The Oscar for Best Original Song goes to the principal songwriters, not automatically to the singer who performs the song. A vocalist receives the award only when that person also made an eligible contribution to the music or lyrics.
That is why Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová both received Oscars for “Falling Slowly.” They performed the song in Once, but the decisive credit was authorship. The song is listed as the 2008 winner with “Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.”
The rule returned to public attention after Hansard died in Dublin on July 29, 2026. He was both a singer and a songwriter, but those jobs played different roles. He sang “Falling Slowly,” and he won the Oscar because he co-wrote it.
The Oscar Follows the Writing Credit
Best Original Song rewards the creation of music and lyrics for a motion picture. The voice heard in the film may belong to an actor, recording artist, writer or group of performers, while the Academy looks to the eligible songwriting credits.
Eligibility belongs to the principal composers or songwriters responsible for the work’s conception, substantive authorship and execution. Performers, producers, arrangers and music supervisors qualify only when they also made an eligible songwriting contribution.
This creates three common outcomes:
| Role | Receives the Best Original Song Oscar? |
|---|---|
| Singer who did not write the music or lyrics | No |
| Singer who is also an eligible songwriter | Yes, as a songwriter |
| Producer or arranger without substantive songwriting authorship | No |
| Principal composer or lyricist who does not perform the song | Yes |
A famous vocalist can therefore perform an Oscar-winning song without becoming an Oscar winner. A songwriter who never appears on screen can receive the statuette. When a singer-songwriter does both jobs, the award recognizes the writing job.
Why Hansard and Irglová Both Received Oscars
“Falling Slowly” was not credited to one writer with the other person listed only as a featured singer. The Academy’s ceremony record credits both the music and lyric to Hansard and Irglová. Each was therefore an award recipient.
Their appearance in the film can make the result look like an acting or performance award. Hansard played Guy and Irglová played Girl, and the song’s performance is central to the story. Yet the Academy did not give them statuettes for playing those characters or for delivering the vocals. Those facts helped audiences connect the writers to the song, while the music-and-lyric credit established their place in the category.
Current rules normally allow no more than two statuettes for Original Song. A third may be issued when three writers made essentially equal contributions, and a fourth is reserved for a rare circumstance decided by the Academy’s Music Branch Executive Committee. A large group of essentially equal credited writers ordinarily receives one group statuette rather than an unlimited line of individual awards.
The exact administration has changed over the category’s long history, so current limits may differ from those at an older ceremony. The stable principle ties the award to eligible authorship, while fame, vocal prominence and a recording’s full credit list answer other questions.
“Original” Is a Separate Eligibility Question
The word “original” concerns the song’s relationship to the film. It does not mean the winning singer must have an original voice or that the recording must be the first version audiences ever hear.
Under the current Academy rules, eligible music must be created and recorded exclusively for use in the motion picture before other use. That requirement protects a film category from becoming an award for an existing hit that was later placed on a soundtrack.
The rules governing a particular awards year and the Academy committee’s decision control borderline cases. That second point became important for “Falling Slowly,” whose history was more complicated than its recipient credits.
Why Earlier Performances Did Not Disqualify “Falling Slowly”
Before the 2008 ceremony, questions arose because “Falling Slowly” had appeared on two albums and had been performed before Once opened in the United States. The dispute was about whether the song had truly been written for the film, not whether Hansard and Irglová had written it.
The Academy cleared the song after reviewing written assurances and a detailed chronology. Its music-branch chairman explained that Hansard and director John Carney were already working together on the project that became Once when the song began taking shape. The film’s development and financing then took several years. During that delay, Hansard and Irglová performed the song at venues that the committee considered too limited to change its eligibility. The contemporary eligibility decision preserved that reasoning before the ceremony.
That ruling did not create a broad rule that any previously released song can qualify. It was a decision about a documented production chronology under the rules applied to that awards year. The current rules use their own wording and submission process.
Two Questions Decide the Result
Best Original Song involves two separate checks. First, the song itself must qualify as original film music under the applicable rules. Second, the Academy determines which principal writers are eligible to receive the award.
For “Falling Slowly,” the committee accepted the song after examining its development history. The official credit then identified Hansard and Irglová as its music-and-lyric writers. Hansard’s voice made the song famous on screen, but his authorship put the Oscar in his hands.
