# 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?

*By YPB Team · Published July 31, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-16-best-tv-theme-songs-of-all-time*

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## Current results (3 votes)

1. **Cheers** — 66.67% (2 votes · score 1000/1000)
   "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", regularly voted the greatest theme in television history.
2. **The Simpsons** — 0% (0 votes · score 663/1000)
   Danny Elfman's carnival fanfare, played over a different couch gag every week.
3. **The X-Files** — 33.33% (1 votes · score 631/1000)
   Mark Snow's whistled melody, built around a delay pedal left on by accident.
4. **Friends** — 0% (0 votes · score 546/1000)
   The Rembrandts' "I'll Be There for You", complete with four handclaps.
5. **The Sopranos** — 0% (0 votes · score 546/1000)
   Alabama 3's "Woke Up This Morning", played over a drive from the Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey.
6. **The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air** — 0% (0 votes · score 546/1000)
   Will Smith's rapped origin story, the rare theme viewers can recite from memory.
7. **Mission: Impossible** — 0% (0 votes · score 473/1000)
   Lalo Schifrin's 5/4 spy theme, still the franchise's signature six decades on.
8. **Game of Thrones** — 0% (0 votes · score 473/1000)
   Ramin Djawadi's cello theme over a clockwork map of Westeros.
9. **Star Trek: The Original Series** — 0% (0 votes · score 387/1000)
   Alexander Courage's 1966 fanfare, soaring strings over a wordless soprano.
10. **The Muppet Show** — 0% (0 votes · score 387/1000)
   The vaudeville overture that ends with Gonzo's trumpet ruining the final note.
11. **Doctor Who** — 0% (0 votes · score 284/1000)
   Delia Derbyshire's 1963 electronic realisation, made on tape loops before synthesizers existed.
12. **Miami Vice** — 0% (0 votes · score 284/1000)
   Jan Hammer's synth instrumental, a Billboard number one in its own right.
13. **The Addams Family** — 0% (0 votes · score 158/1000)
   Vic Mizzy's harpsichord vamp and two finger snaps.
14. **The Twilight Zone** — 0% (0 votes · score 158/1000)
   Marius Constant's twelve unnerving notes, shorthand for the uncanny ever since.
15. **Stranger Things** — 0% (0 votes · score 158/1000)
   Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein's analogue-synth pulse and red neon lettering.
16. **Hawaii Five-O** — 0% (0 votes · score 158/1000)
   Morton Stevens' brass-and-surf-drum blast over a crash zoom.

Tags: music, tv shows, classics