Songs you need on your Halloween party playlist

A good Halloween playlist has two jobs. It has to give the room songs to scream along to, and it has to send at least one person home with a band they had never heard of. These fifteen are in party order: warm up, peak, the 2am turn, lights off.

1. Lady Gaga, "Bloody Mary"

The Born This Way deep cut that fans laid over the Wednesday dance. It entered the Hot 100 for the first time in April 2023, eleven years after it came out.

2. The Cramps, "Goo Goo Muck"

The song Jenna Ortega actually choreographed Wednesday's dance to. 1981 garage rock that sounds like it was recorded in a crypt.

3. Róisín Murphy, "Ramalama (Bang Bang)"

From her 2005 debut solo album Ruby Blue, made with Matthew Herbert. These days it is the costume-reveal walk, every single October.

4. Snow Strippers, "Under Your Spell"

Released in April 2023, then all over short-form edits in 2024. A rave in a haunted mall, and the first discovery pick on the list.

5. Doja Cat, "Paint the Town Red"

A Hot 100 number one in 2023, built on Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By". Warwick has said she had no idea who Doja was until her granddaughter told her.

6. Molchat Doma, "Sudno (Boris Ryzhy)"

Post-punk from Minsk, from the band's 2018 album Etazhi, with lyrics taken from a poem by Boris Ryzhy. TikTok found it in 2020 and it has not left since.

7. Rihanna, "Disturbia"

Number one on the Hot 100 in August 2008, co-written by Chris Brown. The Halloween song that never called itself one.

8. Boy Harsher, "Pain"

The darkwave duo's early underground hit. It also plays in Terrifier 2.

9. Ghost, "Mary On A Cross"

A 2019 B-side that went viral off a Stranger Things edit in 2022, gave the Swedish band their first Hot 100 entry, and has since gone gold.

10. Lebanon Hanover, "Gallowdance"

The cold-wave duo's 2013 single and a goth club staple. Yes, it is called Gallowdance.

11. Rockwell, "Somebody's Watching Me"

1984, with Michael Jackson on the chorus. It went to number two on the Hot 100 and spent five weeks at number one on the R&B chart, and it still never makes the lists.

12. Gesaffelstein, "Pursuit"

The French producer's 2013 single from Aleph. Every good party takes this turn at around 2am.

13. Neeraj Shridhar, "Bhool Bhulaiyaa"

The 2007 title track, with music by Pritam. Shridhar has said it is the song that brought him into Bollywood, and every Indian Halloween party plays it.

14. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Heads Will Roll"

The second single from It's Blitz!, released in June 2009. "Off with your head, dance till you're dead" is about as clear a Halloween party brief as a chorus gets, and A-Trak's remix of it has lived in clubs ever since.

15. Lata Mangeshkar, "Gumnaam Hai Koi"

From the 1965 thriller Gumnaam, music by Shankar Jaikishan. Play it last, with the lights off.

Play the whole thing

All fifteen, in party order, on the ADMC Spotify.

And if you forgot to plan a costume

All black. No makeup, no props, still counts. The black essentials are at wearadhd.com.

Save this for Saturday. What are we missing?