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Halloween landing on a weekend means there will be hundreds of thousands if not millions of Halloween parties nationwide. Today, we rank the greatest Halloween songs in order to craft the perfect Halloween playlist.
Even if you are past your Halloween partying age and just want to throw on some spooky tunes with a portable speaker or play Halloween song son the Sonos while passing out candy to trick-or-treaters, this is for you.
Ranking The Greatest Halloween Songs Of All Time
The Criteria: when ranking the best Halloween songs of all time there was an overarching theme: is the song spooky. That is it. I am judge, jury, and executioner on this Halloween Playlist and ultimately it came down to whether or not I got spooky Halloween vibes from these legendary songs.
Obviously, some of the tracks below make the ‘Greatest Halloween Songs of All Time’ list because of their place in history but some of these will surprise you. I will also say that these are ‘ranked’ in the sense that they stand above all other songs out there that do not appear on this list. I’m not ranking them against each other.
1. ‘Monster Mash’ by Bobby Pickett
Coming up first we have Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett. This is a Halloween anthem. Interestingly, we aren’t quite sure what the dance itself is because the song describes a dance party and isn’t the dance itself, so we are left to fill in the blanks. It brings the spooky vibes straight out of the gates and this is a must-have on every Halloween playlist.
2. ‘Psycho Killer’ by The Talking Heads
Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads is among the first tracks to set a spooky vibe on a well-crafted Halloween playlist. It will get people asking ‘is this really a Halloween song?’ and at that point you can engage them in discussion about how everything spooky, creepy, murderous, bloody, etc. falls under the Halloween Music umbrella.
3. ‘I Put A Spell On You’ by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
This song goes hard. It always has. It’s a Halloween Music Playlist must-have and it doesn’t matter what year it is.
His voice is haunting. I love playing this in the car and cranking up the volume to confuse people when stopped at a red light. This gets a 10 out of 10 recommendation on the Halloween playlist suggestions from me.
4. ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’ by Rockwell
Dating back to 1984, this has been a Spooky SZN hit since the day it hit the airwaves. It is probably the only Rockwell song I could ever name but he hit a home run with this track.
5. ‘Werewolves of London’ by Warren Zevon
This song can anchor the perfect Halloween playlist as the #1 track or you can tuck it in a few songs into the night. That is entirely up to you.
Known as having the best opening lyrics of any song ever written, Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon is a top-3 Halloween song for me all-time.
6. ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson
Of course Michael Jackson’s Thriller is on the list of the greatest Halloween songs of all time. It is the #1 Halloween-related music video of all time and probably has the most enduring legacy of any Halloween song I can think of as people still do the dance in every Halloween parade. Heck, they were doing the dance when I was at the Great American Beer Fest in Denver two weeks ago.
7. ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ by The Rolling Stones
Don’t sleep on this Rolling Stones track when counting up the greatest Halloween songs of all time because it deserves to be in the discussion. The video above was recorded in front of a live audience back in 1968 and this song holds up just as great today as it did back then. I’ve been listening to it on repeat all month.
8. ‘Black Magic Woman’ by Santana
Every epic Halloween playlist needs a Carlos Santana song on there. No Santana song evokes spookier Halloween vibes more than Black Magic Woman does. Here it is live at the Tanglewood back in 1970.
Now buckle up because we’re about to crank up the vibes then slow things down before cranking it back up!
9. ‘Dragula’ by Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie is a must-have on a Halloween playlist. I said what I said. Dragula is a crowd favorite. Add it to your playlist. You will be glad you did. It is intense, to be sure, but we tone it down in the next track.
10. ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials
True music lovers know this track. And those that don’t will at least recognize it from having heard it on movie soundtracks throughout the years.
This is a top 5 Halloween song for me all time. Place it on a playlist after a super high energy song to scale things back a little and the vibes will be just right.
11. ‘Season of the Witch’ by Donovan
Lana Del Ray has covered this track in recent years but we are going with the original, the 1966 version from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. You don’t need a Ph.D in rocket science to see the Halloween connections to this song. It’s a spooky track with perfect Halloween vibes.
