HALLOWEEN PARTY PLAYLIST

31 songs for spooky season

Whether you need a last-minute playlist for a Halloween party or want some fun songs to pump you up for your night out, check out 31 fun, flirty and freaky songs I’ve been spinning this spooky season. I put some thought into how I would order the songs for a party, and I share some of my thinking in the blurbs, but play whatever songs you want in the order you wish.

Click each title to listen to the song on YouTube.

1. Dark Love

Miami Horror feat. Danny Pratt

A mellow funk groove makes a great start to any house party. This song foots the bill — and with just enough spook factor in the lyrics (references to moonlight, shadows, danger and the titular dark love), it’s the perfect track to start a halloween celebration.

2. 2 Die 4

Addison Rae feat. Charli xcx

Dark love turns deadly — and danceable — with this sedeuctively sweet dance track. The 80s-influenced bubblegum beat is deceptively bright — the cheerful chimes that make up the main riff feel slightly sinister; the melody is so addictively catchy, it’s haunting. The cheeky title gives it enough of an edge to earn it an early spot on the party playlist. It’s sure to get the most eager dancers (the girls and the gays) to the floor.

3. Body Parts

Courtney Act

Keep the throwback vibes going with this synthy track that recalls Olivia Newton-John’s iconic single “Physical”. This song takes the corporeal themes of Oliva’s track to extremes fitting for spooky season — the “body parts” Courtney is singing about are sexual organs, of course, but in the spirit of the holiday, we can pretend she’s singing about dismembered limbs.

4. Walking On Air

Kerli

Take the creepy vibes up just a notch with this alt-pop banger. The opening keys sound straight out of a horror movie — but they’re similar enuough to the chimes on “2 Die 4” and as catchy as the synthline of “Body Parts” that the spooky vibes sneak up on you. The lyrics are ironically pretty optimistic, so it’s a great song for easing into more straightforwardly creepy vibes.

5. They

Jem

This song is also not as spooky as it sounds at first, but it does sound pretty spooky — it opens with an eerie choral tune and the refrain features children shouting a creepy playground chant. The lyrics aren’t quite as scaryy — the narrator is simply questioning societal norms. But the haunting melody and mysterious lyrics — “Who are they? Where are they?” — are just enough to set the mood.

6. Girl With No Face

Allie X

This track adds a gothy grit to the funk groove that kicked off the night. The lyrics come from the perspective of a mysterious femme fatale, making it another great mood-setting song. There’s also a high-pitched scream after the first chorus, which helps amp up the energy.

7. Bring Out The Freaks

Thulani feat. Tinashe

Keep the mood right while getting people on the dancefloor with this groovy electronic track. Over a distorted synthline, Tinashe casts a spell to “bring out the freaks”, and sings about being “on my worst behavior” and “letting out the demon inside.” It’s a nice midtempo dance track that will get people grooving.

8. Moonlight Magic

Ashnikko

The funk vibes get even filthier with this song. The lyrics are equal parts erotic and esoteric (“supernatural cocky”, “light me up like a moonbeam”, “mystical when you seduce me”), and the production is even more feral (the heavy breathing in the chorus!). It’s the perfect invitation to get on the dancefloor and get freaky.

9. Funhouse

P!nk

It’s time to enter the “Funhouse” and get this party started (pun intended). This track combines all the best elements from the previous songs — a funky main riff, freaky lyrics (references to “evil clowns,” a “taunting smirk” and being “haunted” by memories) and a super-daceable beat.

10. Masquerade

Ashley Tisdale

This ode to cosplaying in the bedroom adds a pop/rock edge to the funk of “Funhouse” while introducing more flirty, freaky themes.

11. Boogie Feet

Kesha feat. Eagles of Death Metal

If “Moonlight Magic” was an invitation, this song is a command. Opening with a dirty, distorted guitar stab and Kesha’s defiant vocals, the track builds tension sonically and lyrically — “Are you scared of these boogie feet?” — daring you to let your freak flag fly.

11. Freaks

Haute & Freddy

This track builds on the energy of Kesha’s “Boogie Feet” and amps up the spooky vibes. “All the pretty girls and all the pretty boys are freaks” — and they all better be dancing to this funky, freaky track.

