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Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish and more

Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish and more

2 minutes, 36 seconds Read

While Christmas gets the most love for Christmas music, it's not hard to put together a frighteningly good Halloween playlist. Before Mariah Carey thaws out, here are 12 tunes for your pumpkin pleasure.

Michael Jackson, “Thriller”

Michael Jackson inspired line dances around the world with his “Thriller” video. Alamy Stock Photo

Four decades later, he's still making ghouls dance in “Thriller” line dances around the world – and that Vincent Price rap remains, well, priceless.

Rockwell, “Someone's Watching Me”

Rockwell Alamy Stock Photo

Michael Jackson also sang guest vocals on this haunting 1983 hip-shaker that delivers all the eerie feels. The King of Pop had a Motown connection with Rockwell, the son of label founder Berry Gordy.

Ray Parker Jr., “Ghostbusters”

Ray Parker Jr. Michael Ochs archive

Somehow, after 40 years, they're still making Ghostbusters movies — hello, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire — and Parker's No. 1 hit isn't stopping either.

KC and the Sunshine Band, “I'm Your Boogie Man”

KC and the Sunshine Band Michael Ochs archive

On this 1977 chart-topper, KC was possessed by a disco demon who repeatedly brings hellfire to the dance floor.

Duran Duran, “Hungry as a Wolf”

Duran Duran Getty Images

Simon Le Bon and his wolf pack released a full-length Halloween album called Danse Macabre last year and released a deluxe version of the LP in September. (They'll also be bringing their “Danse Macabre” party to New York's Madison Square Garden on Halloween night.) Still, there's nothing better than them on the synth-pop foray of this 1982 hit.

TLC, “Creep”

TLC FilmMagic, Inc

TLC may have sung about a different kind of creeper on this No. 1 single from 1994's “CrazySexyCool,” but the devilish dive into the depths has never sounded funkier.

Lady Gaga, “Monsters”

Lady Gaga Getty Images

With the new single “Disease” and its accompanying video, she could be back in macabre mode. But “Mother Monster” really took us to the edge of bloody singing as she sang about having her heart eaten with a killer beat in this Slayer from 2009's “The Fame Monster.”

Billie Eilish, “Bury a Friend”

Billie Eilish Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation

The spooky-cool sounds of Eilish's 2019 single are goth-pop gold. But what's really scary is how sick she was at just 17 years old.

Beyoncé, “Haunted”

Beyonce Getty Images

Queen Bey channels the spirit of Madonna's “Justify My Love” with some dark electro-soul from her surprise self-titled album that was a game-changer in 2013.

Olivia Rodrigo, “Vampire”

Olivia Rodrigo Billboard via Getty Images

The 21-year-old singer sinks her own fangs into this piano ballad, driving a stake through the “bloodsucker” that broke her heart on this 2023 No. 1 hit.

The Cranberries, “Zombie”

The cranberries Getty Images

Even the walking dead would get their life from the stirring late Dolores O'Riordan. But this alternative rock classic from 1994 is actually a protest song about a real horror: bombings in the Northern Ireland conflict that killed young people.

The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”

The Rolling Stones Redferns

Mick Jagger as a fluttering Satan? “Nature” meets “wild” in this evil epic from 1968’s “Beggars Banquet.”

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