Ranking EVERY Final Fantasy Soundtrack 

I think it’s notable that while 16’s ost is very traditionally medieval, it also shakes things up with crazy electronic themes like the Typhon and Omega weapon boss. It really highlighted their otherworldly nature.

One thing we can agree - there is no bad Final Fantasy soundtrack.

Honesty, 14 could be its own video as each expansion has its own soundtrack

XIII ost is underrated by the fanbase

Putting 16 this low makes me question your taste completely 😅

FF16’s “The Riddle” became one of my favorite songs in ff history

Sephiroth's music theme alone is one of the greatest theme in video game industry.

One thing is for sure, I may not like every Final Fantasy game but damn, the music is great in all of them. Probably why Theatrhythm is one of my favourite games!

Final fantasy 13 osts are so underrated... I would also consider the themes of 13-2/3 that are quite good, especially caius theme(s) that are personally one of my favorites in all ff. In general I would rank way higher ff 15 and 16 too. 14 depends on expansions but it's amazing too

My favorite is FF9 definitely !

Great list! I couldn't get mad at anyone for saying 6, 7, 8, or 9 is their favorite soundtrack - they're all so good. My personal favorite is 6 - not just because it's my favorite game in the series. I love 6's soundtrack because it does the strongest work of helping to tell the story of the game. Terra's theme is lonely, but it has different arrangements that often play when Terra has a difficult choice to make, or when she's feeling especially alone. But I mostly want to talk about Celes' theme and Locke's theme. Each character in the game has their theme playing during their introduction except for Celes. We don't hear her theme until the opera scene, and then we only very sparingly hear it other than that. We hear it when Locke and Celes reunite at night in Albrook: Locke is trying to reach out and apologize to her, but she's so overcome with emotion that she can't speak, and she runs away. But we hear her theme playing, so we know how she feels. If you see her suicide attempt, you hear her theme again there. And you hear her theme, intertwined with Locke's, in the final scene. When I was a music theory professor for a while I did a small section on music in other media in one course. I played different character themes from FFVI, and asked the students to describe who the characters were based just on their themes. They always nailed Locke's theme: He's not the main character, but he thinks he's the main character. But I also like how "Forever Rachel" is basically just Locke's theme, slower and sadder. That suggests to me that it's not really Rachel's theme, it's a song that's all about how Locke feels about Rachel (which helps explain why we hear it a few times when Rachel isn't present.) Basically, all of these ideas and more make these character themes work like leitmotifs in an opera, and I feel like this game does a better job than any of the others in the series of really connecting the music and the story. And I apologize for writing an essay in this comment, I've just given this a lot of thought - and I have several lengthy analysis videos on this on my own channel! (Side note, I'm about to start working on a synth cover of a song from Final Fantasy IV. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I should pick?)

Wandering Flame is one of my favorites songs ever and I used to listen all the time while writing. Never seen many people talking about it

First of all, all main line FF have at least a good soundtrack. My favorite is either XII TZA or XV. To XII: the game has a big focus on its world building. The optional content is so awesome, which makes Battle with an Esper one of my favorites. 8 of 13 Espers are optional and I love hunting them. Favorit theme is easily Struggle for Freedom. Takes around 4 minutes to reach its climax but it's so worth it. Other themes I love are Archadian Empire and some area themes (Rabanastre, Ozmone, Eruyt Village, Cerobi, Salikawood and especially Lust for Power). XV has so many awesome themes, Somnus, Apocalypsis Noctis, most of the boss themes, Wanderlust and so on. Just wished some themes would be more prominent. Type-0 and XIII-2 (all Caius themes) are next in my list. My favorites from Uematsus style are either X and VIII. VII is close as well. Undeniably awesome soundtracks. Oh and VI has Terra and Celes' themes. V has Battle on the Big bridge and some other good ones. XVI has the most hype boss themes. Find the Flame and Heart of Stone (as final part to Titan Lost) for example. XIII-1, I hear a lot praise for its soundtrack. And I understand it. Blinded by Light, Dust to Dust and probably Archylte Steppe are my favorites.

personally i would rank XIII the best music selection/theme. idk man, but blinded by light is top tier battle theme, i don’t get tired of hearing it.

A lot of people hate on the 7 because it seems to be so popular and hate on popular things make you look cool. But the fact is, 7 is the what saved SE, they poured the most amount of workforce and most amount of resources. It's the ultimate SE icon, peirod.

