New Zealander Bret McKenzie says he's delighted his favourite song from The Muppets movie has earned him an Oscar nomination.
McKenzie, one half of Flight of the Conchords, was nominated for 'Man or Muppet', which will square off against Real In Rio from the film Rio for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Another McKenzie song from The Muppets, 'Life's A Happy Song', won the Critics Choice award but didn't make the Oscar list.
He says if he could have chosen which song was nominated for the Oscar it would have been Man or Muppet.
"It's my favourite song in the film," he told the Stuff website.
"The pictures and music work really beautifully together."
McKenzie said the fact only two songs were nominated "means I have a 50 per cent chance of the award, which is great".
"The only thing which would be better would be if there was one nomination."
McKenzie's Flight of the Conchords partner Jemaine Clement may be a little conflicted come Oscar night as he was the voice of Rio's villain, Nigel the cockatoo.
However, he had no part in the film's Oscar-nominated song.
Meanwhile, the fact only two songs were nominated has raised a few eyebrows in Hollywood.
There were 39 songs on the short list but only two were nominated, snubbing songs featuring Pink, Elvis Costello, Mary J Blige and an Elton John-Lady Gaga duet, MTV's website reported.
It says the Academy's 236-strong music branch rates eligible songs on a scale from 1-10. Songs have to rate 8.25 or higher to get a nomination, and if only one does, the next-highest ranked song is also nominated. It is possible for no songs at all to be nominated.
All members of the Academy, which is dominated by actors, then pick the winner.
