The Academy Award is the highest honor in the film industry. And very few, have managed to hold the golden statuette more than once, which is remarkable considering how difficult it is to earn even a single nomination. Surprisingly, there is even one lesser-known category that no one has ever claimed to this day.

Now, the Academy has removed and renamed several Oscar categories over the years in such circumstances. And, this one music-related category, which is technically alive, seems to be sitting close to the brink of extinction.

The Oscars have a secret category called Best Original Musical, which has never had any nominations or winners. This is because of the Academy’s strict rules and criteria for the category, which have been extremely difficult to meet. To qualify for this category, a film must include at least five original songs by the same writer or team of writers. 

These songs must also be involved in the storyline and be clearly audible. Even if a film meets that requirement, at least 10 eligible musicals must be released in a single year for voters to select a winner. Understandably, the category has never been used till now.

But such musicals were immensely popular in the 1930s and 1940s, a period referred to as the Golden Age. However, both filmmaking and the industry demands changed with time. Now, this category can be used if ever the film industry were to see a rise in musicals. 

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But even then, it would be rare, just like ties at the Oscars, which have happened only six times in history.

There have been six ties in Oscar history, the first occurring in 1932 when Frederic March and Wallace Beery both won Best Actor for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Champ, respectively. At the time, the rules were different, and although March had one vote less than Beery, he also won the honor.

The next tie came in 1949, when A Chance to Live and So Much for So Little shared the Best Documentary Short award. Another historic moment followed in 1968, when Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand both won Best Actress for The Lion in Winter and Funny Girl. In 1986, Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got and Down and Out in America tied for Best Documentary Feature. 

The fifth tie was in 1995, when Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life, and Trevor won Best Short Film (Live Action). Most recently, in 2013, the sound editors of Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall shared the Best Sound Editing Oscar. So, while things such as ties and the inclusion of a secret category appear uncommon, the Oscars might have surprises.

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Did you know about this secret category? Let us know in the comments.