The best Halloween songs run from 1960s novelty records to modern pop, and three of the 16 below reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100: “Monster Mash” in October 1962, “Ghostbusters” in August 1984 and Rihanna’s “Disturbia” in August 2008. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” stopped at No. 4, yet it is the most certified song here, rated Diamond by the RIAA for 10 million units.
Each entry gives the artist, release year and highest Hot 100 position, plus one more record of how far the song has traveled: an RIAA certification, an Oscar nomination or a parent album preserved in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. The songs are grouped by mood, starting with the ones that work for young trick-or-treaters and ending with the Halloween music that climbs back onto the chart every November.
| Song | Artist | Year | Hot 100 peak | Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monster Mash | Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers | 1962 | No. 1 | RIAA Gold |
| Ghostbusters | Ray Parker Jr. | 1984 | No. 1 | Oscar nominee |
| This Is Halloween | The Citizens of Halloween | 1993 | No. 26 | RIAA 2x Platinum |
| Spooky, Scary Skeletons | Andrew Gold | 1996 | Did not chart | RIAA Platinum |
| Spooky | Classics IV | 1967 | No. 3 | 3 weeks at No. 3 |
| Bad Moon Rising | Creedence Clearwater Revival | 1969 | No. 2 | RIAA 2x Platinum |
| Black Magic Woman | Santana | 1970 | No. 4 | Album in Library of Congress registry |
| Witchy Woman | Eagles | 1972 | No. 9 | On a 40x Platinum album |
| (Don’t Fear) The Reaper | Blue Öyster Cult | 1976 | No. 12 | RIAA 6x Platinum |
| Psycho Killer | Talking Heads | 1977 | No. 92 | RIAA 2x Platinum |
| Werewolves of London | Warren Zevon | 1978 | No. 21 | Zevon’s only Top 40 hit |
| Thriller | Michael Jackson | 1982 | No. 4 | RIAA Diamond |
| Somebody’s Watching Me | Rockwell | 1983 | No. 2 | RIAA Gold |
| Disturbia | Rihanna | 2008 | No. 1 | RIAA 7x Platinum |
| Bury a Friend | Billie Eilish | 2019 | No. 14 | RIAA 3x Platinum |
| Bloody Mary | Lady Gaga | 2011 | No. 41 | Charted 11 years after release |
Kid-Friendly Halloween Songs for Parties and Trick-or-Treating
These four are about monsters rather than murder, which makes them the safest picks for classrooms, school parades and a front porch full of trick-or-treaters.
Monster Mash (1962)
Artist: Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers · Released: 1962 · Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (2 weeks) · Milestone: RIAA Gold single, certified 1973
Pickett wrote this novelty song with bandmate Lenny Capizzi after his impression of horror actor Boris Karloff won over a club audience, and he narrates the record in that voice as a mad scientist whose monster invents a dance. The coffin creak is a rusty nail pulled from a board. It was No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated October 20 and October 27, 1962, the last two charts before Halloween that year.
The BBC banned it in 1962 as too morbid, but a reissue climbed to No. 10 in the US in August 1973, and the RIAA certified the single Gold that month. It was back at No. 21 on the Hot 100 dated November 15, 2025, 63 years after its first run.
Ghostbusters (1984)
Artist: Ray Parker Jr. · Released: 1984 · Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (3 weeks) · Milestone: Oscar nominee, Best Original Song
Parker wrote and sang the theme for the 1984 film of the same name. It reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated August 11, 1984, ahead of Prince’s “When Doves Cry”, and stayed there for three weeks. It is the only No. 1 among his 15 Hot 100 entries.
The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 57th Academy Awards and lost to Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You”. The RIAA certified the single Gold on August 7, 1984, and the soundtrack album went Platinum on August 23. It ranked No. 22 on the Hot 100 dated November 15, 2025.