Nobou Uematsu said it himself, Final Fantasy IX is his best soundtrack. The melodies and variations in the compositions of the tracks are incredible. The magic of every piece of music is astonishing considering it came out only one year after Final Fantasy VIII.

Nice list Erek! Once again, I am not surprised with Number 1 🤣 Really excited to hear some of this series' music sometime later this year!

Sleeping so hard on X’s. I can’t enough of almost every track, they just drive each moment of the game to the next level

My favorite FF ost of all time is one that Nobuo Uematsu is proud of in FF6 and 9^^ He even said in his interview that Dancing Mad was his best and favorite work in his career. I also teared up at FF9 menu theme as my favorite.

Wandering Flame is one of my favorite tracks in all of FF so it became my nickname

thanks for this! i went to the distant worlds: music from final fantasy concert earlier this year and the conductor said they switch up the music for every tour but there are two songs they're required to play every time: to zanarkand from ffx and one winged angel from ffvii.

where does the character artwork you use for your thumbnails come from?

I knew when the video started that the top two would be 6 & 7. It was a stab in my heart when 6 took 2nd place, but you’re right, it’s really a flip of the coin on who gets the top spot. S Rank = FFT

Disappointed to see that Final Fantasy Tactics wasn't even considered for the list. Such an amazing game that is constantly overlooked or ignored.

X and VIII are some of the best OST's in video game history in my eyes. 6 and 7 trail behind them slightly but all four are so good. If I had to do a top 10 OST's of all time, X and 8 might be on that list.

i love 7 as much as the next guy but dancing mad alone should put 6 at the top

I think 13’s soundtrack should be way higher. For me, it rivals 10’s. Has some great battle themes that get your juices pumping, some jazz session songs like sash’s theme or can’t catch a break that just go so hard. Atonement is such a beautiful song that uses snow’s theme in a harsh moment with him and hope. Idk… feel like the ost doesn’t get enough praise. Also, the game itself isn’t too bad, ppl hate on it way too much.

16's soundtrack is probably my favorite to be honest, "Away" is one of the best boss battle themes I've ever heard, and other tracks such as Find the Flame", "No Risk No Reward", "Sixteen Bells", "The Greatwood", "Histoire" are just... yeah, absolutely incredible soundtrack.

Oooh this ought to be interesting. I guess the next few rankings for Final Fantasy would be Battle Systems/Combat Systems, maybe Final Bosses (tho that's also big spoiler material kinda obviously). Also damn, you shaved as well, lmao

Perfect ranking!!! I love talking about and listen people talk about Final Fantasy music. Final Fantasy VII is truly the best... And XIV... And X... And VIII...

Some notable songs that you didn't mention is, Otherworld from FFX Shuffle and Boogie, I spent so much time playing Triple Triad in FF8 and from 13-2 which isn't in the list Crazy Chocobo and Limit Break from that game, they were done by Shootie HG who did the DMC 3 and 4 soundtracks, he also did a couple of songs in FF7 Rebirth as well I believe

I think the best overall is IX. Best song is Liberi Fatali! You should do a top 25 of the best songs in the series!!

I know everyone raves about FFXIV but have you all not heard FFXI soundtrack? It is amazing...

Oooo. Was waitin out after 4th & 3rd place announced, if U’d place FFVI & VII tops or somehow drop out of list (?). Great picks!

I really like your descriptive video essay style! Just enough substance without going so long as to get word-salady. Check out Wailers and Water Wheels from FFXIV. There are other great standouts, some that you can find in the Theatrhythm selections, but that one is my personal favorite.

Another note for FFV - The Fire Ship! Oh, I love that theme

6 and 7 probably have the most nostalgic tracks but 8 has the highest quality. Its amazing what he did with a playstation one chip to create those grand orchestra songs. Eyes on me was even used in the Olympics if i remember right.

Dispite not being my favorite I can admit that ff8 does have some killer music…though I would have 6,9,7 as my top musics…I love all the character themes. Also have you ever considered a non ff top rpg music list? Or really visiting other great RPGs aside from ff. Not sick of it by any means, but I would love to see your opinion. Thanks again for the great video! Can’t wait for more soon.

Yes, there's hardly any filler in the entire FF catalogue, but VII is just God Tier 👌

Sad that the MMOs weren't part of this, FFXI is probably my favorite OST of all time.

