The 16 Best TV Theme Songs of All Time

Brass fanfares, synth instrumentals, rapped origin stories and a few notes everyone can hum without knowing why. Where do you stand?

1

Cheers

"Where Everybody Knows Your Name", regularly voted the greatest theme in television history.

1000pts

2

The Simpsons

Danny Elfman's carnival fanfare, played over a different couch gag every week.

663pts

3

The X-Files

Mark Snow's whistled melody, built around a delay pedal left on by accident.

631pts

4

Friends

The Rembrandts' "I'll Be There for You", complete with four handclaps.

546pts

5

The Sopranos

Alabama 3's "Woke Up This Morning", played over a drive from the Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey.

546pts

6

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Will Smith's rapped origin story, the rare theme viewers can recite from memory.

546pts

7

Mission: Impossible

Lalo Schifrin's 5/4 spy theme, still the franchise's signature six decades on.

473pts

8

Game of Thrones

Ramin Djawadi's cello theme over a clockwork map of Westeros.

473pts

9

Star Trek: The Original Series

Alexander Courage's 1966 fanfare, soaring strings over a wordless soprano.

387pts

10

The Muppet Show

The vaudeville overture that ends with Gonzo's trumpet ruining the final note.

387pts

11

Doctor Who

Delia Derbyshire's 1963 electronic realisation, made on tape loops before synthesizers existed.

284pts

12

Miami Vice

Jan Hammer's synth instrumental, a Billboard number one in its own right.

284pts

13

The Addams Family

Vic Mizzy's harpsichord vamp and two finger snaps.

158pts

14

The Twilight Zone

Marius Constant's twelve unnerving notes, shorthand for the uncanny ever since.

158pts

15

Stranger Things

Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein's analogue-synth pulse and red neon lettering.

158pts

16

Hawaii Five-O

Morton Stevens' brass-and-surf-drum blast over a crash zoom.

158pts