Amy (2015)

Amy (2015) remains one of the most intimate music documentaries ever made, its power rooted entirely in Asif Kapadia's masterful use of home video footage. The Academy Award-winner for Best Documentary Feature chronicles Amy Winehouse's meteoric rise and tragic decline without talking heads, earning over $23 million worldwide. Its emotional impact surpasses #4 on this list (Twenty Feet from Stardom), which, while excellent, lacks this film's visceral, diary-like closeness to its subject. The raw, firsthand access makes it a definitive, heartbreaking testimony.