The Blogtober 2026 Playlist

She has arrived–this year’s autumnal, spooky adjacent, ‘ber month soundtrack. This is the 11th installment of the Blogtober Playlist, and as per usual, it’s a mix of tunes that seemed to fit a certain vibe once grouped together, culled, and curated.

First, to address the portmanteau in the room: Blogtober is a movement that had much more a heyday in the aughts and early 2010s, when many of us ruled the Blogging Kingdom. The ultimate goal is 31 posts in 31 days, and some bloggers are still out there doing just that. My celebration has shrunk a bit, still offering up a brisker pace of content creation during my favorite month, but not usually reaching four-week proportions in terms of stand-alone posts.

The playlist, though…the playlist can’t stop. As years have marched on, it’s gotten a little bit more challenging to put together a series of tunes while avoiding repeats. A quick scan of the Blogtober Master List helps cross-check; it currently includes 195 songs, but it’s not a shuffle full of Purple People Eaters and Monster Mashes. There are a few campy romps, sure, but for the most part, these lists are mixes of deathly deep cuts to see you through the season.

This year, the women came out strong, especially in folky spaces: Sydney Leigh, Marianne Faithfull, girl in red, Eva Cassidy, and the inimitable Stevie Nicks are all hanging out at the coffeehouse together, and across the room, the more predominantly male table of The Vines, Graeme Revell, The Neighborhood, King Harvest, and The White Stripes are sharing a similar vibe. (Meg White can sit where she wants).

As has become custom, a few tracks have been added to cut against the grain; the trick is to find the ones that fit. This year, Nine Inch Nails, Joe Strummer, and Qveen Herby are those outliers, but I dare you to pair Herby’s Abracadabra with Flogging Molly’s Devil’s Dance Floor–you might discover a six-and-a-half minute banger you never knew could exist. A few other couplets and triplets of tuneage, should your commute be mercifully short, include Autumn Leaves and Crystal; Witches’ Song and Dead Souls, and Plastic College Red Devil Horns, Sweater Weather, and we fell in love in october.

Plus: A few of the songs that might have better luck next year include Drop Dead Gorgeous by Republica, In the House–In a Heartbeat by John Murphy, from the 28 Days Later soundtrack, and Bandages by Hot Hot Heat.