sun" is a Season 1 standout.)

Let's not count out this long-running NBC drama, which, in its ninth season, still knows how to punctuate its most climactic moments with a good tune. Whether accompanying a high-stakes bank heist (Wolfmother's "Joker and the Thief," which made Season 6's opening sequence one of the show's most entertaining ever) or underscoring an emotional revelation (Aloe Blacc's "Rotten Tree," which closed the current season's eighth episode), The Blacklist has gifted us with nearly a decade of captivating song/scene pairings.

Sandra Oh's Netflix comedy is set on a leaf-strewn college campus, so it makes sense that its soundtrack is packed with college radio favorites like Vampire Weekend, Phoenix and The Smiths. The music's youthful, defiant verve permeates the whole show and sets the proper tone for all the post-grad shenanigans that follow.

A badass show like this Karate Kid follow-up demands a kickass soundtrack, and that's where Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, Poison and AC/DC come in. But it's not all hair bands and metal (though we wouldn't be mad if it was!). Additional needle drops include Bruno Mars' "Perm," Dean Martin's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head," and of course Survivor's "The Moment of Truth," a cut from the original Karate Kid soundtrack that was covered by Carrie Underwood in Season 4. 

Being set in the 1990s, it was pretty much a prerequisite that the Freeform drama have a wonderfully nostalgic soundtrack. The series more than delivered on that front, with hits from Mazzy Star, the Cranberries, 4 Non Blondes, INXS and many more, as well as modern covers of '90s classics. The show's very own leading lady, Olivia Holt, also contributed memorable renditions of Radiohead's "Creep" and the Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm" to key scenes.

Nothing about Apple TV+'s quirky period comedy is typical, and that extends to its soundtrack, which defies convention by scoring the 19th-century action with modern bops from the likes of Lizzo and Billie Eilish. Emily's twerk-worthy dance parties are delightfully anachronistic, and her forbidden romance with Sue is accentuated by swoony indie-pop ballads.

With a killer score all its own, the HBO Max drama is rightfully choosy about which songs it employs from the outside world. First of all, the range! Season 3 kicked off with a devastating montage set to a 1981 Alan Parsons Project jam, only to give us a psychedelic group dance to Alphaville's "Forever Young" a few episodes later. And who could forget the time an acting exercise in 1917 turned into an impromptu performance of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," nearly a century before the song would eventually be released? Other pivotal scenes were underscored by everything from Barry Manilow's "Copacabana" to The Stampeders' "Sweet City Woman." And it worked every single time.

Parents, you may want to cover your eyes while watching HBO's shockingly graphic teen drama — but keep your ears open! Because while these kids make awful life choices, they make great musical choices, from thumping hip-hop to quietly confessional indie pop. Plus, composer Labrinth adds electronic-infused original songs that only enhance the drugged-out vibe.

As great as it is to watch Issa Rae's HBO comedy — the cinematography is gorgeous, too — it's even better to listen to it, with composer and R&B icon Raphael Saadiq supplementing an impeccable soundtrack that combines hard-hitting hip-hop with smooth soul tracks from up-and-coming artists. This whole show is a vibe, and the perfectly placed song choices are a big reason why.

Revisiting the music from Maisel is like embarking on a crash course throughout music history. From jazz, soul and doo-wop to Brit rock and pop, Midge's story incorporates tons of classics while leaving room to "Dance This Mess Around" with The B-52's. In any given episode you can "Yakety Yak" with The Coasters or vibe out to Siouxsie and the Banshees. Eclectic and excellent!

We dare you not to dance when you hear Los Shain's "Taxi — Solo Como en El Cielo/Los Chicos No Lloran," a fun and infectious Spanish-language cover tribute of both The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" and "Just Like Heaven." As an added bonus, we got to see Bad Bunny's character Kitty bop to the hit in a Season 3 fashion montage that still makes us smile.

The raved-about opening credits sequence made many a new fan of Wig Wam's "Do Ya Wanna Taste It," while the episodes themselves not only drop needles, but have characters passionately celebrating music — such as when Peacemaker raved about a hook-up's stacks of wax before crooning The Quireboys' "I Don't Love You Anymore," when Chris broke down in his trailer home to Faster Pussycat's "House of Pain," or as in Episode 5, where characters bond over their fandom of the Finnish rock band Hanoi Rocks. Indeed, filmmaker/series creator James Gunn is so famously tuned into his music choices that he is maintaining a Spotify playlist for the Suicide Squad spinoff series' soundtrack.

FX and Ryan Murphy must've forked over a lot of cash to license all the great music on their groundbreaking LGBTQ drama — and it was worth every penny. Chart-topping hits from Madonna, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson take us right back to the late '80s and early '90s, and the dance hall bangers help bring the ballroom queens' signature struts to vivid life.

When Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is a show's executive producer, you can expect a soundtrack that bumps. Add in that the first sequel to Starz's drug drama centers on Ghost's college-age son, Tariq, and you get a rap and R&B selection that includes tracks from Pop Smoke, Raphael Saadiq, Naughty By Nature, Gucci Mane and more.

No other show features Soul II Soul's "Back to Life," "Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya, Man" by Public Enemy, and Gang Starr's "Just to Get a Rep" in one episode. And that was just the pilot. For fans of East Coast rap from the 1990s, especially out of New York, this show is like a time capsule that happily makes you bob your head and reminisce.

On Netflix's carnally inclined high school comedy, the hormones are pumping, and so are the tunes, with a meticulously curated lineup of '70s and '80s hits for the teens to grope each other to. Sitting alongside Al Green and INXS are original songs from indie popster Ezra Furman that perfectly fit the awkward coming-of-age sexcapades on screen.

To supplement Dan Romer's score as well as the original folk songs written by him and Romer, showrunner Patrick Somerville told Rolling Stone that he, music supervisor Liza Richardson, editor David Eisenberg and director Hiro Murai sought tunes that could "depressurize the pretentiousness" of other story elements, plus "old pop songs" that in a post-pandemic world would acquire new meaning. Among the series' memorable picks are Lee Hazlewood's "Your Sweet Love" (when Kirsten is on-stage remembering the past in Episode 2), The Impressions' "Man Oh Man" (during the Christmas party in the airport) and arguably the best pull of all, Bill Callahan's "One Fine Morning" (when Tyler "releases Kirsten from the Undersea" in Episode 8).

Yes, the creepy, synth-heavy opening theme is an instant classic, but Netflix's sci-fi throwback also takes full advantage of its 1980s setting with a robust mixtape of nostalgic tunes. Golden oldies like Toto's "Africa" and the Police's "Every Breath You Take" bring us right back to the Me Decade and help immerse us in the Hawkins gang's supernatural adventures.

We all know NBC's family drama knows how to start the waterworks, and the key to its weepy ways might be its powerfully emotional soundtrack. From the pilot's opening moments, set to Sufjan Stevens' haunting "Death With Dignity," This Is Us has effectively used strummy, folky acoustic tunes from the likes of Nick Drake and Cat Stevens to activate our tear ducts.

Given how frequently the Hargreeves siblings jump around in time, it's only fitting that the Netflix hit's stellar soundtrack hails from all eras. And though you might jump to that Backstreet Boys needle drop of Season 2, Episode 7 as the show's best musical moment, we're particularly fond of when the characters get to interact with the songs, as with Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" in Season 1 and Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away" in Season 2.

The plane crash survivors in Showtime's buzzy drama were high school seniors in 1996, so naturally, the soundtrack is packed with grungy hits from that era by the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Hole and the Cranberries. The vintage tunes add to the nostalgic, angsty vibe — and hey, they still rock.