This Is Halloween (1993)
Artist: The Citizens of Halloween (cast of The Nightmare Before Christmas) · Released: 1993 · Hot 100 peak: No. 26 · Milestone: RIAA 2x Platinum, 2025
Danny Elfman composed, wrote and produced this opening number of the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas, where the residents of Halloween Town introduce their holiday-obsessed home. The soundtrack album came out on October 12, 1993.
The song took 30 years to reach the Hot 100. Credited to The Citizens of Halloween, it debuted at No. 41 on the chart dated November 11, 2023, and reached No. 26 on November 15, 2025. The RIAA certified it double Platinum on September 1, 2025, about six months after the soundtrack album went Platinum.
Spooky, Scary Skeletons (1996)
Artist: Andrew Gold · Released: 1996 · Hot 100 peak: Did not chart · Milestone: RIAA Platinum, 2025
Gold made it for his 1996 album Halloween Howls: Fun & Scary Music, one of nine original songs he wrote because he felt there were too few fun Halloween songs. He produced, mixed, sang and played every instrument on the record himself.
It never reached the Hot 100, where Gold’s biggest hit was “Lonely Boy” at No. 7 in 1977, but it found a second life as an internet meme in the 2010s. Random House published it as a children’s picture book in August 2024, and the RIAA certified it Platinum on June 10, 2025, almost 29 years after release.
Classic Rock Halloween Songs From 1967 to 1978
Witches, werewolves and the Grim Reaper all reached the Hot 100 in this stretch. These seven suit an adult party better than a classroom, and three of them have picked up new RIAA awards since 2016.
Spooky (1967)
Artist: Classics IV · Released: 1967 · Hot 100 peak: No. 3 · Milestone: Three straight weeks at No. 3, 1968
The song began as an instrumental by saxophonist Mike Sharpe. Songwriter J.R. Cobb and producer Buddy Buie added lyrics about a mysterious woman for Classics IV, with Dennis Yost singing, and an eerie whistle in the arrangement stands in for her.
Released in October 1967, the vocal version sat at No. 3 on the Hot 100 dated February 10, February 17 and February 24, 1968. It did even better in Canada, where it reached No. 1.
Bad Moon Rising (1969)
Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival · Released: 1969 · Hot 100 peak: No. 2 · Milestone: RIAA 2x Platinum, 2016
John Fogerty wrote it after watching the 1941 film The Devil and Daniel Webster, in which a hurricane destroys the crops on several farms but spares one. He has said he noticed the contrast between the apocalyptic words and the happy melody while the band was learning it. It was the lead single from the album Green River.
It peaked at No. 2 on June 28, 1969, held off by Henry Mancini’s “Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet”, and spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK that September. The RIAA certified it double Platinum on June 28, 2016, 47 years to the day after its US peak.
Black Magic Woman (1970)
Artist: Santana · Released: 1970 · Hot 100 peak: No. 4 · Milestone: Parent album Abraxas preserved by the Library of Congress, 2015
Peter Green wrote the song and first released it with Fleetwood Mac in 1968. Santana’s version, sung by Gregg Rolie, was the first single from the 1970 album Abraxas, and its chart run made it the better-known recording.
It reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 dated January 9, 1971, the week George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” held No. 1. Abraxas is certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA and was added to the National Recording Registry in 2015.
Witchy Woman (1972)
Artist: Eagles · Released: 1972 · Hot 100 peak: No. 9 · Milestone: Included on Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, RIAA 40x Platinum
Don Henley and Bernie Leadon wrote it, and Henley sings lead. He shaped its seductive enchantress while reading a biography of Zelda Fitzgerald during a bout of flu with a high fever. It was the second single from the band’s 1972 debut album, Eagles.
It peaked at No. 9 on the Hot 100 dated November 18, 1972. It is the second track on Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, which the Library of Congress added to its registry in 2016 and the RIAA certified 40 times Platinum in January 2026.
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper (1976)
Artist: Blue Öyster Cult · Released: 1976 · Hot 100 peak: No. 12 · Milestone: RIAA 6x Platinum, 2024
Guitarist Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser wrote and sang it for the 1976 album Agents of Fortune while picturing an early death for himself. The song deals with eternal love and the inevitability of death.
