Kevin McHale, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer and Jenna Ushkowitz play original New Directions members Artie Abrams, Mercedes Jones, Kurt Hummel and Tina Cohen-Chang.

Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series produced by Fox. It focuses on the glee club New Directions, at the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio.^[1] The show was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, and features many cover versions of songs sung on-screen by the characters.^[2] Murphy is responsible for selecting all of the songs used, and strives to maintain a balance between show tunes and chart hits, as he wants there to be "something for everybody in every episode."^[3] Once Murphy selects a song, rights are cleared with its publishers by music supervisor P.J. Bloom, and music producer Adam Anders rearranges it for the Glee cast.^[4] Numbers are pre-recorded by the cast, while choreographer Zach Woodlee constructs the accompanying dance moves, which are then taught to the cast and filmed.^[3] Studio recordings of tracks are then made. The process begins six to eight weeks before each episode is filmed, and can end as late as the day before filming begins.^[4] For the first thirteen episodes of Glee's first season, the show averaged five songs per episode, which increased to eight songs for the final nine episodes. In season two, Glee will return to featuring five songs per episode.^[5]

Songs featured on the show are available for digital download through the iTunes Store up to two weeks before new episodes air, and through other digital outlets and mobile carriers a week later.^[4] The season features two tribute episodes, showcasing songs by Britney Spears and Elton John.^[6][7] There also includes an episode featuring songs from The Rocky Horror Show, and one featuring original songs.^[8][9] Glee: The Music, The Rocky Horror Glee Show, an extended play (EP) with songs from the fifth episode, was released October 19, 2010.^[10] Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album and Glee: The Music, Volume 4 were released in November 2010.^[11] Another EP will be released that features songs from the Super Bowl episode, as well another soundtrack volume in the first quarter of 2011.^[12][13]

The majority of songs are performed by New Directions, which is composed of Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale), Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr), Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley), Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris) and Noah Puckerman (Mark Salling), plus club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). At the end of "Furt", however, Kurt enrolls in Dalton Academy and joins the Warblers; McKinley high student Lauren Zizes takes his place.^[14] During season two, New Directions is joined by athlete Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) and McKinley High foreign exchange student Sunshine Corazon (Charice) transfers to rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline.^[15][16][17] Jayma Mays performs as school guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury,^[18] and guest stars John Stamos and Dot Marie Jones perform as dentist Carl Howell and football coach Shannon Beiste, respectively.^[19][20] Darren Criss appears as Blaine, lead singer of rival glee club the Dalton Academy Warblers and Gwyneth Paltrow guest-stars and performs as a substitute teacher for Will.^[21][22][23] Cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) performed with her mother Doris (Carol Burnett).^[24]

Songs included on Glee: The Music, The Rocky Horror Glee Show feature additional vocals by non-cast members Adam Anders, Nikki Anders, Kamari Copeland, Tim Davies, Missi Hale, Tobias Kampe-Flygare, Storm Lee, David Loucks, and Windy Wagner.^[25] These performers reappear on Glee: The Music, Volume 4, and are joined by Kala Balch, Colin Benward, Ravaughn Brown, Jon Hall, Samantha Jade, Jeanette Olsson, Zac Poor, Drew Ryan Scott, and Onitsha Shaw.^[26] Songs performed by the Dalton Academy Warblers contain vocals by the Beelzebubs, an a cappella group from Tufts University.^[21] The members providing these background vocals consist of Sam Cantor, Conor Flynn, Michael Grant, John Kwon, Cailin Mackenzie, Kent McCann, Eric Morrissey, Evan Powell, Penn Rosen, Eli Seidman, and Jack Thomas.^[26]

• List of songs in Glee (season 1)
• Glee Cast discography