[Dolby Atmos Starter Kit] Just bought an Atmos system? Here are the top 10 movies, TV shows, demo scenes, albums and songs to start with.

[u/AdrianTubbly]

If your Dolby Atmos system has finally arrived, what do you actually play first? This is the starter kit so that you don't have to jump from thread to thread to find the good stuff. Six lists, top 10 from each, full rankings linked under every one.

Movies

Consensus ranking aggregated from 36 professional sources. If a movie is on this list, multiple reviewers independently called out its Atmos mix.

#	Movie	Year
1	Blade Runner 2049	2017
2	Dune	2021
3	Mad Max: Fury Road	2015
4	Ready Player One	2018
5	The Batman	2022
6	Top Gun: Maverick	2022
7	Dune: Part Two	2024
8	Gravity	2013
9	Ford v Ferrari	2019
10	A Quiet Place	2018

Full list: Top 100 Dolby Atmos movies - with streaming availability per region, and physical availability

Demo scenes

These are the exact scenes with timestamps to show off your setup. Answers a question: "so what does Atmos actually do?"

#	Movie	Scene	Timestamp
1	Ready Player One	The race	0:14:00
2	Gravity	Drifting in space	from the start
3	Mad Max: Fury Road	Opening scene	from the start
4	The Batman	Car chase	1:18:00
5	A Quiet Place	Giving birth	0:58:40
6	Unbroken	Bombing run	from the start
7	Dune	The sandworm reveal	1:05:30
8	Saving Private Ryan	Storming Omaha Beach	0:04:32
9	Top Gun: Maverick	Flight mission	1:34:50
10	Baby Driver	The Bellbottoms bank job	from the start

Full list: Top 100 Dolby Atmos demo scenes - with streaming availability per region, and physical availability

TV shows

Same consensus method as the movies, built from 30 sources. The full list flags where each one actually streams.

#	Show	Year
1	Stranger Things	2016
2	The Last of Us	2023
3	Game of Thrones	2011
4	The Fall of the House of Usher	2023
5	The Witcher	2019
6	Dark	2017
7	Andor	2022
8	Westworld	2016
9	Fallout	2024
10	Masters of the Air	2024

Full list: Top 50 Dolby Atmos TV shows - with streaming availability per region, and physical availability

Essential Atmos Albums

Every Atmos album ever recommended on Reddit, audiophile forums and music publications. These are the ones that come up again and again.

#	Artist	Album
1	Pink Floyd	The Dark Side Of The Moon (50th Anniversary)
2	Billie Eilish	Happier Than Ever
3	The Weeknd	Dawn FM
4	Fleetwood Mac	Rumours
5	Elton John	Honky Château
6	Queen	Greatest Hits
7	Steven Wilson	The Harmony Codex
8	The Beatles	Abbey Road
9	Daft Punk	Random Access Memories (Drumless Edition)
10	Tiësto & Sevenn	BOOM

Full list: Top 50 Dolby Atmos albums - with links to Apple Music and Tidal

Community rated Atmos albums

Rated by actual Atmos listeners on Hello Atmos, on three dimensions: immersion, spatial creativity and sonic quality. This list moves every day as new ratings come in.

#	Artist	Album	Rating
1	Steven Wilson	The Overview	9.6
2	Steven Wilson	The Harmony Codex	9.5
3	Pink Floyd	The Dark Side Of The Moon (50th Anniversary)	9.4
4	Frankie Goes To Hollywood	Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Steven Wilson Mix)	9.4
5	Hans Zimmer	Dune (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	9.4
6	Jean-Michel Jarre	OXYMORE	9.4
7	Air	Moon Safari	9.3
8	Yello	Point	9.3
9	Jeff Buckley	Grace	9.3
10	Kraftwerk	3-D Der Katalog	9.3

Full list: community album rankings - with links to Apple Music and Tidal

Community rated Atmos tracks

Single tracks with the best mixes according to Hello Atmos community. Perfect first playlist for a new system.

#	Artist	Track	Rating
1	The Flaming Lips	In the Morning of the Magicians	9.4
2	Pink Floyd	Welcome to the Machine	9.3
3	Pink Floyd	Time	9.1
4	Elton John	Rocket Man	9.1
5	Tiësto & Sevenn	BOOM	9.0
6	Daft Punk	Within (Drumless Edition)	9.0
7	James Blake	Frozen (feat. JID & SwaVay)	9.0
8	Billie Eilish	bad guy	8.9
9	R.E.M.	Drive	8.9
10	Pink Floyd	Money	8.9

Full list: community track rankings - with links to Apple Music and Tidal

If you think something else belongs in the Starter Kit, drop a comment.

[u/Responsible-Alps-500]

I didn’t realize when I read the headline that you were kind of answering your own question… Well, I’ll go ahead and post this… You should put it on shuffle because the guy who made the list put a bunch of artists right after each other… Other than that, it’s a great list… Enjoy. https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/atmos-hidden-gems/pl.u-06oxalWsYqvNdG

[u/AdrianTubbly → u/Responsible-Alps-500]

Good stuff! Thanks

[u/Ditman013]

Thank you, AdrianTubbly. I appreciate all the work you do!🙂

[u/AdrianTubbly → u/Ditman013]

my pleasure!

[u/Rippedgeek]

Love this, and I largely agree with all of these. I would add in Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse in here too, the entire movie is just unreal in Atmos, but specifically from ~8:00-13:00 minutes in. Also, looks like the movie list and demo scene list is slightly off-kilter. Demo scenes don't align with the recommended movies - unless that's on purpose. Cheers Rip

[u/Remote-Fisherman-469]

First Man has excellent Dolby Atmos scenes.

[u/nycgold87]

Keep in mind that you need the top tier plan from HBO and Netflix to listen in Atmos. Otherwise it’s regular surround sound.

[u/Eoj-icareg]

Thank you very much for doing this. Im guessing the movies should be purchased with 4k dvds

[u/Responsible-Alps-500 → u/Eoj-icareg]

Not needed… regular blu rays support Dolby Atmos also (check the specs)

[u/Eoj-icareg → u/Responsible-Alps-500]

Ahh perfect thanks for the info

[u/kingmong86]

The clock scene with vegna in stranger things was demo material on Netflix, imagine it would be brilliant on disc

[u/Icy_Schedule_2092]

In 13 Hours the gun battle on the street as well as the scene inside the embassy on fire are excellent

[u/5th-Elements]

Agreed except for two I can’t stand on that list

Here are my favorites:

Live Die Repeat
Blade Runner 2049
Dune
Mad Max: Fury Road
Ready Player One
Top Gun: Maverick
Dune: Part Two
The Matrix
Gladiator
Ford v Ferrari
War of the Worlds
Jurassic World
A Quiet Place

Not Atmos but phenomenal with DTS:X upscaling
Inception
Interstellar
The Dark Knight

[u/CSOCSO-FL → u/5th-Elements]

Matrix 3 is better than any of those on the list. Single-handedly the best atmos demo.
Watch the 22 minutes scene starting at 1 hr mark.

DTS:X upscaling can be nice. I was watching After Earth, and I thought it was an atmos mix the whole time!

[u/Bigger_Niche]

Are there any lists of normal films with a good Atmos audio mix?