The edited single reached No. 12 on November 6, 1976, the band’s highest Hot 100 position. Its cowbell part inspired the April 2000 Saturday Night Live sketch “More Cowbell”, and the RIAA certified the song 6x Platinum on August 6, 2024.
Psycho Killer (1977)
Artist: Talking Heads · Released: 1977 · Hot 100 peak: No. 92 · Milestone: RIAA 2x Platinum, 2025
The band wrote it as a ballad before reworking it into the bass-driven new wave track on its debut album, Talking Heads: 77. The lyrics read like the thoughts of a serial killer.
It was the only song from that album to reach the Hot 100, peaking at No. 92 on March 11, 1978. Streaming has done far more for it than radio did: the RIAA certified it double Platinum on May 21, 2025.
Werewolves of London (1978)
Artist: Warren Zevon · Released: 1978 · Hot 100 peak: No. 21 · Milestone: Zevon’s only Top 40 hit
The song started as a 1975 joke from Phil Everly, who had watched the 1935 film Werewolf of London on TV. Zevon wrote it with LeRoy Marinell and Waddy Wachtel for his third album, Excitable Boy, with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie of Fleetwood Mac on drums and bass.
Asylum released it as a single in March 1978, and it peaked at No. 21 on May 13. Zevon’s only other Hot 100 entry, “A Certain Girl”, stopped at No. 57 in 1980. Excitable Boy was certified Platinum by the RIAA in 1997.
Halloween Pop Songs From Thriller to Bloody Mary
Pop gave Halloween its most certified single. Two of these five came out of Motown and Epic in the same winter, and the last one to chart needed a Netflix show to get there.
Thriller (1982)
Artist: Michael Jackson · Released: 1982 · Hot 100 peak: No. 4 · Milestone: RIAA Diamond single, 2022
Rod Temperton wrote it, Quincy Jones produced it and horror actor Vincent Price performs the spoken-word section. Released in the US in January 1984 as the seventh and final single from the album, it reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 dated March 3, 1984.
The RIAA certified the single Diamond on August 29, 2022. Its parent album, first on our ranking of the best-selling albums of all time, entered the National Recording Registry in 2008, and in 2009 the John Landis video became the first music video chosen for the National Film Registry. It was back at No. 10 on November 15, 2025.
Somebody’s Watching Me (1983)
Artist: Rockwell · Released: 1983 · Hot 100 peak: No. 2 · Milestone: RIAA Gold single, 1984
Rockwell is Kennedy Gordy, son of Motown founder Berry Gordy. His debut single features uncredited chorus vocals by Michael Jackson, with Jermaine Jackson on backing vocals.
It reached No. 2 on March 24, 1984, behind Van Halen’s “Jump”, the same month “Thriller” peaked. The RIAA certified it Gold on March 29, 1984, and it returned at No. 24 on the Hot 100 dated November 15, 2025.
Disturbia (2008)
Artist: Rihanna · Released: 2008 · Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (2 weeks) · Milestone: RIAA 7x Platinum
Chris Brown is one of its four writers, and it appeared on Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, the 2008 reissue of Rihanna’s third album. The lyrics deal with depression, anxiety and confusion, and the video puts her in a prison cell and a gas chamber.
It topped the Hot 100 dated August 23 and August 30, 2008, and in its first week at No. 1, Brown’s own “Forever” was right behind it at No. 2. It earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording and is certified 7x Platinum.
Bury a Friend (2019)
Artist: Billie Eilish · Released: 2019 · Hot 100 peak: No. 14 · Milestone: RIAA 3x Platinum, 2020
Eilish wrote it with producer Finneas O’Connell and sings it from the point of view of the monster under someone’s bed. A line from it gave her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, its title.
Released on January 30, 2019, it peaked at No. 14 on February 16, and Michael Chaves directed its horror-styled video. The RIAA certified it triple Platinum on April 2, 2020. The lyrics are dark and violent, so it belongs on a teen or adult playlist.
