Simply put, a [[TheMusical musical]] which uses pre-existing popular songs. These songs will often originate from the works of a singular band/singer/composer, but having a variety of artists mix-and-matched together to provide the score isn't uncommon; hence ''jukebox'' musical. When it comes to narrative strength, it tends to vary due to many examples being written around the songs, as opposed to traditional musicals that have their songs explicitly created as part of the story. Regardless, it's generally good fun to listen to all of the hits.

Sometimes the plot will actually be the story of the band/musician whose music is being used.

A subcategory of the Jukebox Musical are Jukebox Soundtracks: works that aren't categorized as musicals, but have a soundtrack composed of preexisting material. In addition, both Jukebox Musical and Jukebox Soundtrack works may only have the majority of their soundtrack consist of such material; a decent amount of original music may be composed for the score, especially in examples that are more narrative-driven or have the story written first and the music chosen to compliment it.

The greatest strength and greatest weakness of the Jukebox Musical is that members of the audience may have heard these songs before, especially if they are popular ones. As a strength, that means that they can easily work as emotionally shorthand if they're already associated with a certain mood in pop culture, bolstering the narrative of the work. As a weakness, audience members could have strong memories related to these songs that can cause MoodDissonance. For example, the cool rock song you chose to emphasize the hero's HesBack moment could end up reminding one audience member of their first college breakup, another of a deceased family member, or another of some old phone ad, diminishing the intended emotional impact of the scene. In the worst case scenario — and why they are frequently met with criticism as a concept — the songs are inserted with no context at all or [[IsntItIronic with completely misunderstood or inappropriate applications]], but this can be an advantage in more comedic productions.

Contrast RockOpera, which are {{concept album}}s wherein all the songs are meant from the get-go to form a singular narrative. See also RealSongThemeTune (the work has an original soundtrack, but the main theme is a preexisting song); SongFic (when a FanFiction incorporates song lyrics throughout); and AllMusicalsAreAdaptations (for works based on other pre-existing properties and usually use their signature songs). May be prone to making examples of TheCoverChangesTheMeaning. {{Biopic}}s about famous musicians inherently can't avoid this.

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!!Traditional Examples
* ''Film/EightWomen'': Eight women try to solve the mystery of their patriarch's murder, each singing one character-relevant song along the way. They're all old French hits; the newest song in this 2002-made film was made in the 1980's.
* Music/TheBeatles have had a few of these:
** ''Film/AcrossTheUniverse2007'': A movie musical set before and during the Vietnam War using Beatles music to tell the story.
** In the late 1970s, there was ''Film/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'' (which notably was among the first of its kind).
** The 1974 off-Broadway stage musical ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road'', directed by ''Theatre/JesusChristSuperstar'''s Tom O'Horgan and featuring the [[Film/JesusChristSuperstar movie adaptation's]] titular star Ted Neeley as Billy Shears, which would later (ever so loosely) inspire the aforementioned film.
** ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'', an animated Jukebox Musical.
** The Broadway musical ''Beatlemania'', and the film of the same name.
* ''Theatre/AnAmericanInParis'', with the music of George Gershwin.
* ''Film/MammaMia'' (and its [[Film/MammaMiaHereWeGoAgain sequel]]): the [[TropeMaker trope popularizer]], if not the originator, it tells the story of a woman looking for her real father before her wedding, with the music of ABBA.
** Well, there was "Abbacadbra" [[UrExample back in the early eighties]] — though that probably doesn't count since they had Don Black put new lyrics to the songs to make a panto-type show with revisionist vignettes of stories like "Literature/{{Cinderella}}" and ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''. They were made up largely from Music/{{ABBA}}'s less well-known songs like ''I'm a Marionette''.
* ''Film/SinginInTheRain'', whose old songs were all written by producer Arthur Freed, some of which he collaborated with Nacio Herb Brown.