My favorite is XIII, I think just because I really like how Hamauzu writes. I've been discovering from listening to more Hamauzu that he's probably my favorite composer, maybe just in general. Really love his stuff.

final fantasy 12 is a masterpiece. it was my first final fantasy and it takes a while to get going but when it does, it does. a world very deeply rich with lore gives it that lived in vibe, and its presentation as a political tale with magical elements was a nice mix and a nice departure from the chosen one/ heroes of light trope. it's a very grounded story where the villain more or less wins.

14's soundtrack is incredible, it has the largest amount of tracks in the series but almost all of them are high quality and memorable. For me when I was playing through it, hearing all of the music for the first time was one of my favorite parts of the experience. If you want to just listen to one track to get a taste of it, "Answers" is the main theme of the game and arguably its most important song (and is actually composed by Uematsu even though most of the soundtrack is Soken). It's even better in the trailer it's used in, "End of an Era", which is the cinematic that played after the original 1.0 servers were shut down and 14's world experienced a calamity event.

6, 7, and 10's music are top tier.

My absolute favourite ffs are 6 and 12 but none of them has peak themes (a few like ff6 dancing mad or ff12 esper battle are memorable, but they are a few in the whole ost). The best ost to me is from 13, even if I don't like that game one bit. Not a single theme in 13 is below 8 or 9. Honorable mention to 3's eternal wind which is one of the absolute best themes in the whole series IMO

XI is amazing because of Naoshi Mizuta. One of the chillest and meditative OSTs. Kumi Tanioka added some great tracks too. XIII and X are especially amazing because of Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano. All the weird time arrangements mixed with ambient electronic makes these games feel hyper-ethereal and really nail that blend of sci-fi and fantasy. Nobuo Uematsu is great too ofc, but I feel like he's always put on a pedestal while other amazing composers throughout the series are completely overlooked. IMO the majoritry of Soken's tracks on FFXIV and FFXVI lack the weirdness that makes earlier OSTs more enjoyable. He still has some bangers, but too many tracks sound like generic fantasy orchestra or corny modern rock music. I feel the goal of FF's music is to transport me to unimaginable ethereal worlds, not remind me of shit in real life. Sadly, the only track I remember fondly in FF16 is Stillwind Marsh (because it's weird with a unique arrangement). 16 was missing a lot of that weird FF charm in a lot of areas, though -- they definitely over-westernized it.

Your FFX selections are on point.

I think FFX is the best personally

11 and 14 genuinely deserve their own deep dives because the music from both games truly deserve the attention. I dislike how so many people write them off purely because they are mmos, because that does both the games and the people a massive disservice.

Your 15 ranking is a crime

FFIV - Overworld / Main Theme. My favorite overworld theme in the entire series.

Good list and respect your reasoning. WE all have our own listing. For me FF12 is my overall favorite. 6, 7, 9, 10, 13 and 8 are my next. Currently im enjoying FF7 Rebirths' OST. Love how they remade a lot of great theme songs there.

You cannot go wrong with VI-VII-VIII-IX-X lots of amazing music for each of these installments. And yes lots of Prog hidden in the music ty Uematsu.

Honestly I agree with u on 7 I mean there are more ff7 song covers then any other ff game combined and those covers are awesome whether it be metal piano or violin just to name a few absolutely love the og soundtrack and the covers

I'm replying ffvi again. It is the best ff ever, story, characters, and soundtracks. Just perfect

Apocalypsis Aquarius and Crimson Blitz are the best ones for me

I love your list!

Dude thank you for giving ff4 the praise it well deserves

While there aren't a ton of "stand out" tracks on Final Fantasy XII, I think the soundtrack as a whole is super good, and the music always fits the situation so well. Also, just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying your channel! Thank you for the content.

I’m probably one of the few who find’s Final Fantasy II’s soundtrack to be very underrated. Its hard to argue with your top 3, but I would probably put VIII as my number 1. But just barely over VII!

If I had to make a ranking : 1. AWAY. FF16 2. LIBERI FATALI FF8 3. ROSES OF MAY FF9 4. ONE WINGED ANGEL FF7 5 TO ZANARKAND FF10 6 CLASH ON THE BIG BRIDGE FF12 VERSION 7 MAGNA INSOMNIA FF15 8 LOVE THEME - INTRO FF4 REMAKE 9 DANCING MAD FF6 10 TO SAIL FORBIDDEN SEAS FF16

