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Your Ultimate Halloween Playlist Is Here

Photo: Courtesy of Def Jam; Garpax; Epic; RCA Records.
In the spirit of trick-or-treat season, we at Spotify unearthed the songs listeners can’t get enough of on Halloween.
By honing in on the tracks that feature most frequently in our 600,000-plus Halloween-themed playlists, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” emerged as the overwhelming favorite. Around the globe, listeners stream MJ’s 1983 zombie romp in spectacularly high numbers on October 31 compared to every other day of the year.

Other top picks include “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Picket, “This is Halloween” by The Citizens of Halloween and “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t
Fear) The Reaper” is another oldie but goodie, according to listeners.

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In fact, you’ll notice these songs, awesome and eerie as they may be, are all classics. “Monster Mash” was recorded in 1962, and while “This Is Halloween” is the youngest of the
bunch, it was still released more than twenty years ago as part of the soundtrack to the film The Nightmare Before Christmas.

When it comes to Halloween, it seems listeners are perfectly happy with the old favorites and really, what choice do they have — popular artists aren’t exactly clamoring to crank out new material of the bone-shaking variety.
Hats off to Sting, who five years ago recorded a somewhat haunting version of “Soul Cake,” a ditty originating in the 1800s about a Christian practice of baking cakes to commemorate the souls of the dead. And, we haven't forgotten how Shakira howled at the moon in her song "She Wolf."

Last Halloween, several non-spooky songs featured prominently in Halloween party playlists, like Justin Timberlake’s “Take Back The Night,” Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop,” and Katy Perry’s “Roar.” A solid choices for 2014 might be Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow.”
For your musical fix on Friday night, look no further than this mix of popular picks per Spotify listeners, along with some less obvious choices below:

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