Fifty Shades of Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the film of the same name adapted from E. L. James's eponymous novel that was released through Republic Records on February 10, 2015. It was the seventh best-selling album of 2015 with 2.2 million copies sold worldwide.

Background Meetings about the album took place nearly two years prior the album's release when plans of a film were announced. Mike Knobloch, president of film music and publishing at Universal said: "We really wanted the songs to be part of the fiber of the film — nothing crowbarred in or just auxiliary to the experience. There was a very deliberate effort to create as much original material as possible, to tailor the production, the lyrics, and the performance."

Beyoncé was one of the first singers approached for the film. Knobloch said: "She thought it was an opportunity to do something that aligned nicely with her brand and agenda." Sia was approached by Knobloch and music supervisor Dana Sano with a scene they had in mind: "It's a pivotal moment, when the two protagonists have an ecstatic and intimate first sexual encounter. [Sia] played us songs and we would say, 'That's good, but could it be more of this, or less of that?'. By the end we left her spinning her wheels about what she had to do to deliver just the right song to us for the film." The Weeknd was involved in the project very early. Tom Mackay, a manager at Republic Records, explained: "He worked on a number of songs for a number of scenes. Some were working and some weren't, but he just kept at it, and kept at it, and kept at it. In the end, he wrote 'Earned It' and it's the biggest song of his career to date. It's the only song that's in the movie twice."

On January 12, 2015, E. L. James announced the soundtrack would be released on February 10, 2015.

Singles The soundtrack was preceded by the release of two singles. "Earned It" by Canadian singer the Weeknd was released as the album's lead single on December 23, 2014, peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was included on his second album Beauty Behind the Madness.Billboard, Week of April 18, 2015 "Love Me like You Do" by English singer Ellie Goulding was released as the second single on January 7, 2015; it reached number one on the national charts of 16 countries including the UK Singles Chart, and peaked at number three on the Hot 100 and was included on her third album Delirium.

Promotional singles "Salted Wound" by Sia was released as the first promotional single on January 27, 2015. Two further promotional singles, "One Last Night" by Vaults and "I Know You" by Skylar Grey, were released on February 3, 2015. "I'm on Fire", a Bruce Springsteen cover performed by Awolnation, was released as the fourth promotional single on February 9, 2015.

Reception Commercial performance The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with sales of 258,000 units (210,000 copies of traditional albums) in its first week behind Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late. As of January 2017, it had sold 913,000 copies in the United States.

The album debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 18,000 copies. As of July 2015, it had sold 89,000 copies in the country.

Critical reception

In contrast to the near-universal panning of the film, its soundtrack has received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the soundtrack received an average score of 65, based on 7 reviews. Kenneth Partridge of Billboard rated the soundtrack three-and-a-half out of five stars, writing that the soundtrack "wisely skews mainstream". Chuck Arnold of Rolling Stone compared the soundtrack to those of The Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games while noting that the Weeknd's "Earned It" brings "Bond-theme drama" to the soundtrack. However, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the soundtrack as "suitable for any romantic evening" and a seduction. Jim Farber of the New York Daily News claimed that the lyrics speak of "romanticized sex", while highlighting the album's "soft-edged production". Writing for ABC News, Allan Raible described the soundtrack as a collection of "sultry electro blues pop", but criticized the inclusions of older publications. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times called the soundtrack a "slog" and criticized the album's midtempo tracks, while comparing the album's commercial performance to that of Taylor Swift's 1989.

Track listing

Notes signifies a vocal producer signifies a remixer signifies a remixer and main producer signifies a co-producer "Crazy in Love (2014 Remix)" contains samples from "Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)", written by Eugene Record and performed by The Chi-Lites.

Credits Credits for the soundtrack adapted from AllMusic.