The Hideaway is the Xanax of video game soundtracks 🤤

Honestly FFXIV borrows from and elevates the music of its predecessors SO WELL. It’s possibly the best soundtrack by default because of that. The metamorphosis of the FFIII themes into A Long Fall, aka The Twinning, is impressive enough alone. I also loved hearing the references to FFIV throughout the Endwalker expansion, and now that I’m finally playing FFXII, I know where a good chunk of the Bozja music came from. I suspect (and hope) Dawntrail will call back to FFIX and/or FFX. Soken has more than proven himself a worthy successor to Uematsu. I hope you get to delve into that music soon. As for the single-player FF soundtracks, FFX is my favourite just because it was my first (and it’s devastatingly beautiful to boot). And I don’t know if it counts, but FFVII Rebirth just took that original FFVII soundtrack to a whole new level. Aside from the expected, the callbacks to Crisis Core punched me right in the feels. And they had no business going that hard making a track for a single optional dog-escorting mission.

Soundtrack of FF4 and FF6 are simply in another world. Would say FF6, FF4 and FF7

Great list! FF9 is my all time favorite soundtrack/game in the series with "You're not alone" being the top there. The emotional weight behind the scene and the music just gets me every time. Just a small correction, FF14 vanilla is the last game Uematsu worked on as the main composer of Final Fantasy and not FF10. Soken took over as the main composer from A Realm Reborn.

You should definitely revisit XIV when you have the time. Be careful with looking up the music on youtube. There can be some big spoilers in those videos. Also, avoid watching all the expansion trailers. All of the recently released expansion trailers will have spoilers.

For me FF9 has the best soundtrack in the series. It’s truly cinematic like it’s made for a movie. Followed by FF5 because it sure creates a rich atmosphere for a SNES game. Very relaxing to listen to. My favorites are “Fate in Haze” and “Ancient Earth”. Then FF7 (the PS1 soundtrack) because many of the instruments sound so nice and unique. It’s amazing how they perfectly fit the diorama-like graphics. Just try listening to the “Flowers blooming in the church”, “Tifa’s theme”, “Holding my thoughts in my heart” and “Anxious heart”. Even the Remake/Rebirth versions can’t surpass them. FF13 follows next because the violins in this soundtrack are so heavenly. It makes me think that if there will be a remake of FF13, the whole soundtrack won’t need to be changed. The sound quality is just that good. All FF soundtracks are amazing but these are my top favorites.

I would agree with this list except for 12, but that's because I love that game.

Great List. I like your top 2. I might swap them but I don't mind 7 as #1.

a lot of people will put NOBUO UEMATSU on top, but for me Soken work on FF16 is a masterpiece... sorry, but i put Masayoshi Soken as NO.1 for his work on FF16, here is why, to find the motivation to keep working while going through chemo treatments and you don't have much time to live, that is an inspiring story... and you can hear FF16 different soundtracks hit hard and capture the moment in the game here examples : 1.when Clive with Jill talk and the piano playing make you pay attention to the scene dialogic. 2. cid ost capture his character. 3. Gave ost capture his character. 4. Bahamut Ascension capture Dion motivation to his people. 5. Clive OST find the flame. 6. Phoenix OST 7. the combat OST sailing the forbidden sea. 8. Clive and Ultima fight OST all in one. *and you have more goffy OST like Titan lost and Typhon also done well. for a person to do all this can tell, they put all their heart and soul to do it...

I agree with your list well done. But with a proper clean sound system, nothing can beat FF6. Switch your top 2 and switch FF8 with FF4 and it’s perfect Well done tho ! Love your FF videos

8, 9, 16 would be my personal top 3. They're honestly all so good though.

Final Fantasy X - Otherworld music is the best song in all FF history, it is epic 🔥

It’s hard to pick between 6,7,8 and 9. They are all incredible. I’d probably go with 8 as the best. Force your way is the best boss music. Liberi Fatali is the best opening. The legendary beast is the most epic and underrated final Boss track. 8 is just operating at a higher level than 7 IMO. But again I love them all, 10/10.

I understand why it's not listed (it's not a mainline entry) but the FFVII remake soundtrack is ridiculous. I'm playing through it now and getting goosebumps on practically every session. So good. Also a shout out to the Crisis Core soundtrack. Difficult list - they are all good! I also have a special fondness for the FFVIII soundtrack.

One-Winged Angel will always be my favorite song in any game

FF13 was my first game i still use sunleth waterscape as my alarm

I agree with what i know of this list and I agree that 7 has a good soundtrack. Its the only one that will actively get stuck in my head.

