Creating the perfect Halloween dance party music playlist can be time-consuming and challenging, especially if you’re determined to get it right. After all, the difference between a random selection of mp3s on shuffle and a planned-out playlist optimized by beats-per-minute for maximum energy, mood, and enjoyment, is the amount of time, effort, and knowledge that’s put into it.
After years of planning and hosting Halloween parties, I’ve learned how to build a dance playlist that will keep guests moving and cheering all night long. By combining the insights of professional DJs with my own research and years of party-planning experience, I’ve been able to craft increasingly popular playlists that are a hoot at Halloween parties. I’d like to share my most recent – and most effective one – with you now, free of charge, in the hopes of helping make this crucial step of Halloween party planning easier for you.
Mix it Up, Fix it Up, Turn it Up
A few quick pointers before we jump to the playlist, if I may.
In my experience, it’s best to provide a mix of music genres, but only ones that will themselves mix well with your target audience. In my case, it was 20-40 year old guests looking to dance, drink, and let loose, so I went with a combination of 120 songs that included dance music, Halloween songs, special requests and guests favourites, as well as some rock and metal songs. Regardless, each song had to be danceable otherwise it would stop the dancing (i.e., the party) dead in its tracks.
If you want to use the playlist exactly as I have it laid out but don’t own all of these songs, you’ll need to get those you’re missing, obviously. How you do that is up to you but personally, I’m not a fan of pirated music. Aside from being a musician myself and “feeling” for fellow artists, I”ve simply had far too many bad experiences with broken files, spammy tags, viruses, and volume normalization issues. If you’ve ever done this, you know what I mean. The time wasted trying to find and fix songs just isn’t worth it for me. Instead, you can easily purchase digital music (mp3s) directly from Amazon.com
Once I have all my songs, I like to use a free volume normalizer app (mp3Gain) to ensure my mix plays at more or less the same volume. I then use the free Party Mixer app to create the playlist and play it back on my Android tablet, which is plugged directly into my sound system.
Tip: If your preference is for classical music, check out the Ultimate Halloween Classical Music Collection
Alright, now let’s get to the playlists!
- Full Halloween Dance Party Playlist – Mix of 120 dance & Halloween songs to keep the party going all night
- Halloween Shortlist – Only the Halloween-themed songs from my dance playlist
- Bonus Halloween Rock Playlist – Short mix of non-dance Halloween-themed rock and metal songs
Full Halloween Dance Party Playlist
Here is the actual, complete playlist I used for my 2014 adult Halloween dance party, which had a zombie apocalypse theme. This list includes the songs from the Halloween shortlist above in addition to my dance mix, which I like to change a bit every year. The songs below are in this exact order on my playlist, and this is the order in which I played them at my last party. They are also optimized per BPM for a mood that goes from mid-energy to high-energy to sexy as the night progresses:
- W and W & Blasterjaxx – Rocket
- David Guetta – Bad
- Shakira – Dare (La La La)
- Gummy Bear – I’m a Gummy Bear
- Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger
- Ylvis – The Fox
- Halloween Theme (Terror Mix)
- Cee-Lo Green – Forget You
- Psy – Gentleman
- Owl City – Good Time
- Kat De Luna – Whine Up
- Rammstein – Du Hast
- Rob Zombie – Dragula
- Rihanna – Disturbia
- Haddaway – What is Love
- Lady GaGa – Telephone
- Katy Perry – Roar
- Kreesha Turner – Don’t Call Me Baby
- Cobra Starship – Good Girls Go Bad
- Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe
- Michael Jackson – Thriller
- Ray Parker, Jr. – Ghostbusters
- The Walking Dead Theme (The Wobbler Remix)
- Kelly Clarkson – Stronger
- Justin Timberlake – Sexy Back
- Lady GaGa – Just Dance
- Kesha – Tik Tok
- Shakira – She Wolf
- Rihanna – Don’t Stop the Music
- Katy Perry – Firework
- Escape the Fate – Zombie Dance
- Black Eyed Peas – Rock that Body
- Nicki Minaj – Pound the Alarm
- Pitbull – I Know You Want Me
- Bon Jovi – We Got It Going On
- Deadmau5 – Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff
- Pink – Get the Party Started
- Fergie – Fergalicious
- Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know
- Beyonce – Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
- LMAO – Every Day I’m Shuffling
- The Cranberries – Zombie (DJ Djim Ibiza Remix)
- Nickelback – Something in Your Mouth
- Hedley – Don’t Talk to Strangers
- Katy Perry – Part of Me
- Kesha – Cannibal
- Pitbull – Timber
- RedNex – Cotton Eyed Joe
- Psy – Gangnam Style
- DJ Snake – Turn Down For What
- Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass
- Alice Cooper – Spark in the Dark
- Rihanna – SOS (Rescue Me)
- Shakira – Can’t Remember to Forget You
- The Killers – Somebody Told Me
