Oscar Potential - Best Original Song 2012

Oscar Issac performing the song
"Never Had" in the film 10 Years

Sadly, the 84th Academy Awards only had two titles nominated in the category of Best Original Song. It was rather pathetic. Every year, a month or so before the nominations, the Academy lists all the potential songs, and it wasn't as if the list for the 84th Oscars wasn't good. I picked out five I liked from the list, which you can see here.

The 85th Academy Awards had a list of 75 eligible entries. The list is not only longer but it's also better. I looked through the list and like Steve Pond for TheWrap.com, I listened to all those entries and whittled them down to my five favorites.

When it comes to the music in movies, the Academy has four categories to cover it. There are only two films that dominate all four this year. The first is Life of Pi (2012), which got nominations for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score and Best Original Song. The other is the latest James Bond called Skyfall.

Life of Pi will probably win in most of these categories. It's up for Best Picture whereas Skyfall is not. That gives Life of Pi a bit more of an advantage. Yet, the Grammy-winning and record-breaking, British singer Adele is the nominee for the titular song for Skyfall, and the undeniable love for Adele, even more than the undeniable love for Les Misérables, will probably ensure another non-American an Oscar.

It wasn't easy, but I did reduce the 75 song contenders. At first, the number dropped to my top 20. The double digits included such great and popular artists as Christina Aguilera, Beck, Dolly Parton, Jon Bon Jovi and Fiona Apple. All are artists I like, so deciding which to cut was a careful process.

Here are my five favorite songs from the 2012 movies.

5. "No Other Plans" - performed by Sunny Levine from Celeste and Jesse Forever.

4. "Big Machine" - performed by Mark Duplass from Safety Not Guaranteed.

3. "Learn Me Right" performed by Birdy w/ Mumford & Sons from Brave.

2. "One Wing" - performed by Jordin Sparks from Sparkle.

1. "Never Had" - performed by Oscar Isaac from 10 Years.