All 24 James Bond themes, ranked from worst to best

14 January 2026, 15:03

The name's Bond. James Bond.

Guns, girls, gadgets... from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig (via George Lazenby and Roger Moore), for all their differences there are some things that every James Bond film has to have.

One of those is an absolutely massive theme song. Something that stands alone as a massive banger while also perfectly capturing the vibe of the 007 outing they're a part of.

• When Roger Moore proved that he was maybe the greatest James Bond of all
• Why David Bowie turned down A View To A Kill villain role opposite Roger Moore's James Bond
• Listen to Music From The Movies Live Playlist on Global Player, the home of Gold

But just as not all Bond films are equal, neither are all Bond themes.

Some are as iconic as Monty Norman's 'James Bond Theme', which we first heard in the first official 007 film Dr. No in 1962, played by John Barry and his Orchestra. Some... are not.

We've not included the 'James Bond Theme' in our rankings because it's not really a James Bond theme in quite the same way as the others. Nor is the same film's 'Kingston Calypso', played by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires.

With the caveat that a top quality Bond is no guarantee of a good theme, we invite you to dive into our rankings of Bond themes, from the worst all the way to the very best.

1. Octopussy (1983) – 'All Time High' – Rita Coolidge

   

   Octopussy • All Time High • Rita Coolidge

   Octopussy is nobody's favourite Bond film and while there's nothing truly bad about smooth balladry of Rita Coolidge's 'All Time High', it utterly fails as a Bond theme.

   Beyond a few string for strings' sake it doesn't sound Bond-y at all, it doesn't really connect with its parent movie, and it slinks along inoffensively and forgettably doing much.

2. Moonraker (1979) – 'Moonraker' – Shirley Bassey

   

   Moonraker - Shirley Bassey

   Shirley Bassey is the Queen of Bond Themes, with three efforts to her name. 'Moonraker' is – by a fair distance – the runt of the litter.

   You can't fault Shirl's vocals (of course you can't) but this totally lacks the pizazz and dynamics of her other two efforts, not to mention the total lack of tune.. Try to hum it. Go on. See. Unhummable.

3. Die Another Day (2002) – 'Die Another Day' – Madonna

   

   Madonna - Die Another Day (Official Video)

   Okay, 'Die Another Day' (the song) isn't as bad as we all remember. Honestly, Die Another Day (the film) isn't as bad as we remember either. Despite the invisible car.

   But it's still not good. And with the actual Madonna writing and performing, we had every right to accept something special. What we got instead was some anonymous robopop that could have been by any number of 2000s artists. Not good enough.

4. Spectre (2015) – 'Writing's on the Wall' – Sam Smith

   

   Sam Smith - Writing's On The Wall (from Spectre) (Official Music Video)

   The disappointing sandwich filling in Daniel Craig's final three Bond films, Spectre was a disappointment, and Sam Smith's slightly snoozesome theme song didn't help matter.

   Like the film itself it does it all on the surface. Strings. Piano. Tender verses. BIG vocal chorus. But like the film it feels like an exercise in box ticking that fails to hit the emotional beats really necessary.

5. Quantum of Solace (2008) – 'Another Way to Die' – Jack White & Alicia Keys

   

   Alicia Keys & Jack White - Another Way To Die [Official Video]

   Sometimes it's good to mix things up. 'Another Way To Die' is the only Bond Theme that's a duet. Two very different artists going head-to-head in a brass-heavy collision that sounds unlike any other Bond film.

   Unfortunately despite all the talent on guitar and behind those microphones there was a lack of the necessary hooks. Without that, the lack of Bond vibes was going to be all the more scrutinised. It didn't help that the film wasn't classic Bond, either.

6. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) – 'Tomorrow Never Dies' – Sheryl Crow

   

   Tomorrow Never Dies • Theme Song • Sheryl Crow

   We prefer Pulp's rejected theme (which later emerged as This Is Hardcore bonus track 'Tomorrow Never Lies', but Sheryl Crow did a pretty decent job with her effort for Pierce Brosnan's second outing.

   It did that thing that all good Bond themes do, sounding very much like a Bond Theme and also very much like a Sheryl Crow song. Like the film itself it's maybe not a stone cold classic, but solid enough.

7. From Russia with Love (1963) – 'From Russia with Love' – Matt Monro

   

   Matt Monro ‎– From Russia With Love (1963)

   Dr. No got things started, but it was From Russia with Love that really started a franchise. This song started the tradition of vocal theme songs, though it was an instrumental version that actually featured over the opening sequence.

   Written by Lionel Bart, 'From Russia With Love' by crooner Matt Monro featured later in the film and over the end credits. It doesn't have the OTT volume of many later Bond songs, but its gentle sweeping strings and delicate on-point vocals helped establish the tradition.