** Its SpiritualSuccessor ''Film/TheBandWagon'' used songs by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, several of which had originally appeared in a Broadway revue of the same name. (Other than these songs, Creator/FredAstaire was the only thing in common between the two.)
* ''Film/StormyWeather'' showcases not only black performers of the 30s and 40s, but also their music.
* ''Theatre/WeWillRockYou'': a post-apocalyptic exercise in ThePowerOfRock using Music/{{Queen|Band}} songs.
** ''Theatre/BatOutOfHell'' keeps the post-apocalyptic setting, but uses Music/MeatLoaf songs.
* Songwriter Music/IrvingBerlin made a whole series of these: for each of the movies ''Film/AlexandersRagtimeBand'' (which was to have been a {{Biopic}} until Berlin said no), ''Blue Skies'', ''Film/EasterParade'' and ''There's No Business Like Show Business'', he provided a score containing a mixture of his old hits and a few newly written songs. ''Alexander's Ragtime Band'' and ''There's No Business Like Show Business'' had only a couple of new songs each; ''Blue Skies'' and ''Easter Parade'' had roughly as many new Irving Berlin songs as old ones. (''Film/WhiteChristmas'', however, had mostly new songs, as did its predecessor ''Film/HolidayInn''.)
* ''Theatre/MovinOut'', which uses the songs of Music/BillyJoel sung by one man at the piano, as the characters dance.
* ''Good Vibrations'' with music from Music/TheBeachBoys.
* ''Theatre/AllShookUp'', using Music/ElvisPresley's music. Lampshaded when the lead character causes an old, broken jukebox to come back to life in one scene.
* ''Tomfoolery'', a revue of the works of Music/TomLehrer.
* ''Celebration of the Lizard'', using the music of Music/TheDoors.
* ''Theatre/JerseyBoys'' features the Music/FrankieValliAndTheFourSeasons and tells their story.
* ''Film/GetOnUp'' tells the story of Music/JamesBrown, featuring his hits.
* ''The Boy From Oz:'' The music of Peter Allen
* ''Ring of Fire:'' Music of Music/JohnnyCash
* ''Hot Feet:'' Music of Music/EarthWindAndFire
* ''Always, Patsy Cline''
* ''Theatre/ReturnToTheForbiddenPlanet'' (a musical version of the film ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet'') filled with rock'n'roll songs from that era with more [[ShoutOut shout outs]] to Creator/WilliamShakespeare [[ReferenceOverdosed than you can count.]] A less-successful sequel, ''From a Jack to a King'', reset ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' to the pre-Beatles UK rock 'n' roll scene.
* ''Lennon''
* ''Celia!'': Music of Music/CeliaCruz
* ''Smokey Joe's Cafe:'' music of Music/LeiberAndStoller
* ''Film/TheMamboKings'' features newly-recorded performances of vintage Cuban songs from the '50s.
* ''Crazy for You'' and ''My One and Only'', music of George and Ira Gershwin. These are actually InNameOnly adaptations of the old shows ''Girl Crazy'' and ''Funny Face''.
* ''Happy New Year'' is an adaptation of the play ''Holiday'' based around Cole Porter songs.
* Cirque du Soleil crossbreeds this genre with circus entertainment in four shows designed as tributes to the artists in question, using their original recordings in new ways:
** ''LOVE'' (Music/TheBeatles)
** ''Theatre/VivaElvis'' (Elvis Presley)
** ''Theatre/MichaelJacksonTheIMMORTALWorldTour''
** ''Theatre/MichaelJacksonONE''
* Probably the earliest example is the 1728 "ballad opera" ''Theatre/TheBeggarsOpera'', which took the tunes of popular ballads and added new lyrics by poet John Gay.
* ''Never Forget:'' Based on the music of Music/TakeThatBand before their breakup in 1996, back when they were a cheesy boy band.
* The astonishing satirical film (based on a stage production by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop) ''Film/OhWhatALovelyWar'' is based around songs sung by soldiers during World War I.