12. Freakshow

Britney Spears

Now that the freaks are out, get them dancing with this electronic dance banger. Over a dubstep-inspired beat, the undisputed Princess of Pop™ urges everyone to “make it a freakshow” and “give ‘em a peepshow.”

13. Devil

Slayyyter

Keep the sexy, spooky pop girl vibes going with this Y2K-influenced track. With glitchy synths, gritty bass stabs and a haunting bridge — not to mention lyrics about unapologetically playing the role of the demon — it’s freaky in more ways than one.

15. Love Zombie

Victoria Justice

Take the creepy pop girl vibes to the extreme with this song that uses the undead as a correlative for being overcome with lust.

16. Sensuum Defectui

Kiesza

If you’re not dancing by now, this track will do it. It’s too infectious for anyone to resist. Backed by an eerie organ synth, Kiesza sings about being posessed by desire for a lover who is “like a demon”, the way this song is sure to posess all who listen.

17. Shadow of a Man

Lady Gaga

Gaga has no shortage of spooky pop songs, but this song about being tempted by a mysterious man keeps the creepy groove going while being mellow enough to let you take a breather from back-to-back dance bangers.

18. This Hell

Rina Sawayama

From the shadow of a man, “we’re going straight to hell!” This song builds on Gaga’s rock influences and works in more underworld imagery in a surprisingly wholesome way.

19. Freaky Like That

Snow Wife

Ease back into dance beats and sensual vibes with this super-danceable ode to getting freaky on the dancefloor.

20. Pray to God (Calvin Harris vs Mike Pickering Haçienda Remix)

Calvin Harris Feat. HAIM

This song takes the house influences and high energy of “Freaky Like That” to spiritual heights that bring more obviously otherworldly vibes.

21. Out Alive

Kesha

The desperate sublime surrender of “Pray to God” continues in this similarly high-energy EDM track. An ode to living in the moment, the shouted chorus (“no one’s getting out alive!”) is both creepy and cathartic.

22. There Will Be Blood

Kim Petras

No one’s getting out alive because, as Kim Petras wails on this track, “You’re gonna die!”

23. Time Is Up

Poppy feat. Diplo

This track combines the finality of “There Will Be Blood” with more eerie electronic vibes.

24. Twisted Pair

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What’s more fitting than following up a Poppy track with a song that opens with a synthesized voice saying, “I am a computer, I am programmed to dance”?

25. NO APOLOGY!

Kilo Kish

While this song isn’t explicity spooky, the dirty, distorted electronic beat and dark lyrics (“You killed a believer”) are both dread-inducing and danceable.

26. make you mine

Madison Beer

With a haunting melody, moody electronic production and lyrics about erotic obsession, the track is both sinister and sexy. It’s the perfect song to play when people are lit, vibing and eager to give in to their own temptations.

27. Voicemail

Poppy

This track adds some experimental elements to the electronic vibes of “make you mine”. Along with truly creepy lyrics (“there’s blood on my necklace / there’s blood on my clothes”, “baby wants to come home to daddy”), it’s the perfect soundtrack for the later part of the night.

28. Self Destruct

Slayyyter feat. Wuki

Keep the gritty electronic vibes going while lightening the mood a bit lyrically. Sure, this song has Slayyyter shouting, “I will fucking kill you if you try to talk to me”, but it also finds her singing about her “tight bleached asshole.”

29. Crisis

Brooke Candy feat. lozeak

This song keeps the experimental electronic sonics of the past few songs, but trades the freaky lyrics for something a little flirtier (“Make an ass clap, get a new tat”), while still making reference to Halloween-worthy themes (“My candy priceless ... We’re gonna’ cause a crisis”).

30. Scary

Britney Spears

This is a glossier version of the sounds explored in the last few tracks, but the lyrics are pure Halloween — “It’s turned me into a monster, like I’m Jekyll and Hyde ... I wanna’ take over your body like it’s freaky friday”

31. Creatures of the Night

Joshua Mitchell x Shanko

End the night — or ease into the afters — with a moodier, more romantic take on the funk vibes that started the night. This R&B track from independent artist (and viral star) Joshua Mitchell is an ode to nightlife that has just enough horror references (“sink my teeth into your garden ... I’m like a vampire”) to make it the perfect send-off to a spooky season celebration — and a solid start to more late-night adventures.

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