8. For Your Eyes Only (1981) – 'For Your Eyes Only' – Sheena Easton

   

   For Your Eyes Only • Theme Song • Sheena Easton

   Every decade seems to spark a concern about what the changing times means for James Bond. For Your Eyes Only seemed to shrug off those worries.

   The 12th Bond movie and Roger Moore's fifth was decent enough that it became the first of FIVE 007 flicks directed by John Glen (more than anyone else). Like the film, Sheena Easton's gentle theme was solid, pretty safe, and showed that Bond was in safe hands for now.

9. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) – 'The Man with the Golden Gun' – Lulu

   

   The Man with the Golden Gun Opening Title Sequence

   One of the first real wham bam thank you mam Bond themes on our ranking. Lulu is nestled in the National Treasure column these days, but back in 1974 she had shrugged off her 1960s ingenue persona and was in the midst of a working (and romantic) relationship with David Bowie.

   This song is a spirited, glammy take on Bond with absurdly literal lyrics about 007's antagonist. With beefier guitars and Lulu letting go a bit more in the delivery it'd be even higher.

10. No Time to Die (2021) – 'No Time to Die' – Billie Eilish

    

    Billie Eilish - No Time To Die

    Development on No Time To Die started in 2016. Directorial change meant it didn't get shot till 2019. A pandemic pushed back the actual release till 2021.

    It felt like the film took forever to come, and a cruel person would say the same about the chorus in Billie Eilish's Bond song. But the passing years have been very good to the song, as repeated listens and the context of the film itself help it unfurl as a gentle, dramatic, atmospheric and absolutely fitting theme.

11. The World Is Not Enough (1999) – 'The World Is Not Enough' – Garbage

    

    Garbage - The World Is Not Enough (Official Music Video)

    Probably the BEST example of "sounds like Bond" / "sounds like the artist" on this entire list.

    'The World Is Not Enough' could easily nestle on a Garbage album of the era, and at the same time could not be more Bond. Great strings, great tune, great vocals, and fantastic lyrics, too.

12. Casino Royale (2006) – 'You Know My Name' – Chris Cornell

    

    Casino Royale • You Know My Name • Chris Cornell

    GoldenEye was pitched heavily as a Bond "reboot". In truth you could say the same every time a new actor stepped into 007's shoes, but it feels like the only real narrative rebooting so far came with Daniel Craig and Casino Royale.

    There were still links back to Bond of the past, and that meant Judi Dench (M since GoldenEye) returned, and for all its freshness, Soundgarden's Chris Cornell's Bond theme felt the same. A hard-hitting Bond theme with just enough link back to Bond-ness to make it work.

13. You Only Live Twice (1967) – 'You Only Live Twice' – Nancy Sinatra

    

    Nancy Sinatra - You Only Live Twice (HQ)

    'You Only Live Twice' is a mass pile up of talent. Nancy Sinatra's gorgeous vocals, of course (she was subbed in for Julie Rogers as that fully-recorded version was missing some magic). John Barry's composition. Leslie Bricusse (who had co-written the words to 'Goldfinger') providing the lyrics.

    But really, it's all about that string riff/motif, lifted from Alexander Tcherepnin’s 'First Piano Concerto (op. 12)', which has become one of the most instantly recognisable bits of melody not just in the Bond canon, but all music and movie history. Simply stunning.

14. The Living Daylights (1987) – 'The Living Daylights' – a-ha

    

    The Living Daylights • Theme Song • A-ha

    On occasion, Bond has veered into too-serious-for-its-own-sake territory, but 007 is at its best when it juggles the serious and the fun, just like this wonderful theme from A-ha.

    'The Living Daylights' has great late 70s/early 80s David Bowie dynamics, with a slinky pop sheen that shows that for all his British stiff upper lip, James Bond certainly isn't afraid to move with the times.

15. A View to a Kill (1985) – 'A View to a Kill' – Duran Duran

    

    Duran Duran - A View To A Kill

    Truthfully though, the best out and out POP Bond moment came a couple of years earlier.

    New wavers Duran Duran brought their super slick, super fun, super catchy approach to 007. DANCE into the fire, you say? Sure, why not!

16. Thunderball (1965) – 'Thunderball' – Tom Jones

    

    Thunderball • Theme Song • Tom Jones

    "I closed my eyes and I held the note for so long when I opened my eyes the room was spinning." A couple of great preceding themes meant that by 1965's Thunderball the whole concept not only had some heft, but that there was a fair weight of expectation, too. Tom Jones, it's fair to say, knocked it out the park.

