# The 12 Best Musical Drama TV Series of All Time

> Soap-opera stakes, original songs and backstage rivalries, with some entries that are far more serious than the genre suggests.

*By YPB Team · Published October 20, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-12-best-musical-drama-tv-series-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Glee** — score 1000/1000
   The 2009 series about a high school glee club that turned show-tune and pop covers into a TV phenomenon.
2. **Nashville** — score 953/1000
   A drama about rival country singers and the music business in Tennessee's capital.
3. **Fame** — score 900/1000
   The 1982 series about students at New York's High School for the Performing Arts.
4. **Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist** — score 680/1000
   A drama in which a programmer can hear people's inner feelings as pop songs.
5. **Treme** — score 600/1000
   HBO's drama about musicians and residents rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
6. **Cop Rock** — score 600/1000
   Steven Bochco's 1990 series that put musical numbers into a police drama.
7. **Vinyl** — score 600/1000
   The HBO drama about a record label boss in 1970s New York.
8. **Crazy Ex-Girlfriend** — score 400/1000
   A musical comedy-drama with original songs about a lawyer who moves to California for an old flame.
9. **Julie and the Phantoms** — score 273/1000
   A Netflix series about a teen who forms a band with the ghosts of three musicians.
10. **Empire** — score 273/1000
   The Fox drama about a hip-hop mogul and his sons fighting for his music empire.
11. **Smash** — score 273/1000
   A drama following the creation of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe.
12. **Daisy Jones & the Six** — score 0/1000
   The 2023 limited series about a fictional 1970s rock band's rise and breakup.

Tags: music, tv shows, musicals