The Smashing Pumpkins are on The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Album). The official Spotify pre-save page for the soundtrack now credits track 15, "Black Stars," to the band, and it runs about three and a half minutes. When the label first posted the 29-song tracklist on October 1, every title except Noah Kahan's "Draw You Out" was listed without an artist, with "additional artist announcements coming soon." Black Stars is the first of those blanks to get a name.
What is confirmed
The album arrives November 13 through MCA, a week before Lionsgate opens the film in theaters and IMAX on November 20. Dave Cobb, the Nashville producer behind records by Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson, is executive producer. The lead single, "Draw You Out," came out October 2 and was co-written and co-produced with Aaron Dessner, per the MCA announcement. The label describes the album as previously unreleased music made for the film.
On the official Hunger Games soundtrack store, Black Stars closes disc one of the compact disc (CD) edition and lands on side B of the double long-playing (LP) vinyl sets. Two of the vinyl editions are webstore exclusives, the District 12 Edition on Volcanic Ash vinyl and the Capitol Edition on Elegance Is Authority vinyl, alongside a Pretty With A Purpose colored pressing. There is also a CD with an exclusive postcard and a digital download.
The timing lines up with the film's own channels too. On October 14 the official Hunger Games Instagram posted a drum kit set up in a warehouse with the caption "Next track loading," pointing fans to the album pre-order, and the band's account liked it. On October 15, Billy Corgan titled his latest Substack live session "Games of Hunger."
What is not confirmed yet
No one has announced a standalone release date for Black Stars, so for now the confirmed date is the album's, November 13. The band has not posted the song's credits, and neither Lionsgate nor the label has said who produced it or how it is used in the film. We will update this post when that lands.
Why it fits
Movie songs have been good to this band. "The End Is the Beginning Is the End," written for Batman and Robin in 1997, won them a Grammy, and Corgan has always leaned into big, cinematic arrangements. Sunrise on the Reaping is the darkest corner of the series: Haymitch Abernathy's story and the 50th Hunger Games, the Second Quarter Quell, adapted from Suzanne Collins' 2025 novel with Joseph Zada as the young Haymitch. A title like Black Stars sits right in that mood. The news also lands mid-tour, with the band out on its Rats in a Cage run and fresh off a hometown night at Chicago's United Center this week, according to the official band site and socials.
How to get it
Pre-save or pre-order the album on Spotify or at the official soundtrack store, home of the District 12 and Capitol Edition vinyl exclusives.
Shop the soundtrack
- The album. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Album) on CD and vinyl.
- The book. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, so you know Haymitch's story before November 20.
- The band on wax. Siamese Dream on vinyl and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness on vinyl.
Building the shelf? Our record collector gift guide and beginner turntable picks cover the rest, and our video game soundtracks on vinyl guide is a good next stop for score collectors.
The Hunger Games Soundtrack · The Smashing Pumpkins · The Hunger Games on YouTube
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