Top 5-7 can go any way really. For me it's FF6 FF4 FF10 FF7 FF8 FF9 FF5 Dancing Mad > One Winged Angel, don't @ me. Would be really cool to see a tier list of just battle themes / boss music / final boss music / etc.

15 is hands down the best IMO. Such an epic sounding sound track

Great List. Depending on when you played the top six games, they could be ranked any which ways. For me, FFIV would be higher because I played it more as a kid than VIII.

Final fantasy 8 will forever be my favorite soundtrack. I personally think they Nobuo stepped it up after creating the banger that was 7s soundtrack. A lot of people will compare the two since they are the same era of gaming. Dont get me wrong 7s soundtrack is probably my 2nd favorite. I just think every song in 8 is perfectly placed for every area and battle in the game. The best way I can describe it is 7s soundtrack has mostly 9/10 and 10/10 songs with a few 8/10s sprinkled in while 8s soundtrack has only 9/10 and 10/10.

FF8 is maybe my favorite. That or X. Love seeing you putting 8 so high. Feel it is highly underrated.

Opening/Bombing Mission is literally IMO the greatest opening theme to any game ever... you could even argue that everything contained in Midgar ALONE makes it top tier.. but as soon as you leave and On Our Way hits you.. GAME OVER... Those 2 songs... Don of the Slums, Aerith's Theme and of course One Winged Angel my top 5!

6 for me at the top. The way you feel about 7 ("All of them") I feel about 6. 7's soundtrack didn't really stick with me nearly on the same level. The standouts for me have been Aerith's theme, Cosmo Canyon, and Dancing Mad.

wait, Prague like the Czech city? Enchanting shimmery mystical storybook Prague? My favorite inland city in the world, now I have to play 6! Somehow the tinge of 20th Century Iron Curtain Europe still hangs bleakly over most of the area, yet in Prague those undertones are mixed with levity and hope! (and also magic around every corner)

I need to see some ID mate.

11:53 I was literally rolling my eyes hahaha. Ff6 is my favorite soundtrack al least I think, I always change my mind about this to tell the truth. Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷

The Phon Coast from FFXII is fantastic

Damn, you're really not messing with 3 and 13? those are my two favorites lol

Ff7 rebirth’s soundtrack has changed the ost tier list game for me completely. There are a couple of misses; some of the songs are still better in the original, but for the most part it’s a masterpiece of an OST. Wish they would’ve kept some songs more faithful and used them in the correct sections of the game but beggars can’t be choosers.

cosmo canyon my favourite FF7 track really really fun. brave dude to rank the music in a series with one of the best composers of all time (No name needed).

Best songs from Ff12, in my opinion, are the Empire’s theme, Battle with an Esper, and the song that plays when you summon them to fight. Beyond those…..the rest don’t really grab your attention.

1) It's really hard for me to do this ranking because I believe that each Final Fantasy soundtrack is perfect for its game. I could not imagine swapping a song from one game with a song from another game. 2) If you ever get the chance to go to a Distant Worlds concert, please go! Listening to this music performed live by an orchestra is amazing. The music just envelops you. When they opened with the Prelude, I got goosebumps. 3) I'm also on the list of people who rave about the FF14 soundtrack. It's great for bringing in classics from the other games in the series, but also has originals that stand on their own. Masayoshi Soken (who also did FF16) does a lot with leitmotifs and it's really well done. There are times where I'll have a FF14 song come up on Spotify, and it'll take me back to reliving a first time boss fight or epic moment in the game.

You asked for standout tracks from XII: Eruyt Village, The Cerobi Steppe, A Moment's Rest, The Skycity of Bhujerba, Streets of Rabanastre. Sakimoto is known for is bombastic tracks layered with blasts of brass and strings, but for me his shining works are all his quieter pieces. Go for the Zodiac Age arrangements for its rich orchestral soundscapes.

Playing through theaterhythm made me realize how good 8 is. Its not my favorite ff but its probably the objective best soundtrack.

My favorite soundtrack of final fantasy is xvi. My favorite themes are away, ascension, Find the flame, and all as one.

Despite my nostalgia for the older games, XIVs soundtrack is so so so amazing, it’s my absolute #1.

I thin FF7 has some of the better and more iconic themes. But 9 has a bigger quantity of great music across its entire soundtrack. Most of them are straight bangers and I don't get tired of listening to them, whereas I can't always say the same for 7. 6 is very good as well though, we just do'nt have many new arrangements of them outside of the battle themes and Dancing Mad.

Where is the remake/Rebirth ranked?