* Music/StephenSondheim has a few of these, largely built around {{Cut Song}}s from his other shows:
** ''Side by Side by Sondheim''
** ''You're Gonna Love Tomorrow'' (originally billed as ''A Stephen Sondheim Evening'')
** ''Putting It Together'' (some lyrics were rewritten by Sondheim especially for this one)
* Miyuki Nakajima's ''Yakai'' concerts, which developed gradually more complex plots and stage design over time, as well as her writing songs specifically for the concerts.
* ''Our House'': Uses the songs of Music/{{Madness|Band}} to tell the story of a young man growing up in London (which is what most Madness songs are about anyway). Featured Suggs as the main character's father for a while.
* ''Theatre/{{Tsukiuta}} Stage'', a series of stage plays about two [[MoeAnthropomorphism month personification]] [[IdolSinger idol units]], Six Gravity and Procellarum, has done this a few times:
** ''Act 4: Lunatic Party'' incorporated one of each pair's duet songs into the story of the play, some performed as performances, some not, with "Sing Together Forever" used as the climax of the story. However, in the Halloween party scene, each year quartet performs an original song.
** ''Act 9: Shiawase Awase'' features two songs originally sung by Gravi and Procella's managers, and one that was originally a solo sung by You Haduki (one member of Procellarum), but is sung by all four middle members here.
** ''Act 11: Tsukihana Kagura'' has one of the original characters singing the Junior quartet's song from ''Act 6: Kurenai Enishi'' and several other songs from that play and ''Act 2: Yumemigusa'' were featured.
* ''Theatre/RockOfAges'' is comprised solely of 80s hair band songs by the likes of Poison, Music/QuietRiot, Bon Jovi, etc.
* ''Buddy'', about the birth of rock. No prizes for guessing the surname of the title character.
* ''Sunshine on Leith'' uses songs by Music/TheProclaimers.
* ''Music/JacquesBrel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris''
* ''Series/{{Blackpool}}'' is an interesting example in that the songs are actually being played as the soundtrack and the characters just sing and dance along. It actually works pretty well.
* ''Theatre/BackToTheEighties'' is an odd variation where it uses songs that are not all from the same band, but were all written in the same decade.
* ''Film/WalkingOnSunshine'' does the same with the same decade.
* ''Theatre/DiscoInferno'' does the same with [[TheSeventies the previous decade]].
* ''Viva Forever'', a musical based around the songs of the Music/SpiceGirls, was a particularly notorious flop.
* ''Music/HankWilliams: Lost Highway'', a musical biography of . . . [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well, guess]].
* The Stockholm City Theatre in did the Three Musketeers as a rock opera using both classic rock songs and more modern pop hits to illustrate the difference between the rock'n'roll lifestyle of the musketeers and the effeminate French court. A trailer can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GQTvqIxoec
* With ''Theatre/PokemonLive'', the soundtrack was made of songs from the ImageSong album ''Music/Pokemon2BAMaster'', as well as a few songs from the later album ''Totally Pokémon'' and some exclusive musical numbers not heard anywhere else.
* ''Sophisticated Ladies'' with many of the jazz songs that were composed by ''Music/DukeEllington'' or his orchestra's associate composers.
* ''Mentiras'' or "Lies" is a Mexican musical based on 80s Mexican songs.
* ''Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar'' (I just can’t get up today) has songs from the Spanish band Music/{{Mecano}}.
* ''Mas de 100 Mentiras'' (More than 100 lies) is a Spanish musical with songs from Joaquin Sabina.
* ''Film/RockAroundTheClock'', a pioneering rock and roll musical from early 1956, features acts like Bill Haley & His Comets and The Platters lip-synching to previously released recordings, with the exception of a live-to-camera performance of the Comets instrumental "Rudy's Rock" and a couple of minor numbers. Its sequel, ''Film/DontKnockTheRock'' was even more so, with virtually all musical numbers featuring lip-synching.
* ''Beautiful: The Music/CaroleKing Musical''
* ''Motown the Musical''.
