Top 10 ‘This Is Us’ Music Moments

This Is Us is a top-tier show on multiple fronts, with its music being not being an exception.

Throughout its first and second seasons, the show has woven original score and licensed songs in moving and interesting ways.

From the opening scene with a Sufjan Stevens song in the background to the numerous original performances from Chrissy Metz and Mandy Moore, the show has had top-notch selection and creation when it comes to music supervision.

Scroll through to see what This Is Us music moments we ranked as the 10 best so far.

10. Paul Simon – “You Can Call Me Al” (“Pilgrim Rick”)

While This Is Us typically usually utilizes music to push an emotional moment, this is much happier pick.

Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al” kicked off Randall Pearson’s Thanksgiving celebration in “Pilgrim Rick” with a joyous scene. He is shown running around the waking up the his family in hilarious fashion.

Seeing Randall jazzed up is a delight. Plus, learning later that the young incarnation of family was listening to that song when the family spent their most memorable holiday together added a nice layer to the moment.

9. Mandy Moore “Willin’” (“The Game Plan”)

While Mandy Moore’s cover of Little Feat’s “Willin” is an extremely brief moment, it makes our list for its ability to stand on its own.

In the show, Rebecca (Moore) performs the number with her band at a Super Bowl party. It’s great to see Rebecca following her dreams at the time, all while delivering the poignant lyric “I’ll be willin’ to be movin’.”

However, the snippet does not do the full cover justice. It is available on the show’s soundtrack, and it is a stellar song in a style not many realized Moore, a former pop star, could pull off.

8. Chrissy Metz – “Landslide” (“A Manny-Splendored Thing”)

One of the show’s best moments of original music comes when Kate Pearson (Chrissy Metz) covers Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” in what is one of her first gigs.

Boyfriend Toby and mom Rebecca look on proudly as a montage of Jack boxing plays. He also see glimpses of Jack’s younger days in Vietnam and a young Kevin performing at a talent show.

The song has a ton of emotion naturally, but the visuals and Metz’s vocals just push the scene to another level.

7. Little River Band -“Lonesome Loser” (“Number One”)

The season 2 episode “Number One” is possibly the show’s most underrated installment, and the “Lonesome Loser” is possibly its strongest moment.

A strung-out Kevin walks into his old high school and is hit with a wave of nostalgia. As he stumbles around revisiting his past, a montage of his younger self walking around the school as a top-tier jock ensues. Plus a scene of him being recruited by a college coach is spliced in, with Kevin being rude and his parents looking on in disbelief.

The Little River Band song oddly serves as a beautiful soundtrack to the juxapostion of the low and high moments in Kevin’s life.

6. Siddhartha Khosla – “Jack’s Theme” (“Three Sentences”)

It would be impossible to talk about the music of This Is Us without mentioning its primary composer, Siddhartha Khosla.

Khosla, who has also worked on Runaways and The Royals, has put together countless instrumentals for the show, including its title and credit pieces. It is hard to pick one of Khosla’s compositions as his best, but we narrowed it down to “Jack’s Theme,” which first appeared in “Three Sentences.” It builds from a simple strum into a grand opus of percussion, strings and ethereal vocals.

5. The Cinematic Orchestra – “To Build a Home” (“That’ll Be the Day”)

This Is Us finally showed what essentially caused the death of Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) in this musical moment from “That’ll Be the Day.”

In an emotional scene, Jack is up by himself and tidies up around the house, including the kitchen. He turns off the slow cooker just before heading up for the bed. The slow cooker shorts out and catches the Pearsons’ home on fire. The fire grows fast, creeping upstairs to where the family is sleeping.

While Jack ended dying due to smoke inhalation, most fans presumed they were watching Jack’s final moments. That build-up, emotional song choice (The Cinematic Orchestra’s “To Build a Home”) and seeing Jack simply go about his day without knowing his fate was almost unbearable.

3-4. Sufjan Stevens -“Death With Dignity” (“Pilot” and “What Now”)

This Is Us‘ use of Sufjan Stevens’ song “Death With Dignity” is so effective each time it is used, we had to rank both times together.

The best use comes in the show’s opening moments. The song’s light guitar and pain-filled vocals soundtrack viewers’ introductions to the entire cast of characters, whose relationships have not yet been made.

This song’s use works both thematically and tonally. It features nostalgic lyrics about life, all while introducing the audience to the acoustic sound pallet that fills most of the show.

In the second use, the song is brought back towards the end of season 1. As Jack talks to Kate on the phone, he hops in his car while inebriated. As he heads down the road, the lyric “every road leads to an end” plays.

At this point, producers were leading viewers to believe Jack was going to die in a car accident, so it was a very impactful callback.

2. Labi Siffre – “Watch Me” (“Pilot”)

The “Pilot” episode lands with the clever twist that the people who have been shown so far are all one family.

As Labi Siffre’s “Watch Me” begins to play, Jack learns about a baby (soon revealed to be an infant Randall) that was dropped off at the hospital. Things zoom out to show that Jack and Rebecca’s story takes place in 1980. The bonds between the family members are shown on screen, and this acoustic number helps land the emotional episode on a hopeful note.

1. Brian Tyree Henry – “We Can Always Come Back to This” (“Memphis”)

The arguably strongest episode of the series, “Memphis,” also showcases the show’s strongest piece of original music.

The song, “We Can Always Come Back to This,” is sang by Ricky (Brian Tyree Henry), the cousin of Randall’s biological father, William. On the show, it’s penned by William while he and Ricky are still playing together in Memphis, before William leaves town.

The powerful vocals from Henry are the highlight of the recording, and its lyrical themes are perfect for the plot of the episode, which revolves around William returning to Memphis just before his death.