The film adaptation of this hit Broadway show solidified the mainstream appeal of both its faux-’50s sound track and its lead actors, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. As star-crossed high school sweethearts Danny and Sandy, Travolta and Newton-John surprisingly sing only seven of Grease‘s 24 songs. Still, their tracks — particularly “We Go Together,” “Summer Nights” and “You’re the One That I Want” — were the film’s biggest hits. Newton-John’s rendition of the ballad “Hopelessly Devoted to You” was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song — although it lost to Donna Summer’s “Last Dance,” from the now forgotten disco film Thank God It’s Friday. No matter: the Grease album is still one of the best-selling sound tracks of all time, and a sing-along version of the movie was even re-released in theaters in 2010.
Top 25 Movie Soundtracks
Some of cinema's greatest scenes can be attributed to the music that accompany them. TIME picks the best movie albums.
Grease
Full List
Movie Music That Mattered
- Singin’ in the Rain
- West Side Story
- A Hard Day’s Night
- Mary Poppins
- The Sound of Music
- The Graduate
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Easy Rider
- Superfly
- American Graffiti
- The Harder They Come
- Saturday Night Fever
- Grease
- The Big Chill
- Flashdance
- Sixteen Candles
- This Is Spinal Tap
- Dirty Dancing
- Singles
- Pulp Fiction
- Rushmore
- Trainspotting
- O Brother, Where Art Thou?
- Garden State