RSO Records releases a double LP of John Williams’ soundtrack from Star Wars, coinciding with the movie’s release. A fold-out poster of publicity artwork of the climactic Death Star dogfight is included. The album becomes a chart-topper by the end of the year, and cover versions by other artists are released even before the year is out. Many listeners become lifelong film score fanatics on the spot. 
Casblanca Records releases the Meco album Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk, a disco interpretation of the soundtrack of Star Wars on one side, with original compositions on the second side. The single extracted from the Star Wars medley will reach the top of the charts.
Produced in the wake of Star Wars mania, Meco Menardo’s disco cover of John Williams’ music from Star Wars tops the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks. A shortened, radio-friendly single is the song certified as #1, although the album version (titled Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk) is an extended suite lasting over 15 minutes and covering most of the movie’s major music themes. Meco would continue to ride the Star Wars train, disco-style, for years to come. 
Nippon Columbia releases the first volume of Hiroshi Miyagawa’s soundtracks from the TV series Space Battleship Yamato (better known in the western world as Star Blazers).
Arista Records releases, just weeks after the movie’s premiere, John Williams’ soundtrack from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Sales are brisk, bolstered in no small part by the fact that Williams’ music is on the year’s second major science fiction blockbuster.
MCA Records releases Stu Phillips‘ soundtrack from the TV and theatrical premiere of Battlestar Galactica on LP. (This album will be reissued on CD in 1993, and the contents of it will appear on numerous compilations of music from this show for years to come; a re-recording of this album with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra will also follow in the ’90s.)
Warner Bros. Records releases a double LP of John Williams’ soundtrack from Superman: The Movie. Now three-and-three for genre blockbusters, Williams’ album again sells well, and will be reissued in several different forms in the years to come.
MCA Records releases Stu Phillips‘ soundtrack from the movie Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. (The movie, as well as its music, will also serve as the first episode of the television series of the same name later in the year.)
Disneyland Records releases an LP with selections from John Barry’s soundtrack for the movie The Black Hole, the first movie soundtrack ever recorded digitally. If anything, the music proves to be more enduring than the film it was meant to accompany, though Disney allows it to go out of print, never re-releasing it in any other format. A complete version will finally arrive on CD in 2011.
CBS Records releases an LP of selections from Jerry Goldsmith’s soundtrack from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, one of the earliest fully-digitally-recorded albums of any kind, soundtrack or otherwise. Thanks mainly to Goldsmith’s energetic main title, the album becomes a best-seller; many fans start to regard the music as the best part of the movie. Two reissues follow, culminating in a fan-pleasing 2012 release of the complete score.
MCA Records releases an album of songs from the upcoming movie musical Xanadu, with the first side of the LP devoted to songs performed by Electric Light Orchestra, and the other filled with songs by Olivia Newton-John (who also stars in the film). Hit singles from the album include the ELO/ONJ team-up “Xanadu”, Olivia Newton-John’s “Magic”, and ELO’s “All Over The World” and “I’m Alive”. The album is a bigger hit with critics and the public than the movie (which premieres well after the album’s release).
RSO Records, the label responsible for releasing the Star Wars movie soundtracks to date, releases the Star Wars novelty tie-in album Christmas In The Stars. Produced by Meco Menardo (of Star Wars disco cover fame), the album not only answers the age-old question of what to get a Wookiee for Christmas when he already has a comb, but is the first credited studio session work of future rock god Jon Bon Jovi (credited on the LP under his given name, Jon Bongiovi).
Elektra Records releases an album of rock group Queen‘s soundtrack from the cult science fiction classic Flash Gordon. The album, which omits Howard Blake’s orchestral score and leads off with the single “Flash’s Theme”, is a European chart-topper (and gets a surprising amount of airplay elsewhere for a mostly-instrumental soundtrack album).
Columbia Records releases an album of John Williams‘ soundtrack from Raiders Of The Lost Ark in advance of the movie’s theatrical premiere.
Columbia Records releases Bob Sakuma‘s soundtrack from the early ’70s TV anime Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), better known to the western world in its significantly-altered dubbed (and partially re-scored) version, Battle Of The Planets. (A separate Battle Of The Planets release, combining Sakuma’s music with that of American composer Hoyt Curtin, will occur early in the 21st century.)
Atlantic Records releases an album of selections from James Horner‘s soundtrack to Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. (The same album will receive a CD re-release from GNP Crescendo Records at a later date.)
Walt Disney Records releases Wendy Carlos’ soundtrack from the movie Tron. Two Journey songs also appear on the album.
Scitron Digital releases the album Namco Video Game Music, collecting recordings of music and sounds from the company’s classic arcade games.
Polydor Records releases an album of John Williams‘ soundtrack from Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, including the movie’s unique rendition of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes”.
Atlantic Records releases James Horner‘s soundtrack from Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, including an instrumental “pop version” of the movie’s main theme. (The same album will be given a compact disc release at a later date by GNP Crescendo Records.)
A&M Records releases David Shire’s soundtrack from the movie 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Available only briefly – the label doesn’t keep the title in print after the movie proves not to be a blockbuster – the soundtrack has yet to be reissued in any form and is an exceedingly rare collectors’ item. The album includes a version of the theme tune by Andy Summers of The Police.
Varese Sarabande releases an album of re-recorded orchestral suites recreating the music from the 1960s TV series Star Trek, arranged and conducted by original series composer Fred Steiner and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Geffen Records releases Peter Gabriel’s soundtrack to the movie Birdy. Many of the album’s tracks are instrumentals inspired by songs from Gabriel’s existing solo albums.
Atlantic Records releases an album of Andrew Powell‘s soundtrack from the movie Ladyhawke. The album is produced by Alan Parsons, and features a rock-based score performed by the same musicians who record for the Alan Parsons Project.
MCA Records releases John Barry‘s soundtrack from the movie Out Of Africa.
GNP Crescendo releases the first-ever CD of Alexander Courage’s music from the original Star Trek television series, presenting selections from the two pilot episodes, The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before. This is the first time that music from the original series has been presented, other than countless recordings and remakes of the main title theme.
Varese Sarabande releases the second volume of re-recorded orchestral suites recreating the music from the 1960s TV series Star Trek, arranged and conducted by original series composer Fred Steiner and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Hollywood Records releases the Queen album A Kind Of Magic. With no release of the movie’s score in the works, this album – featuring “Who Wants To Live Forever” and “Princes Of The Universe” – is the de facto soundtrack of the movie Highlander.
Scitron Digital releases the album Konami Game Music Volume 1, featuring sound and music recorded from the company’s early arcade hits.
MCA Records releases Leonard Rosenman’s soundtrack from the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, featuring tracks by the Yellowjackets.