The film music world has been evolving in exciting ways over the last few years. Some composers have been blurring the lines between sound design and music to tremendous results, while others have found new, ambitious avenues in which to stretch. 2018 certainly wasn’t lacking for ambition or quality, and in putting together a list of the best film scores of the year, it became readily apparent that some truly great scores would be left out of the Top 10.

But alas, such is the nature of a Top 10 list—there’s a limited number of spots. I’ve done my best to craft a diverse range of scores that not only reflects the breadth of 2018, but also represents the cream of the crop. Behold, the best movie scores of 2018.

10. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Daniel Pemberton

I first fell in love with Daniel Pemberton’s work on his truly inspired but also somewhat insane score for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and his score for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is so dense that I’m still trying to work out everything he packed in there. It’s a score befitting the film itself, diverse in tone and style, yet still part of a whole and not without its pitch-perfect emotional beats. It builds to a kaleidoscopic finale that goes hand-in-hand with the cutting edge visuals while also maintaining a thumping beat.

9. You Were Never Really Here – Jonny Greenwood

For his last film score, Phantom Thread, composer Jonny Greenwood created a lovely soundscape that felt like a warm embrace. For You Were Never Really Here, Greenwood manages to capture what it would sound like if your head was full of ants. That kind of range is nuts, and indeed while Greenwood’s You Were Never Really Here score is jarring and crowded, it perfectly encapsulates the headspace of the thriller’s PTSD-riddled lead character, played wonderfully by Joaquin Phoenix. Don’t get me wrong, this score isn’t ugly—there are pleasant sounds to be found throughout. But its complexity, especially in contrast to Phantom Thread, is part of what makes it so impressive.

8. Suspiria – Thom Yorke

And so we go from one member of Radiohead to another. Thom Yorke made his scoring debut with Luca Guadagnino’s haunting, immaculately crafted Suspiria, and it’s unsurprisingly a terrific piece of work. The film itself is patient and oddly alluring, and the same can be said of Yorke’s score, which feels downright supernatural at times. Putting his own voice over the score was a bold choice, but for a film that gets as weird as Suspiria does, it really puts a spell on you.

7. Mandy – Johann Johannsson

Jóhann Jóhannsson was in the process of transforming what we traditionally thought of as film music when he unexpectedly passed away earlier this year. You could hear a progression from Sicario to Arrival, and you just knew Jóhannsson was on a trajectory that was leading somewhere exciting and new. Unfortunately we’ll never get to hear it, but the composer’s final piece of work—for the film Mandy—is yet another thrilling progression. It is, like the film, at times very metal, but at heart there’s a sense of longing running throughout this score that, given the circumstances, makes it all the more heartbreaking.

6. A Quiet Place – Marco Beltrami

One of the most underrated scores of the year, I feel, is Marco Beltrami’s heartbreaking work on A Quiet Place. The smash hit horror film is surprisingly emotional, and there’s an undercurrent of sadness that runs throughout Belatrami’s dynamic score. It gets explosive when it needs to, and certainly helps build tension through the film’s terror-fueled scenes, but at heart this is a story about a family that has suffered a great loss, and that shines through in Beltrami’s quieter themes. The score as a whole is haunting and sad, but not without love. Which, of course, is the common denominator through all the hardship and loss that befalls this particular family.

5. Isle of Dogs – Alexandre Desplat

Alexandre Desplat is certainly one of the most talented film composers working today, but every time he teams up with director Wes Anderson we get something truly exceptional. That’s certainly true of Desplat’s score for Isle of Dogs, as he put together a Japanese-influenced score befitting of the future-set film. The percussive nature here is particularly delightful, and it’s truly unlike anything we’ve heard from Desplat before. And that’s saying something.

4. Mission: Impossible – Fallout – Lorne Balfe

Film music in blockbusters has become very same-sounding, especially in the wake of Inception. A lot of these big, epic action films feel like they’re trying to mimic Hans Zimmer’s iconic soundscape, and more often than not they result in forgettable imitations. Which is why Lorne Balfe’s work on Mission: Impossible – Fallout feels like a breath of fresh air. Balfe—who was mentored by Zimmer—plays with iconic themes from both the Mission: Impossible film franchise and the TV series in interesting ways, and this is the rare action film score that is equally memorable and compelling in both the quiet character-centric scenes and the big set pieces. This is no Hans Zimmer imitation. It’s an evolution.

3. Black Panther – Ludwig Goransson

Ludwig Göransson’s score for Black Panther contains multitudes, from the African-infused sounds of high royalty to genuine hip-hop beats. But of course that’s the point. Black Panther is a story of contrast between the African-born T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), who was born into privilege, and the African-American Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), who was left to fight his way home after his father’s murder. That’s sometimes what makes the difference between a good film score and a great one—the Black Panther score is not just pleasing to the ears, it’s thematically a part of a whole with the film, further serving director Ryan Coogler’s deeply thoughtful vision for a superhero movie about far more than just high-flung spectacle.

2. If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell

The craftsmanship of If Beale Street Could Talk is on another level, and that certainly extends to Nicholas Britell’s deeply romantic score. There’s an intense sense of longing, heartache, and pure, unconditional love that just radiates off of every note. It’s as warm as Britell’s Moonlight score was cold. Not without its complexities as complications arise for the film’s central duo, but always underlining the depth of Tish and Fonny’s love.

1. First Man – Justin Hurwitz

Justin Hurwitz’s penchant for crafting unforgettable melodies continues with First Man, the best film score of the year. This is a film that is both a meditation on grief and a “man on a mission” movie about one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments. To that end, Hurwitz crafts themes of sadness and longing that perfectly accentuate Neil Armstrong’s emotional state, but he also creates beautifully propulsive themes that hum right along with scenes concerning space travel. And on top of all that, the theremin of all instruments serves as the thematic backbone for much of the score. It’s an ambitious, challenging piece of work that stands right alongside Hurwitz’s Oscar-winning score for La La Land.

Honorable Mentions: Game Night, The Old Man & the Gun, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Annihilation, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, mid90s

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Image via Universal Pictures