* ''Film/MoulinRouge''. Twentieth century hits in the 19th century! The only "original" song is "Come What May", which was actually written for (but not used in) Baz Lurhmann's previous film ''[[Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet Romeo + Juliet]]''.
* The Swedish musical ''Sol, vind och vatten'' uses songs by Ted Gärdestad.
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'', [[OnceAnEpisode once every other episode]].
* The 2014 animated film ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'' is filled to the brim with covers of pop songs from pretty much every decade.
* ''Baby It's You'' for girl groups of the 60s.
* ''Last Goodbye'', an adaptation of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' based on the songs of Music/JeffBuckley.
* ''Film/AtLongLastLove'' from 1975, starring Creator/BurtReynolds and Cybill Shepherd singing Music/ColePorter. It was notorious for director Creator/PeterBogdanovich's insistence that the actors sing live with no {{Non Singing Voice}}s (Reynolds and Shepherd are not renowned for their singing abilities). The reviews were so terrible that Bogdanovich wrote an open letter, printed in newspapers throughout the country, apologizing for the quality of the film.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sing}}'', a 2016 animated film from Creator/IlluminationEntertainment, manages to sneak at least small snippets of at least 80 different songs from the 1940s to the 2010s. The sequel, ''WesternAnimation/Sing2'', follows the same pattern and features another 41 songs.
* Fox's ''Theatre/ThePassion'' live musical from 2016 sets the death and resurrection of Jesus to contemporary pop songs. WordOfGod (no pun intended) states that this was done to make the story more accessible to audiences who otherwise would not be that interested in religion.
* Creator/TheBBC's live televised musicals ''The Manchester Passion'' (2006), ''The Liverpool Nativity'' (2007), ''Frankenstein's Wedding...Live In Leeds'' (2011), and ''Bollywood Carmen'' (2013).
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'': There are a few original songs but most of the songs are reworked pop songs to fit the Trolls.
** ''WesternAnimation/TrollsHoliday'': This special features much less pre-existing songs (original ones being the majority instead), but still has some like Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Holiday".
** ''WesternAnimation/TrollsWorldTour'': Again, this time including reworked songs of different genres too.
* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers''
* ''Film/ForbiddenZone''... sort of.
* ''Sunny Afternoon'' tells the story of, and features the music of, Music/TheKinks.
* ''Theatre/TheBlackCrook'' shows that this is OlderThanRadio. It's cited as the first theatrical musical and dates back to 1866. Only a few of the songs were written for the play.
* ''Theatre/HeadOverHeels'' is based on the music of Music/TheGoGos, set in Elizabethan times.
* ''Theatre/FreewillIn2112,'' a fan-made musical based on the music of the Canadian prog rock band Music/{{Rush|Band}}— ironically set in the OppressiveStatesOfAmerica.
* ''Jagged Little Pill'', a stage musical using songs from the [[Music/JaggedLittlePill album of the same name]] by Canadian musician Music/AlanisMorissette, along with other songs throughout her career.
* ''All Star'' is a unique case in that it was promoted as having a score comprised exclusively of the {{memetic|Mutation}} hit by Music/SmashMouth.
* Sometime in 2014, Music/BritneySpears developed plans for an adaptation of the death of Jesus using her songs. She didn't go through with it, but there might have been some remnants of that idea within Fox's ''The Passion Live''.
** Spears would experience this again with ''Once Upon a One More Time'', which uses her music in the context of a FracturedFairyTale.
* ''Theatre/IAmFromAustria'' features the music of Rainhard Fendrich.
* ''Film/{{Rocketman|2019}}'' is a full-on jukebox musical that doubles as a biopic of Music/EltonJohn, featuring his own music.
* ''Series/ZoeysExtraordinaryPlaylist'' is one of these; all of the songs sung on it are pre-existing ones that avert ThatRemindsMeOfASong by having them directly tie in to the characters' emotions.