12. ‘People Are Strange’ by The Doors
Sticking with the spooky vibe we have People Are Strange by Jim Morrison and The Doors. This is a GOAT’d Halloween song but it can really be added to any playlist throughout the year.
If you are having a Halloween party, parade, or just setting the Halloween vibe this is a perfect song to set the mood right.
13. ‘Witchy Woman’ by The Eagles
This Eagles song from 1972 has one of those iconic guitar openings that just sets the mood right. Those guitar riffs come in hot before scaling back and then the smooth vocals hit and by the time we get to the chorus the spooky, eerie, immaculate Halloween vibes are flowing like the salmon of Capistrano.
14. ‘Helter Skelter’ by The Beatles
The Beatles knew what they were doing with this track. First appearing on the White Album, Helter Skelter should be on every ‘Best Halloween Songs’ list ever written and I would never dream of keeping it off mine.
15. ‘Halloween’ by The Misfits
The godfathers of Horror Punk, The Misfits. I could have picked any song from their catalog so I figured why not go with Halloween in honor of the holiday itself. Don’t sleep on The Misfits even if the vibes are intense!
16. ‘Voodoo Child’ by Jimi Hendrix
It hurts to think about how much incredible music Jimi Hendrix would have produced had he lived to old age. Voodoo Child is one of the greatest Classic Rock songs of all time and with the Voodoo connections it is firmly spooky enough to be added to any list of the best Halloween songs.
17. ‘Feed My Frankenstein’ by Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is Halloween personified. He always has been. Feed My Frankenstein is one of the best rock Halloween songs to come out of that entire era.
18. ‘Bad Moon Rising’ by Credence Clearwater Revival
This is another ‘vibes song’ that 100% deserves to be on the list despite not screaming ‘this is a Halloween song.’ The vocals, lyrics, and imagery from Bad Moon Rising sets the stage perfectly for any Halloween shindig.
19. ‘There Will Be Blood’ by Kim Petras
Hear me out: don’t sleep on There Will Be Blood by Kim Petras on any Halloween playlist. I added it to my 2020/21 Halloween playlists and it was an immediate hit. Petras singing about blood is enough of a Halloween-related connection to warrant it being on any list of Halloween songs and people just really go hard for this song.
20. ‘Runnin’ With The Devil’ by Van Halen
We haven’t had nearly enough ‘Devil’ related Halloween songs on this list yet so we’re coming in hot with this rock anthem from Van Halen. This song is legendary. It has been since the 80s. And it never gets old.
21. ‘Wolfman’s Brother’ by Phish
Scaling the energy back a little we have Wolfman’s Brother by Phish, the greatest band to ever come out of Vermont. I could have and should have included about 50 Phish songs on this list of the greatest Halloween songs of all time but I know they aren’t for everyone so I showed restraint!
22. ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ by Lou Reed
When I was living downtown in NYC and the Greenwich Village Halloween parade would end a block away from my apartment this song captured the vibes perfectly. Lou Reed has such an iconic voice.
This song is all about letting your freak flag fly and there is no better time to do that than on Halloween.
23. ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries
Obviously, this song is not about actual zombies. It has a deeply tragic and very serious origin. But it is named Zombie and for that reason alone it gets added to every epic Halloween Songs Playlist and I won’t keep it off mine if only because I love this song.
24. ‘Highway to Hell’ by AC/DC
We are nearing the end here. Let’s crank the energy back up with Highway To Hell by AC/DC. Brian Johnson’s vocals are unmatched. The visuals evoked by the lyrics are perfect.
25. ‘Time Warp’ by Rocky Horror Picture Show
I’m sorry but you cannot have a Mt. Rushmore of Halloween Songs and not have at least one track from Rocky Horror Picture Show on there. I wanted to include Tim Curry’s version of Sweet Transvestite but thought that might be a little too much for some readers so I opted to go with Time Warp to close things out here.
Well, everyone, what did I miss? What would you add to my collection of the greatest Halloween songs of all-time? Let me know via email to cass@brobible.com or in the Facebook comments!