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What to sing Group karaoke songs
A group song works when everyone has something to do — a part to take, a shouted line, a dance the room already knows. It fails when one confident person sings and everyone else holds a drink and waits.
Birthdays, bachelorette parties and work nights share a problem: a crowd of people with very different nerves around one microphone. Pick songs with parts to hand out, or a chorus so loud that whoever holds the mic stops mattering. The quiet colleague will sing a chorus they know by heart. They will not take a verse alone.
Start big and familiar, save the dramatic one for later, and finish on something everybody knows every word of. Where a song splits naturally, each pick says how. For just the two of you, the duets page goes deeper.
Parts to hand out
Songs with parts to hand out
Built for more than one voice, so the confident ones take verses and everyone else takes the chorus.
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Wannabe
Spice GirlsMade for a gang of friends from the first shouted line, with enough separate parts that nobody sings all of it.
Hand out a part each; the fast middle rap goes to whoever volunteers.
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Love Shack
The B-52'sHalf-shouted, half-sung, and the sudden stop near the end, with the shout that follows, is the best moment in any group performance.
One voice takes the talky lead, the rest take the sung lines; everyone on the title.
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Summer Nights
John Travolta & Olivia Newton-JohnTwo sides of the same story, told to two cheering sections, so the whole table has a part.
Two leads trade verses; everyone else splits into two sides for the backing questions.
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No Scrubs
TLCThe chorus is short, sits in the middle and is sung with a raised eyebrow; everyone at the table will know it.
Split the verses; everyone on the chorus.
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Lady Marmalade
Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & PinkMade for several big voices trading verses, so nobody carries it, and everybody knows the French bit.
Hand out the verses and the rap; everyone takes the French line together.
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Proud Mary
Tina TurnerThe slow start is the tease and the fast half is the party, and the whole room knows exactly when the switch comes.
One voice does the slow spoken opening; everyone comes in when it speeds up.
Moves included
Songs with moves the room already knows
Nobody needs to sing well when everybody knows what to do with their arms.
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Y.M.C.A.
Village PeopleNobody needs to sing it well; everybody needs to know the arm moves, and they do.
One voice on the verses; everyone spells the title with their arms.
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Shout
The Isley BrothersCall and answer all the way through, and the quiet stretch has the whole room crouching down, then jumping back up.
One voice leads, everyone answers, and everyone gets low when it goes quiet.
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Bye Bye Bye
*NSYNCSomeone at every party still knows the dance, and they will teach the rest on the spot.
Pass the verses around; everyone does the hand move on the title.
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Everybody (Backstreet's Back)
Backstreet BoysThe song leaves gaps for the room to answer, and someone always remembers the dance from the video.
Verses pass down the line; everyone answers in the gaps.
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Time Warp
The Rocky Horror Picture ShowThe song tells the room what to do with its feet, so even the shy ones end up in it.
One voice takes the narrator's spoken lines; everyone does the steps the song calls out.
Birthdays
Birthdays and big nights
Songs that announce a celebration, for the part of the night when the whole table is up.
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Celebration
Kool & The GangMade for exactly this: the chorus is the reason you are all there, and it comes round constantly.
One voice keeps the verses going; everyone on the chorus.
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Birthday
The BeatlesA birthday song that is not the birthday song, loud and done in under three minutes.
Two voices trade the verses; everyone shouts the parts in between.
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September
Earth, Wind & FireThe wordless part of the chorus is the easiest singing on this page, and the room already knows it.
Everyone on the chorus; the verses go to whoever knows them.
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Uptown Funk
Mark Ronson & Bruno MarsMostly rhythm and swagger, with shouted lines anyone can throw in, and nobody needs a tune until the chorus.
One voice takes the verses; the group takes the shouted lines.
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I Gotta Feeling
The Black Eyed PeasSlow to build and easy to join, and it promises a good night, which is the right thing to sing at the start of one.
Everyone on the chorus; one voice takes the run through the days of the week.
Work nights
Songs for a work outing
Songs about the thing everyone at the table has in common, and none of them makes anyone sing alone.
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9 to 5
Dolly PartonWritten about the job you all share, and sung at a trot the whole team can keep.
Everyone on the chorus; the verses go to whoever is brave.
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Working for the Weekend
LoverboyThe chorus is the whole mood of the room, and the verses are short and low-stakes.
One voice on the verses; everyone on the title line.
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Takin' Care of Business
Bachman-Turner OverdriveA title the whole office can shout, and a plain, talky verse for whoever draws the short straw.
One voice on the verses; everyone on the title, every time.
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Take This Job and Shove It
Johnny PaycheckShort and low, and a risky choice with the boss in the room, which is exactly why somebody will request it.
Everyone on the title line.
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Friday I'm in Love
The CureBright and simple, sitting in the middle, and it works best on an actual Friday.
Everyone on the chorus; the verses are a walk through the week that anyone can follow.
Finding your songs in a crowd
Group nights are where you find out which songs are yours: the chorus you sang louder than anyone, the verse you took because nobody else would. KaraokeList keeps them. Tag a song Fun if the room loved it, Skill if you could carry it alone, and star the night while you still remember it.
Each song gets one question afterwards — Too high, Just right or Too low — quick enough to answer between rounds, and it adds up to a picture of where your voice sits.
When the table asks what you are singing next, consult the crystal ball. It suggests songs you don't have yet, each with a one-line reason, and a reading can be guided: type what the night calls for, like something the whole table can sing.
Questions
What are good group karaoke songs?
Songs where everyone has a job. Love Shack and Summer Nights split into parts, Y.M.C.A. and Shout come with moves the room already knows, and Celebration hands everyone the chorus.
What should we sing at a bachelorette party karaoke?
Songs with parts to hand out and a chorus everyone knows: Wannabe, No Scrubs, Lady Marmalade and Proud Mary. Save the slow ballad for whoever asked for the microphone first.
What are good karaoke songs for a work party?
Songs about work that nobody has to sing alone: 9 to 5, Working for the Weekend and Takin' Care of Business. Take This Job and Shove It is funnier and riskier, depending on who is in the room.
What is a good birthday karaoke song?
Birthday by The Beatles and Celebration by Kool & The Gang are made for it, and September is the one everybody already knows. Let the birthday person pick the first song of the night.
Know what you’re singing before you’re called.
KaraokeList keeps every karaoke song you can actually pull off — and when the list runs dry, it finds you new ones, each with a reason.
