Since 2010, the Academy Award for Best Original Song has gone to a track from an animated film on three separate occasions (Toy Story 3, Frozen, Coco). While the latter two of those three are musicals, the importance of providing a strong soundtrack for animated pictures has become paramount. Try recapping The LEGO Movie without giving a nod to "Everything is Awesome." Pharrell Williams' "Happy" is forever intertwined with Despicable Me 2. The list goes on.
The past several weeks have brought a number of strong contenders for Best Original Song at the 2019 Oscars. Imagine Dragons' "Zero," from the Ralph Breaks the Internet soundtrack serves as a power anthem for the film's underdog and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse boasts a Post Malone and Swae Lee track titled "Sunflower" that zoomed into the top 10 of the Hot 100.