Bloody Mary (2011)
Artist: Lady Gaga · Released: 2011 · Hot 100 peak: No. 41 · Milestone: Hot 100 debut in January 2023
Gaga recorded it for her 2011 album Born This Way, writing it with Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow. Despite the title she sings as the biblical Mary Magdalene, and reviewers called the track gothic and spooky.
In 2022, fan recreations of Wednesday Addams’s dance from the Netflix series Wednesday, set to a sped-up version of the song, went viral on TikTok. It was sent to US pop radio in January 2023, entered the Hot 100 on January 14 and peaked at No. 41 that April.
The Halloween Music That Returns to the Hot 100 Every November
The Hot 100 counts streaming, airplay and sales, so the chart covering Halloween week now pulls the same records back every year. On the Hot 100 dated November 15, 2025, five songs from this list were in the top 26:
- No. 10: “Thriller”, Michael Jackson
- No. 21: “Monster Mash”, Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers
- No. 22: “Ghostbusters”, Ray Parker Jr.
- No. 24: “Somebody’s Watching Me”, Rockwell
- No. 26: “This Is Halloween”, The Citizens of Halloween
The same five appeared a year earlier. On the chart dated November 9, 2024, “Thriller” was No. 20, “Ghostbusters” No. 28, “Monster Mash” No. 30, “This Is Halloween” No. 38 and “Somebody’s Watching Me” No. 50.
Streams feed certifications too. Under the RIAA’s certification rules, 150 on-demand streams count as one download sale, a Platinum single needs 1 million units and Diamond needs 10 million. That is how recordings from the 1970s and 1990s keep collecting awards: “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” went 6x Platinum in 2024, and “Spooky, Scary Skeletons”, “Psycho Killer” and “This Is Halloween” were all certified in 2025.
How to Build a Halloween Playlist for Kids, Teens and Adults
Lyrics matter more than chart peaks when the guest list runs from preschoolers to grandparents. A simple split using the songs above:
- Young kids: “Monster Mash”, “Ghostbusters”, “This Is Halloween” and “Spooky, Scary Skeletons”, which already exists as a picture book.
- Teens: “Thriller”, “Disturbia”, “Bury a Friend” and “Bloody Mary”, the song behind the Wednesday dance trend.
- Adult parties: “Spooky”, “Bad Moon Rising”, “Black Magic Woman”, “Witchy Woman”, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”, “Werewolves of London” and “Psycho Killer”.
Check the words before a classroom or trick-or-treat playlist. “Bury a Friend” has dark, violent lyrics, “Psycho Killer” is written from a killer’s point of view and “Disturbia” is about depression and anxiety. If you are choosing a paid service to build the playlist on, our comparison of the best music streaming services covers what each one costs.
A costume theme can steer the order too. A Wednesday Addams costume, one of the picks in our best Halloween costumes guide, pairs with “Bloody Mary”, a skeleton jumpsuit with “Spooky, Scary Skeletons”, and a Ghost Face costume with the darker rock songs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the number one Halloween song of all time?
By chart history it is “Monster Mash”, No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated October 20 and October 27, 1962. By sales and streams it is Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, the only song here certified Diamond by the RIAA and the highest-placed song from this list on the Hot 100 dated November 15, 2025, at No. 10.
What are good Halloween songs for kids?
“Monster Mash”, “Ghostbusters”, “This Is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Andrew Gold’s “Spooky, Scary Skeletons” are about monsters and ghosts rather than violence. Random House turned “Spooky, Scary Skeletons” into a children’s picture book in 2024.
Who sings “Somebody’s Watching Me”?
Rockwell, the stage name of Kennedy Gordy, son of Motown founder Berry Gordy. Michael Jackson sings the chorus without a credit and Jermaine Jackson adds backing vocals. The song reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in March 1984.
Why do Halloween songs chart again every year?
The Hot 100 includes streaming, so the songs people play for Halloween parties come back on the chart covering Halloween week. Five songs from this list made the top 26 of the Hot 100 dated November 15, 2025, and the same five charted in November 2024.
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