Best Karaoke Songs
The best karaoke songs sit inside an average vocal range, have a chorus the room can take over, and give you something to do between choruses. "Mr. Brightside", "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Valerie" are the three safest picks in any bar on earth.
Picked for what happens in the room, not for what sounds best on record. A karaoke song is judged entirely by how many people join in on the second chorus.
If you only play one
The Killers - Mr. Brightside (2004)
It survives a bad singer better than anything else in the book, because the room takes it over by the second line.
Filter
Clean and explicit are Spotify's own markings on the track, not our judgement, so the flag matches what a school or club system will see.
- 01
The Killers - Mr. Brightside
2004
Nobody needs the screen. The verses sit in a narrow range so any voice survives them, and the room takes over at "jealousy" whether you wanted help or not.
Clean - 02
Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
1981
Genuinely difficult to sing and it does not matter. The chorus arrives three and a half minutes in, by which point the entire bar is carrying it for you.
Clean - 03
Mark Ronson - Valerie
2007
The Amy Winehouse version, which is the one everyone knows. Mid-tempo, conversational, and forgiving of a voice that has not warmed up yet.
Clean - 04
ABBA - Dancing Queen
1976
The only song here that works equally well sung badly by one person or shouted by nine. The key is high, so drop the octave and let the room take the top line.
Clean - 05
Bon Jovi - Livin' on a Prayer
1986
The key change is a trap and everyone walks into it anyway. Worth it: nothing else gets a room pointing at each other quite like the last chorus.
Clean - 06
Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance with Somebody
1987
A warning as much as a recommendation. Do not attempt the runs. Sung straight it is the most joyful four minutes available in a karaoke bar.
Clean - 07
Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way
1999
Built for four people who cannot sing, which is the ideal karaoke condition. The lyrics make no sense and the room has never once cared.
Clean - 08
Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time
1998
Almost entirely delivered in a low, half-spoken register, so it is one of the easiest big pop songs here. The recognition on the first piano stab does the rest.
Clean - 09
Outkast - Ms. Jackson
2000
The best rap option for a group: the hook is easy and the verses split cleanly between two people. Andre's verse is the one to claim.
Explicit - 10
Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know
1995
For when the point is not singing. The melody is barely a melody, the delivery is everything, and nobody has ever left this song feeling worse.
Explicit - 11
Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
2004
The chorus is one held note away from unsingable, which is exactly why a room joins in to help. Max Martin built it to be shouted rather than sung.
Clean - 12
Robyn - Dancing On My Own
2010
The one that turns a bar into a moment. Emotional enough to justify a rough performance, which takes all the pressure off the singing.
Clean - 13
Toto - Africa
1982
Everyone knows the chorus and nobody knows the verses, so it does exactly what a karaoke track needs to: build towards a payoff the room already owns.
Clean - 14
Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline
1969
The three-note answer in the chorus is the most reliable audience participation in recorded music. You are not really singing, you are conducting.
Clean - 15
Frank Sinatra - My Way
1969
The closer. Slow, low and impossible to rush, so a tired voice at 1am handles it better than anything up-tempo.
Clean
Settle it properly
Lists are one person's opinion. Put the same question to your friends instead. Everyone submits their answer to
"Song You'd Crush at Karaoke"
and the room votes blind on whose pick was best. Free, no account, about four minutes.
Start the BattleWhat makes a karaoke song work
Three things, and none of them is whether the song is good. First, range. Anything spanning more than about an octave and a half will expose an untrained voice inside two lines, which is why the biggest vocal performances make the worst karaoke.
Second, universal knowledge of the chorus. The moment the room joins in is the moment you stop being watched, so a hook that is common property does half the work for you.
Third, momentum. Long instrumental gaps are the enemy. A song that leaves you standing there for eight bars with nothing to do is where confidence goes to die.
Songs to avoid
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is the classic mistake. Six minutes, four sections, an opera passage nobody can cover, and a room that has lost interest by minute three. It works in a car and fails on a stage.
"Hallelujah" and "Creep" both look easy on paper and are not. Both live or die on control at low volume, which is the one thing a bad PA and a talking crowd will never give you.
Anything released in the last three months is a trap too. Karaoke runs on shared memory, and a song the room does not know is a solo performance whether you wanted one or not.
Best Karaoke Songs, answered
What is the best karaoke song for someone who cannot sing?
"Mr. Brightside" by The Killers. The verses stay inside a narrow range, the delivery is closer to shouting than singing, and the crowd takes the chorus. "Sweet Caroline" works for the same reasons.
What should you not sing at karaoke?
Anything that depends on vocal control at low volume ("Hallelujah", "Creep"), anything over five minutes ("Bohemian Rhapsody"), and anything released too recently for the room to know the chorus.
What is a good karaoke song for a group?
"I Want It That Way" splits neatly between four people, "Ms. Jackson" between two, and "Don't Stop Believin'" needs a crowd anyway. Group songs beat solos when nobody in the group can actually sing.
More lists like this
This list came from our Wildcard prompts. Browse all song lists or the full prompt library.
Landed here searching for the aux wars rules? Same game, same rules, and best karaoke songs work in it the same way. Start at the aux battle definition, then setting up your first round, and all 16 aux battle categories for what else you can theme one on. After that, try Spotify party games.