20 TV shows with the best soundtracks and music

Empire

Say what you want about FOX’s family drama and King Lear reboot, but Empire produces solid music and brings in top-notch musical performers. If you can get past the wild amount of histrionics this show offers, the music could be worth it. (Mary J. Blige, of course, is always worth it. Amirite?)

Empire burst on the scene as a show about a family-owned record label that falls under pressure when the matriarch, Cookie, returns from jail to reclaim her position in the company. I’m totally over-simplifying here, as fans of the show know, but it’s important to offer context when I start name dropping all the cameos from huge (and I mean HUGE) artists.

So far, Sway Calloway, Courtney Love, (the aforementioned) Mary J. Blige, Kelly Rowland, Jennifer Hudson, Rita Ora, Jason Derulo, Gladys Knight, Ne-Yo, Swizz Beats, Pitbull and dozens more have all shown their faces on the show. Not all of them have played artists or musicians, but you know if a show is attracting this kind of talent, it’s got to be doing something right.

Most of the music on the show is original, and performed by the actors. Jussie Smollett does most of the heavy crooning as Jamal, but Bryshere Y. Gray can hold his on on microphone as Hakeem. Terrance Howard has been known to lay down a rap when the the story calls for it, but most of what we love comes from Jamal’s collaboration with the guest stars.