* Both animated films by Nina Paley, ''WesternAnimation/SitaSingsTheBlues'' and ''WesternAnimation/SederMasochism'', use pre-existing recordings of songs as musical numbers, re-contextualized to tell the plot of the ''Literature/{{Ramayana}}'' and the ''Literature/BookOfExodus'', respectively.
* ''Theatre/AngHulingElBimbo'', based off the songs of Filipino band Music/{{Eraserheads}}.
* ''Theatre/EscapeToMargaritaville'', featuring Music/JimmyBuffett. Almost every single element is taken from his lyrics.
* ''Ain't Too Proud: the Life and Times of Music/TheTemptations'' is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* ''The Look of Love'': based on the songs of Bacharach and David. Originally a TV special for TheBBC, a ScreenToStageAdaptation had a successful run off-Broadway.
* ''Emma: A Pop Musical'' is a SettingUpdate of Creator/JaneAusten's ''Literature/{{Emma}}'' utilizing pop hits ranging from TheSixties to TheNewTens.
* ''All Out of Love: The Musical'' takes the hits of Music/AirSupply and weaves them into an overarching narrative that happens in New York City in TheEighties. It debuted in the Philippines due to the fact that the band maintains their popularity in Southeast Asia to this day.
* ''Daddy Cool'', featuring songs by Frank Farian-produced acts such as Music/BoneyM, La Bouche, Music/MilliVanilli and No Mercy.
* ''Theatre/{{MJ}}'', a biographical musical about ''Music/MichaelJackson'', takes place during the preparation for his ''Dangerous'' tour in 1992 and features mostly music of his that had been released up to that point, along with a few that would be released in the following years.
* ''Theatre/GreatestDays'' (and it's [[Film/GreatestDays film adaptation]]) uses the songs of Music/TakeThatBand.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'' uses a mixture of different songs but played with acoustic guitar and mariachi music, including stuff from Music/MumfordAndSons, Music/{{Radiohead}}, and a few original songs.
* A variant: the 1989 revue ''Jerome Robbins' Broadway'' featured songs by different composers with the same director/choreographer. Creator/JasonAlexander hosted the show, as well as playing [[Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof Tevye]] and [[Theatre/AFunnyThingHappenedOnTheWayToTheForum Pseudolus]], in a Tony Award-winning role.
* Likewise, ''Fosse'' (1997) was a compilation of Creator/BobFosse dance numbers.

!!Soundtrack Examples
* ''Film/HaroldAndMaude'' uses only songs by Cat Stevens. He wrote two new ones for the movie.
* ''Film/TheGraduate'' uses music by Music/SimonAndGarfunkel.
* ''Film/PurpleRain'', with music by Prince.
* ''White City'', with music by Pete Townshend, was released as a companion film to the LP of the same name.
* ''Film/IAmSam'' uses all [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] songs, but since they couldn't get the rights to the original recordings, the producers commissioned new covers by current artists.
* A bizarre example is the obscure seventies film ''All This and World War II'', which combined stock footage from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII with new versions of Beatles songs. Noteworthy only for Elton John's hit rendition of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
* The anime series ''Anime/{{FLCL}},'' with music by Music/ThePillows.
* The original ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' has a soundtrack written almost entirely by Music/{{Queen|Band}}, and nearly all original.
** As does ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|1980}}'' (1980).
* [[Music/Batman1989 The soundtrack]] to the 1989 ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' movie was entirely produced and recorded by Music/{{Prince}}.
** Danny Elfman actually composed the orchestral score used in the film. Prince produced a soundtrack album released concurrently.
*** This is true of many of the other examples too, however. Michael Kamen for ''Highlander'', Howard Blake for ''Flash Gordon'', John Powell for ''I Am Sam'', etc. etc
* Though also featuring contributions from composer Jon Brion and seventies band Music/{{Supertramp}}, and a Music/HarryNilsson cover, most of the music in ''Film/{{Magnolia}}'' was written and performed by Aimee Mann, and the movie itself was largely inspired by her songs. It's a bit of an odd example - some of the songs were written for the movie, others written before for her album ''Bachelor No. 2'' (which was only released ''after'' the movie soundtrack), and at one point in the movie, [[MassiveMultiplayerEnsembleNumber every character starts singing along]] the song "Wise Up" in unison, as if really were a full musical.
