Ah, Halloween—my favorite holiday of the year! Yep, that’s right! I’ll take it any day over the rest. Maybe it’s the artist in me, but I live for crafting intricate jack-o’-lanterns, designing the perfect costume, and spending hours researching spooky makeup ideas. The possibilities are endless.
Plus, it’s the one day of the year when you can let your inner goblin or ghoul come out and play without judgment! Want to be a wicked witch? A haunting vampire? Maybe even dress up your dog as a tiny dinosaur? Go for it! Halloween is the one day where everyone can get a little weird and wild—and suffer no real consequences… well, unless you get too creative with the candy!
Even better, it’s the perfect excuse to shake things up in your indoor cycling classes. I’ve noticed that even those who normally avoid theme rides often get into the spirit of Halloween. It’s like permission to turn up the energy and go a little wild with music and costumes!
I know I’m not alone in my excitement, as we’ve seen plenty of photos of you and your classes having a hauntingly good time!
If you’re looking for more than just a spooky soundtrack, we’ve got you covered. Our 11 Halloween profiles are fully crafted rides, many of which follow stories with their own protagonists, each one weaving its own eerie tale. The soundtracks for these rides were carefully selected to match the mood and theme of each narrative, immersing your class in a Halloween experience they won’t forget.
However, if you love the thrill of crafting your own perfectly eerie profile and playlist, then our Halloween bucket playlist is your go-to. It’s full of musical staples, but we’ve dug up some deep cuts too—so you won’t be stuck with the same old “Thriller” or “Ghostbusters” (though, of course, we’ve included those as well). I promise you’ll discover something that will give your ride the perfect eerie edge.
Jennifer has been building her Halloween playlist since she first started teaching in 1996, and the ICA team has been adding to it for the last decade. Now it’s grown into a monstrous collection of more than 500 songs. And due to popular demand, we’ve made it easier for you to summon just the right tunes for your Halloween theme ride. We’ve created several new bucket playlists that sort songs by theme:
- DEVIL (~130 songs)
- HELL (~110 songs)
- GHOSTS (~120 tracks)
- EVIL/WICKED (~45 songs)
- MONSTERS/DEMONS/ZOMBIES/DINOSAURS (~240 songs…yes, even dinosaurs can be terrifying!)
With over 1,000 combined tracks to choose from, it’s a Halloween goldmine of eerie, sinister, and spine-chilling tunes.
Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of songs? No problem! Here’s a quick tip: in the weeks leading up to Halloween, create a temporary playlist called “HALLOWEEN DUMP FILE.” As you browse through the playlists, drag and drop any song that catches your attention. You can start with our profile playlists to get a sense of which songs have already been tried and tested. Once you’ve gathered a mix of tempos and moods (for warm-ups, climbs, attacks, high-cadence efforts, recoveries, and cool-downs), you’ll have a less-daunting treasure trove to pull from when building your perfect class playlist. It’s like trick-or-treating for music—without the candy hangover!
Here are a few spellbinding tracks to get you started:
Run for Your Life, K. Flay, 3:21, 128 bpm
Looking to take your riders on a wild ride through hell? This track is an absolute must-have for setting a fiery, high-energy tone.
Run, AWOLNATION, 4:01, 138 bpm
“Run” is a spine-tingling journey that will have your heart racing and your adrenaline pumping. The song’s eerie intensity reaches its peak at 2:11 when Aaron Bruno’s haunting voice commands you to “run,” driving you to pedal like your life depends on it. Strangely, the song ends with a mundane voicemail at 3:35. The juxtaposition of this ordinary message against the backdrop of a song filled with threats and urgency creates a sense of unease. You can choose to embrace this unsettling moment, or, if you prefer, skip ahead to the next song. I use the full track in my newest profile “Welcome to Your Nightmare,” in which the protagonist in the story wakes up to the answering machine with a sense of relief from his series of nightmares…that is until he remembers he doesn’t own an answering machine!
Witching Hour, In This Moment, 4:09, 153 bpm
Let your inner witch shine with this powerful, eerie track. Bonus: you’ll probably be the only instructor you know using it—unless your friends are ICA members too!
I Put a Spell On You, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, 2:24, 116 bpm
Cast a spell on your riders with this classic, perfect for a recovery. That cackle at the end? Chills every time.
ICA members can access our six spooky bucket playlists below. And that’s just the beginning! We’ve also curated two more Halloween-themed buckets: CANDY and SWEET. Your Halloween ride just got a whole lot more delicious.
Six Spooky Spotify Halloween Bucket Playlists:
HI!
I was listening to Canadian radio and they were playing Soul Dracula by Hot Blood that I added to my Halloween playlist. I did not see it on this list so ..one more!