- Baauer – Harlem Shake
- Horrorpops – Walk Like a Zombie
- Marilyn Manson – The Beautiful People
- Maroon 5- Get Back in My Life
- The Ramones – Pet Cemetery
- Maroon 5- Lucky Strike
- Pink – U + Ur Hand
- Christina Aguilera – Genie in a Bottle
- Pitbull – Get Freaky
- Lil Jon – Bend Ova
- Britney Spears – 3
- Sean Paul – Get Busy
- Katy Perry – Hot N Cold
- Nelly – Hot in Here
- Nicki Minaj – Anconda
- Britney Spears – If U Seek Amy
- Outhere Brothers – Boom Boom Boom
- Katy Perry – I Kissed a Girl
- LMFAO – Sexy and I Know It
- David Guetta – Sexy Chick
- Jennifer Lopez – Booty
- FloRida – Low
- Rihanna – S & M
- Pitbull – Hote Room Service
- FloRida – Right Round
- Rockwell – Somebody’s Watching Me
- Sean Kingston – Fire Burning
- Bloodhound Gang – The Bad Touch
- Beyonce – Naughty Girl
- Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines
- Lady GaGa – Monster
- Pussycat Dolls – Don’t Chat
- Junior Senior – Move Your Feet
- Hedley – Cha-Ching
- Lady GaGa – Poker Face
- Pussycat Dolls – When I Grow Up
- Nelly Furtado – Promiscuous
- White Zombie – I’m Your Boogie Man
- Tiesto – Wasted
- Christina Aguilera – Lady Marmalade
- Elvira – Monster Rap
- House of Pain – Jump Around
- Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get Retarded
- Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London
- Rob Zombie – Living Dead Girl
- Stevie Wonder – Superstition
- Whodini – Freaks Come Out At Night
- Ariana Grande – Bang Bang
- Iggy Azalea – Work
- Nicki Minaj – Mercy (Remix)
- Ozzy Osbourne – I Don’t Wanna Stop
- Kid Rock – Bawitdaba
- Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
- Lou Vega – Mambo No. 5
- Knife Party – Bonfire
- Ariana Grande – Break Free
- Kesha – Die Young
- K7 – Come Baby Come
- Serena Ryder – Stompa
- Voltaire – Zombie Prostitute
- Taylor Swift – Shake it Off
- Daft Punk – Get Lucky
- Pink – Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
- Lights – Up We Go
- Kelis – Milkshake
Update as of October 19, 2015:
I would also add the following two songs to this playlist:
- Carly Jamison – The Devil’s Trying to Bring Me Down
- Becky G – I’m a Monster
Halloween Shortlist
Here’s a list of only the Halloween-themed songs that I normally include in my full dance party playlist. This way, if you want to create your own dance mix, you can simply sprinkle these songs throughout. A word of caution though – you’ll want to consider beats-per-minute when placing your songs, as discussed in the “Music” section of my earlier post on how to plan a Halloween party.
Here’s my Halloween-specific shortlist:
- Halloween Theme (Terror Mix)
- Rammstein – Du Hast
- Rob Zombie – Dragula
- Rihanna – Disturbia
- Michael Jackson – Thriller
- Ray Parker, Jr. – Ghostbusters
- The Walking Dead Theme (The Wobbler Remix)
- Escape the Fate – Zombie Dance
- Deadmau5 – Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff
- The Cranberries – Zombie (DJ Djim Ibiza Remix)
- Kesha – Cannibal
- Horrorpops – Walk Like a Zombie
- Marilyn Manson – The Beautiful People
- The Ramones – Pet Cemetery
- Rockwell – Somebody’s Watching Me
- Lady GaGa – Monster
- White Zombie – I’m Your Boogie Man
- Elvira – Monster Rap
- Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London
- Rob Zombie – Living Dead Girl
- Stevie Wonder – Superstition
- Whodini – Freaks Come Out At Night
- Voltaire – Zombie Prostitute
Bonus Halloween Rock Playlist
As a bonus, here’s a short list of some Halloween-themed rock and metal songs that you can play before the dancing begins, or if you have an interlude. I just don’t find that they fit well in my actual dance mix, so I tend to create a separate playlist for them and usually just put them on shuffle/random:
- AC/DC – Hell’s Bells
- AC/DC – Highway to Hell
- Alice Cooper – Welcome to My Nightmare
- Annihilator – Alison Hell
- Asking Alexandria – The Death of Me
- Avenged Sevenfold – Nightmare
- Billy Talent – Devil on My Shoulder
- Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett – Monster Mash
- CCR – Bad Moon Rising
- Evanescence – Bring Me To Life
- Evanescence – Going Under
- Finger Eleven – Paralyzer
- Guns ‘N’ Roses – Sympathy For the Devil
- Halestorm – Love Bites (So Do I)
- INXS – Devil Inside
- Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Child
- Jonathan Coulton – Re Your Brains
- King Diamond – Halloween
- Marilyn Manson – Sweet Dreams
- Marilyn Manson – This is Halloween
- Maroon 5 – Harder to Breathe
- Metallica – Die Die My Darling
- Metallica – Enter Sandman
- Nightwish – Whoever Brings the Night
- Ozzy Osbourne – Bark at the Moon
- Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name Of
- Ram Jam – Black Betty
- Rocky Horror Picture Show – Time Warp
- Rolling Stones – Paint it Black
- Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs – Lil’ Red Riding Hood
- Spiderbait – Ghost Riders in the Sky
- The Doors – People are Strange
- Three Days Grace – Break
- Three Days Grace – Riot
Feel free to post your own suggestions for any of these Halloween party playlists!
Check out the Ideas section for more Halloween party inspiration, or get some party planning advice in the Hosting section.