Your Halloween playlist: ‘Thriller,’ ‘Ghostbusters’ and more

Horror movies always get their due in the buildup to Halloween, and costumes and candy take center stage when the holiday arrives. So let’s hear it for the songs of Halloween, with their spooky choruses and winking references to the sinister occult.

A survey from Billboard finds that an unsurprising track is the most popular Halloween song of them all: Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” with 3.4 million in digital sales alone. Add in the song’s No. 4 peak on the Billboard Top 100 in 1984 and its revolutionary music video, and you have the undisputed king of Halloween music.

And of course there are the campy classics “Monster Mash,” from Bobby Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers and Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters,” both of which topped the charts in 1962 and 1984, respectively.

But beyond those well-known hits, there are still plenty of other songs perfectly suited to serve as the soundtrack to your Halloween. From Sufjan Stevens singing about a zombie uprising in Illinois to Outkast’s chronicling of Dracula’s pre-wedding anxiety, there are some underrated gems in the Halloween canon.

We picked those songs and more of our favorites for the L.A. Times Halloween playlist, which you can listen to below. And feel free to call for your own favorites to be added in the comments.