Graham Archer - additional production, programming AWOLNATION - primary artist, vocals Ahmad Balshe - composer Steve Bartek - orchestration Jonathan Martin Berry - guitar Beyoncé - featured artist, primary artist Jay Bicknell - engineer, programming Alison Bjorkedal - harp, instrumentation, programming Simon Bloor - guitar, keyboards Boots - composer, engineer, instrumentation, producer, remix producer, string arrangements, vocals (background) Richard Brook - percussion Sandy Brummels - art direction, package design Aaron Bruno - instrumentation, mixing, primary artist, producer, programming David Bukovinszky - cello Paul Bushnell - bass Mattias Bylund - editing, engineer, string arrangements, strings Peter Carlsson - vocal editing, vocals (background) Shawn Carter - composer Dave Cavanaugh - producer Michael Chaves - guitar, instrumentation, omnichord, programming Adam Christgau - instrumentation, percussion, programming Philip Cohen - music business affairs Cy Coleman - composer Martin Cooke - engineer Jason Cooper - drums, instrumentation, programming Rich Costey - mixing Mike Dean - composer, drums, engineer, guitar, keyboards, mixing, producer, programming Michael Diamond - remixing Derek Dixie - mixing consultant Gerald Eaton - composer Danny Elfman - composer, primary artist, producer Mike Fennel - engineer Simon Finch - trumpet Nicolas Fournier - engineer Robin Fredriksson - vocals (background) Vanessa Freebairn-Smith - cello Barnabas Freeman - composer Barney Freeman - producer, programming Sia Furler - composer, instrumentation, programming, vocals Brian Gardner - mastering Serban Ghenea - mixing Amanda Ghost - composer Oscar Görres - vocals (background) Ellie Goulding - primary artist, vocals Skylar Grey - composer, featured artist, primary artist, vocals John Hanes - engineer Rich Harrison - composer Jay Hawkins - composer Emile Haynie - composer, producer Dan Heath - producer Justin Hergett - mixing assistant Chris Hill - guitar (bass) Hit-Boy - drum programming Sam Holland - engineer Oscar Holter - vocals (background) Ivan Hussey - cello Stephen Hussey - orchestration, viola, violin Devonté Hynes - composer Mick Jagger - composer, vocals, vocals (background) Mattias Johansson - violin Jessica Kelly - art direction, package design Mike Knobloch - executive in charge of music Beyoncé Knowles - composer, producer, vocal producer Savan Kotecha - composer, vocals (background) Oliver Kraus - cello, composer, instrumentation, producer, programming James Krausse - mixing assistant Mattias Larsson - vocals (background) Carolyn Leigh - composer Annie Lennox - featured artist, percussion, piano, primary artist, string arrangements, vocals Rachel Levy - music supervisor Tom MacKay - A&R Blake Mares - assistant engineer Margot - string arrangements Andre Marsh - A&R Max Martin - bass, composer, drums, keyboards, percussion, producer, programming, vocals (background) Tony Maserati - mixing Stephan Moccio - arranger, composer, keyboards, piano, producer, programming Yoad Nevo - mixing Tove Nilsson - composer Evin O'Cleary - assistant engineer Dave Okumu - composer, engineer, instrumentation, producer, programming Ali Payami - bass, composer, drums, keyboards, percussion, producer, programming, vocals (background) Blythe Pepino - composer, producer, programming Jason "DaHeala" Queeneville - composer, engineer, producer, vocal engineer Eugene Record - composer Dave Reitzas - mixing Keith Richards - composer, guitar, vocals, vocals (background) Ramon Rivas - engineer, mixing assistant Eric Robinson - engineer Kate Robinson - violin The Rolling Stones - featured artist, primary artist Ilya Salmanzadeh - composer, vocals (background) Dana Sano - soundtrack producer Sia - featured artist, primary artist Jo Silverston - cello Frank Sinatra - primary artist, vocals Noah Snyder - engineer, mixing Ludvig Söderberg - vocals (background) Bruce Springsteen - composer Eric Stenman - engineer, mixing Mike Stevens - guitar, keyboards, mixing, organ (hammond), programming, string arrangements Jordan Stilwell - engineer Rob Suchecki - assistant engineer Patricia Sullivan - mastering Sean Tallman - engineer Abel Tesfaye - composer, vocals Nicol Thomson - trombone Urban Soul Orchestra - string engineer Vaults - primary artist Ben Vella - producer, programming Benjamin Vella - composer Jessica Ware - composer Jessie Ware - primary artist, vocals Charlie Watts - drums The Weeknd - primary artist, vocals Laura Welsh - composer, primary artist, vocals Brian West - composer Stuart White - engineer, mixing, vocal engineer Neal Wilkinson - drums Ron Wood - guitar, vocals, vocals (background) Bill Wyman - guitar (bass)

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2015)Peak position Argentinian Albums (CAPIF) To view the chart position Select '2015' and 'Febrero'. 4 Brazilian Albums (ABPD) 5 Greek Albums (IFPI) 2Irish Compilation Albums (IRMA)1Italian Compilation Albums (FIMI)2Japanese Albums (Oricon)184Mexican Albums (AMPROFON)1Russian Albums (2M)1

Year-end charts Chart (2015) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 13 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 16 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 18 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 24 Canadian Albums (Billboard) 11 Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 17 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts) 63 French Albums (SNEP) 20 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 21 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) 50 Italian Compilation Albums (FIMI) Click on "Scarica allegato" to download the zipped file containing the year-end chart PDF documents. 4 Polish Albums (ZPAV) 2 Russian Albums (2M) 1 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) 48 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 10 US Billboard 200 9 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 1

Chart (2016) Position French Albums (SNEP) 184 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 9

Decade-end charts Chart (2010–2019) Position US Billboard 200 114

Certifications

See also Danny Elfman discography

References