# The Greatest Night in Pop

The Greatest Night in Pop is a 2024 documentary film directed by Bao Nguyen. The film is about the creation of the renowned pop song "We Are the World" and its recording in 1985. The film features new interviews with various people involved in the song, including Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Dionne Warwick, and Cyndi Lauper.

## Release and distribution

The world premiere of The Greatest Night in Pop took place on January 19, 2024, at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the Special Screenings. On January 29, 2024, Netflix released the film on its service.

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 49 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "A briskly paced celebration of a one-of-a-kind musical moment, The Greatest Night in Pop uncovers new stories while reminding viewers of the humanitarian vision that made it all happen." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 69 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "Looking back all these years later, it's something of a miracle that, in the days before texts and emails, when you had to communicate by fax and messenger and landline phone calls, so many performers who were used to being the biggest star in the room agreed to get together on relatively short notice and figure out a path to record one of the most impactful singles in music history." Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com also gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "Music bio-docs may be running out of steam, but The Greatest Night in Pop works by being specific and enlightening."

## Accolades

| Award | Date | Category | Recipient | Result |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | September 7, 2024 | Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special | Amit Dey, Larry Klein, Harriet Sternberg, Lionel Richie, Bruce Eskowitz, George Hencken & Julia Nottingham | Nominated |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | September 7, 2024 | Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program | Bao Nguyen | Nominated |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | September 7, 2024 | Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program | Richard Gallagher | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Documentary Feature | The Greatest Night in Pop | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Archival Documentary | The Greatest Night in Pop | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Historical Documentary | The Greatest Night in Pop | Won |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Music Documentary | The Greatest Night in Pop | Nominated |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 20, 2024 | Music Documentary – Special Program | Bao Nguyen, Julia Nottingham, George Hencken, Bruce Eskowitz, Lionel Richie, Harriet Sternberg & Larry Klein | Nominated |
| Cinema Eye Honors | January 9, 2025 | Outstanding Broadcast Editing | Nic Zimmerman, Will Znidaric and David Brodie | Nominated |
| Grammy Awards | February 2, 2025 | Best Music Film | Bao Nguyen, Bruce Eskowitz, George Hencken, Larry Klein, Julia Nottingham, Lionel Richie and Harriet Sternberg | Nominated |
| Golden Reel Awards | February 23, 2025 | Outstanding Achievement in Music Editing – Documentary | Gavin Allingham | Nominated |