--- description: Glee, the hit TV comedy-musical phenomenon, has become an entertainment tour de force, captivating audiences worldwide en route to winning four Emmys during its inaugural... title: How Does Glee Choose Its Songs? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4a4a359f8085828/698a4b86457a526c40d6928d/360_iymk_glee_1025.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # How Does Glee Choose Its Songs? by [Joseph Lin](/author/joseph-lin/) Oct 26, 2010 4:00 AM CUT  Brittany, played by Heather Morris, center, dreams of being Britney Spears in the "Britney/Brittany" episode of Glee Brittany, played by Heather Morris, center, dreams of being Britney Spears in the "Britney/Brittany" episode of GleeAdam Rose / FOX by [Joseph Lin](/author/joseph-lin/) Oct 26, 2010 4:00 AM CUT _Glee_, the hit TV comedy-musical phenomenon, has become an entertainment tour de force, captivating audiences worldwide en route to winning four Emmys during its inaugural season. The secret to _Glee_‘s uncanny success can be found in its eclectic mix of music, ranging from catchy show tunes to classic rock, which has turned the series, now in its second season, into a veritable United Nations of songs. But how do ditties actually make it onto _Glee_, and how does the show make its motley mix of melodies work? After all, it’s not often that both Sisqo’s “Thong Song” and “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady share a stage. The musical buck, by and large, stops with Ryan Murphy, the show’s executive producer and co-creator. Music choices are typically made when each episode’s script is written, with songs matched to the show’s plotlines. Lyrics become extensions of an actor’s dialogue. For instance, Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley) and Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) sing Brandy and Monica’s “The Boy Is Mine” in a Season 1 episode in which the two fight over the affections of Puck (Mark Salling), a womanizing football player who’s also a glee clubber. This tactic has resulted in tailored song selections rather than simple cherry-picking of pop hits from _Billboard_‘s Hot 100\. [(See photos of _Glee_‘s Broadway roots.)](https://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1980970,00.html "undefined") Although Murphy has the final say on all musical choices, numerous factors have been known to influence his decisions. “Cast members have figured out that if they’re humming something while Ryan’s around, it \[sometimes\] ends up on the show,” says Adam Anders, _Glee_‘s executive music producer. Anders explains that Nelly’s 2001 hit “Ride wit Me” made it onto the show because Murphy happened to be walking by while Mark Salling was jamming the song on the set. Once the songs are chosen, however, the baton is passed to Anders, a songwriter by trade who has written for the likes of the Backstreet Boys and Sheryl Crow. It’s up to him to make _Glee_ sound like its signature blend of Broadway-infused pop and not just a hyped-up version of Kidz Bop. “Whatever you hand me, I’ll make sure it’s something people want to hear,” says Anders. “I want everything to sound like a hit record. No karaoke.” [(See Gleeks in the top 10 offbeat fan followings.)](https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2011315%5F2011317%5F2011353,00.html "undefined") Anders and his team create all the music you hear on _Glee_ from the ground up. He decides how a particular song will be performed: whether it’s a straight-up rendition of a pop single, like Jane Lynch’s cover of Madonna’s “Vogue,” or an acoustic version, as was the case with Idina Menzel and Lea Michele’s treatment of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” The music is recorded before filming begins; Anders and his team are allotted an average of eight days with the cast to wrap up all the studio work for each episode. There is little time to train each actor individually for a song, so the cast usually just listen to what they have to sing on the way to his recording studio. “There’s a reason why there aren’t many TV musicals,” says Anders. “It’s really difficult.” [(See photos of the many funny faces of Jane Lynch.)](https://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1983350,00.html "undefined") But the rewards are substantial. _Glee_‘s cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” has logged more than 900,000 individual downloads via iTunes. The phenomenal success of the show has led to the cast’s breaking the record for the most titles on the _Billboard_ Hot 100 by a nonsolo act, a mark previously held by the Beatles. The original pop stars behind _Glee_‘s songs have benefited from the show’s success. The _Glee_ bump provides artists exposure to audiences who may have never heard their work and can result in a tangible boost in sales. According to Anders, Journey experienced an 87% bump in its sales after _Glee_ covered its song (which was also made famous by its placement in the last minutes of the _Sopranos_ series finale.) Even a former Beatle has become a fan. “Paul McCartney sent a mix tape to Ryan about all the songs he would like to have on _Glee_,” says Anders. Although the music industry as a whole has widely embraced the show, not all musicians have jumped on the _Glee_ bandwagon. Damon Albarn, the front man for Blur and Gorillaz, and the American rock band Kings of Leon have refused to let the show cover their songs, with Albarn calling _Glee_ “a very poor substitute for the real thing.” But so far they’ve been the exceptions. Who’s next on _Glee_‘s hit list? Says Anders: “We’ve gotta do an ABBA episode, because I’m Swedish.” [Is _Glee_ onstage even better than on TV?](https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2011315%5F2011317%5F2011353,00.html "undefined") [Read takes on _Glee_ and other hit shows on TIME’s television blog, Tuned In.](https://tunedin.blogs.time.com/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911189/how-does-glee-choose-its-songs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911189/how-does-glee-choose-its-songs/"},"headline":"How Does Glee Choose Its Songs?","datePublished":"2010-10-26T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-22T07:21:34.023Z","description":"Glee, the hit TV comedy-musical phenomenon, has become an entertainment tour de force, captivating audiences worldwide en route to winning four Emmys during its inaugural...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6911189/how-does-glee-choose-its-songs/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4a4a359f8085828/698a4b86457a526c40d6928d/360_iymk_glee_1025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph Lin","url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-lin/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4a4a359f8085828/698a4b86457a526c40d6928d/360_iymk_glee_1025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"360_iymk_glee_1025.jpg","caption":"Brittany, played by Heather Morris, center, dreams of being Britney Spears in the \"Britney/Brittany\" episode of Glee","creditText":"Adam Rose / FOX","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911189/how-does-glee-choose-its-songs/","name":"How Does Glee Choose Its Songs?"}}]}] ```