* ''Film/McCabeAndMrsMiller'' uses only songs by Music/LeonardCohen.
* While several other artists' songs were licensed for the film itself, the soundtrack album to ''Film/YesMan'' is almost entirely Music/{{Eels}} songs - the exceptions are four songs by the FakeBand Munchhausen By Proxy.
* ''Film/MaximumOverdrive'' had only songs by Music/{{ACDC}}: The soundtrack album (released as ''Who Made Who'') is probably a little more well-known than the movie is, since it's still the closest the band has to a GreatestHitsAlbum.
* ''Film/ShesTheOne'', the entire soundtrack was done by Music/TomPetty.
* The ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' episode "Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers" mainly uses music by Music/TheWho.
* The surreal OVA ''Anime/RadioCityFantasy'' uses 17 songs from the same J-POP artists and the plot is minimal.
* ''Anime/{{Penguindrum}}'' uses covers of ARB songs.
* ''Film/OBrotherWhereArtThou''
* ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' uses instrumental versions of songs by The Toasters as background music (For the Henry and June shorts)
* ''Anime/{{Interstella 5555}}'' is an interesting variation. The movie was made as a "visual realization" of Music/DaftPunk's ''Discovery'' album, and each song loosely corresponds to what's happening in the story at the time. The characters never speak and few sound effects are used.
* An interesting example is the TV series based around British pop band Music/SClub7. Each of the show's four seasons was accompanied by a new album, with each episode featuring (usually) a single song from said album, in the vein of ''Series/TheMonkees.''
* Some ''Series/ColdCase'' episodes.
** "The House": ''Music/JohnnyCash''
** "Kensington": ''Music/JohnMellencamp''
** "Creatures of the Night": ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''
** "Blood on the Tracks": ''Music/BobDylan''
* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium''[='s=] entire soundtrack was composed by [[Music/BritishSeaPower Sea Power]], made up of a combination of instrumental versions of songs from their previous albums and new compositions. The theme used in Martinaise is "Red Rock Riviera"; "The Smallest Church in Saint-Saëns", the song you can sing at karaoke, is an only slightly rewritten "The Smallest Church in Sussex"; a version of "Want To Be Free" is used as the "Sad FM" track you can play on your final trip to the island. In addition, song titles and lyrics find their way into the text of the game, such as Revachol's official motto being "A Light Above Descending."
* ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'' incorporates the music of various rock, pop, and rap artists, with some musicians having several of their songs used, such as Atomic Drum Asssembly getting at least one song per season.
* Experimental 1964 short film ''Film/ScorpioRising'' is a very peculiar example in which pop and Motown songs of the 1950s and early 1960s were used to accompany a film about a biker gang full of homoeroticism and bizarre imagery of skulls and Nazis.

!! Literary Examples
* The graphic novel ''Comic Book Tattoo'' is a collection of short stories based on songs by Music/ToriAmos. As one can imagine, some of the stories are...stranger than others.
* Similarly, ''Put The Book Back On The Shelf'' is a graphic anthology inspired by the work of Music/BelleAndSebastian.

!!WebAnimation Examples
* WebAnimation/CyberpunkLab: The series contains both original songs, pre-existing songs, mashups, remixes and FanMusic of said songs in it's soundtrack. [[JukeboxMusical/CyberpunkLab]]

!! WesternAnimation Examples
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' episode "Meet the Beat-Alls" features a story in which everyone ''speaks'' Music/TheBeatles lyrics.
* The animated special ''WesternAnimation/GrandmaGotRunOverByAReindeer'' is this, using songs by Music/ElmoAndPatsy.
* ''WesternAnimation/GnomeoAndJuliet'': The whole movie is set to the music of Music/EltonJohn.
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