To be eligible for nomination, a song, according to the Academy, "must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits."

The Academy will screen clips of the 56 songs on Jan. 16. Screenings will be held for voting members of the Music Branch in New York City and Beverly Hills. Following the screenings, members will vote to determine which songs will be eligible in the Original Song category. The category may include three, four or five songs.

Among the 56 songs are three tunes that were written especially for the film of "Dreamgirls": "Love You I Do," "Patience" and "Listen." Beyonce, who stars as Deena Jones in "Dreamgirls," is one of four authors originally credited with writing the latter tune. However, the Oscar's songwriting branch, according to the Los Angeles Times, has qualified only Henry Krieger, Anne Preven and Scott Cutler as the authors of that song due to a fairly new rule that allows no more than three songwriters per tune. That rules states, "No more than two statuettes will normally be given in the Original Song category. A third statuette may be awarded when there are three essentially equal contributors to a song."

The 56 songs under consideration follow:
"Believe It" from "The Heart of the Game"
"The Best" from "Everyone’s Hero"
"The Book I Write" from "Stranger than Fiction"
"Broken Bridges" from "Broken Bridges"
"Chan Chan" from "Water"
"Circle in the Sand" from "Friends with Money"
"Coming Back to You" from "Deja Vu"
"Definition of Love" from "Akeelah and the Bee"
"Dreamz with a Z" from "American Dreamz"
"Encarnacion" from "Nacho Libre"
"Every Word" from "Wordplay"
"Family of Me" from "Over the Hedge"
"A Father’s Way" from "The Pursuit of Happyness"
"The Girl in Byakkoya - White Tiger Field" from "Paprika"
"Heist" from "Over the Hedge"
"Hillbilly Holla" from "Barnyard"
"Hollywood Familia" from "Hollywood Familia"
"I Belong" from "Open Season"
"I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth"
"In Rosa Vernat Lilium" from "The Nativity Story"
"It’s a Fight" from "Rocky Balboa"
"Ju Hua Tai" from "Curse of the Golden Flower"
"Keep Holding On" from "Eragon"
"Khalbali" from "Rang de Basanti"
"Kingdom of Love" from "One Night with the King"
"Listen" from "Dreamgirls"
"A Lonely Man" from "Don’t Come Knocking"
"Love You I Do" from "Dreamgirls"
"Luka Chuppi" from "Rang de Basanti"
"The Motion" from "3 Needles"
"My Little Girl" from "Flicka"
"Never Gonna Break My Faith" from "Bobby"
"Never Let Go" from "The Guardian"
"O Kazakhstan" from "Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"
"Open Your Heart" from "Saving Shiloh"
"Ordinary Miracle" from "Charlotte’s Web"
"Our Town" from "Cars"
"Patience" from "Dreamgirls"
"Philosophy" from "Step Up"
"PJ & Rooster" from "Idlewild"
"Quest for Love" from "Arthur and the Invisibles"
"Real Gone" from "Cars"
"Really Nice Day" from "The Wild"
"Shine on ‘Em" from "Blood Diamond"
"The Song of the Heart" from "Happy Feet"
"Star Mile" from "The Last Kiss"
"Still" from "Over the Hedge"
"Suenos" from "Hollywood Familia"
"Sweet Music" from "Glory Road"
"Til the End of Time" from "Little Miss Sunshine"
"Tonight" from "Night at the Museum"
"Try Not to Remember" from "Home of the Brave"
"Upside Down" from "Curious George"
"When You Taught Me How to Dance" from "Miss Potter"
"Won’t Let You Fall" from "Poseidon"
"You Know My Name" from "Casino Royale"

Nominations for the Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 23 at 5:30 AM PST in the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre. The Academy Awards will be presented Feb. 25 at the Kodak Theatre; ABC will broadcast the event live.