Five songs will be nominated for Academy Awards in the Original Song category after the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved additional rules for the 85th Academy Awards.

Changes in the Original Song category were the most significant of the board¹s rule changes.

The academy spells it out: During the nominations process, all voting members of the music branch will receive a reminder list of works submitted in the category and a DVD copy of the song clips. Members will be asked to watch the clips and then vote for not more than five achievements in the category. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award.

The academy has tossed out a math-heavy system of the last two years that resulted in the category looking barren as only two songs were nominated last year and four the year before.

A maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film. If more than two songs from a film are in contention, the two songs with the most votes will be the nominees.