    The Bond Strings open things up before they've become a cliché, there's a knowing melodic nod to the 'James Bond Theme', and the future Sir Tom barges his way in with a vocal line that obliterates everything in its path, even before the final note that is said to have made him faint.

17. Diamonds Are Forever (1971) – 'Diamonds Are Forever' – Shirley Bassey

    

    Diamonds Are Forever Theme Song - James Bond

    The second of our three Shirley Basseys, and a marked improvement over 'Moonraker'.

    'Diamonds Are Forever' made Shirley the first person to do more than one Bond theme (she's still the only one with that honour), and just a classic bit of Bond-y songwriting and performance, with the title right there out of the tracks.

18. GoldenEye (1995) – 'GoldenEye' – Tina Turner

    

    Tina Turner - Golden Eye (HD)

    GoldenEye was the first Bond not to use any story elements from Ian Fleming, and as we've said, very much was sold as a reboot for a new era when it came.

    But one of things making it feel utterly Bond from the off was Tina Turner's stunning theme. Written by Bono and The Edge of U2, it had all those classic dynamics and it felt like Tina was paying more than a little homage to Queen of Bond Shirley Bassey with her powerhouse delivery.

19. Skyfall (2012) – 'Skyfall' – Adele

    

    Adele - Skyfall (Official Lyric Video)

    We've not really mentioned the Bond opening sequences that (almost) all of these themes soundtrack some pretty special opening credit sequences.

    Whatever you think about Skyfall itself (we love it), its opening sequence has to rank among the very best, and a big part of that is Adele's absolutely gorgeous theme. Again it does that "sounds like Bond" / "sounds like Adele" thing, but honestly it sounds as good or maybe even better than everything else in her back catalogue.

20. Goldfinger (1964) – 'Goldfinger' – Shirley Bassey

    

    Shirley Bassey Goldfinger

    Shirley Bassey's first, and best, James Bond Theme set the template for many that followed and is probably the quintessential 007 number.

    Big voice, big dynamics, big strings, all the suspense. No funny business with the title and lyrics that only really work with the film so can't help but bring it to mind but don't sound too ridiculous away from it.

21. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) – 'Nobody Does It Better' – Carly Simon

    

    Carly Simon Nobody Does It Better HD + HQ

    "The sexiest song ever written," said Radiohead's Thom Yorke before his band covered Carly Simon's 'Nobody Does It Better' in the mid-1990s. We're not going to argue.

    A beautiful ballad that survives some of the cardinal Bond theme sins (it's not named after the film, the lyrics don't really have anything to do with the movie, it doesn't really sound very Bond-y at all) by simply being such a good song that it more than earns its spot here.

22. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) – 'We Have All The Time in the World'– Louis Armstrong

    

    Louis Armstrong - We Have All the Time in the World [007 On Her Majesty's Secret Service ]

    Another Bond rule breaker. Some people don't even include this in their list of Bond themes, because it didn't actually appear over the opening credits (though neither did 'From Russia With Love', which made do with an instrumental version of that theme). The opening of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - George Lazenby's one and done attempt to replace Sean Connery – was actually soundtracked by a wonderful John Barry instrumental.

    But the movie's theme (and heart, and soul) was in 'We Have All The Time in the World', with music written by John Barry and words by Burt Bacharach's usual foil Hal David. The ironic title is heartbreaking in the context of the movie and Louis Armstrong captured that sentiment beautifully. The melody returning in No Time To Die is also one of the best musical choices in Bond history, too.

23. Licence to Kill (1989) – 'Licence to Kill' – Gladys Knight

    

    Gladys Knight - License to Kill

    You probably didn't see this one coming, but - as with Carly Simon – quality of song is the most important thing at the end of the day. Eric Clapton actually wrote and recorded a track for the movie but it was shelved for Gladys Knight's effort.

    Does Gladys's 'Licence to Kill' sound a bit like a smooshing up together of all the previous Bond themes? Yes. Does that matter? Not one jot, because she does it to total perfection, sounding classic, of its time, and forever current.

24. Live and Let Die (1973) – 'Live and Let Die' – Paul McCartney & Wings

    

    Live and Let Die • Theme Song • Paul McCartney and Wings

    Arguably the two greatest British institutions of the 1960s were James Bond and The Beatles.

    While The Beatles split without ever recording a theme themselves, Bond continued on into the 1970s (and beyond), and that meant we got the chance for oe off the Fab Four to do the business (alongside Wings). And well, nobody did it better (not even Carly Simon).

    Written by Paul McCartney and the lovely Linda, 'Live and Let Die' is a song in multiple parts. Most importantly it's all BLAST and BOMBAST and BOND (and okay, a little bit of reggae) and one that is pure 007 and pure McCartney and has remained an ever present in the great man's live set to this day.