The Official Dungeon Crawler Carl Playlist (Every Song Referenced In The Books)

Published Oct 20, 2026, 9:56 AM EDT

Nicholas Becher is a gaming journalist with an MFA in Creative Writing from FAU. With extensive experience playing video games, he covers all forms of gaming content at Screen Rant, from breaking news to the latest fan theories. Most-played games range from Clair Obscur to Civ to Elden Ring to Halo 2 and beyond. 

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While Dungeon Crawler Carl is best known for its extremely original take on the LitRPG genre and beloved characters like Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk, Mongo the adorable pet Velociraptor, Samantha, etc., each of Matt Dinniman's eight existing books feature an incredible "soundtrack" of sorts that take the experience to the next level.

The following is a collection of all the major music references made throughout the first half of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, broken down for every book. While there are definitely a range of iconic songs mentioned in books like The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook, not every book references specific songs from the "real world."

However, Dinniman often includes distinct descriptions of the type of music that's playing in the World Dungeon, which we've used to approximate songs below. In these instances, the associated description is also provided as a point of reference, though the suggested song is merely a recommendation and various other entries would be appropriate as well.

Book 1: Dungeon Crawler Carl

In the first Dungeon Crawler Carl book, we don't get many song references with exact titles, but there are a handful of very specific descriptions that we can definitely approximate. We do get our first indication that Princess Donut is an Oasis fan though, and "Live Forever" feels like a perfectly bittersweet and ironically titled track to round out Book 1.

Fortune Days - The Glitch Mob	"Music started playing . . . It was odd, disjointed. It was like a harp playing with distortion with a heavy beat under it." Chapter 11
Mariachi - Valeron	"Music swelled, sounding almost like mariachi with an EDM beat." - Chapter 14
Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites - Skrillex	"This was different music than usual. Faster, more frenetic. An EDM beat mixed by a DJ hopped up on Adderall. A deep bass reverberated off the ground." - Chapter 26
Hammer Smashed Face - Cannibal Corpse	"Heavy, thrumming metal music blasted through the halls. It was a cacophony of sound with growling, deep vocals and guitars that were almost seizure-like. I couldn't tell if the vocalist was singing in English, or if he was even human at all. The words sounded like deeply distorted barking." - Chapter 45
Live Forever - Oasis	"THIS MUSIC IS MAKING MY HEAD HURT. WHY CAN'T THEY PLAY SOMETHING GOOD? LIKE OASIS." - Chapter 45

Book 2: Carl's Doomsday Scenario

Carl's Doomsday Scenario takes us to the extremely creepy Grimaldi's Traveling Circus, and yet again we don't get very many specific mentions. That said, there are four important musical moments represented by the following tracks.

Calliope - Nox Arcana	"...the distant whisper of a calliope playing slow and haunting circus music." - Chapter 3
Free Falling - Tom Petty	"And I'm freeeee! Freeee Balllling!" - Chapter 13
Like a Bitch - Zomboy	"Pounding dubstep filled the nightclub." - Chapter 15
O felix apparicio - Hildegrad von Bingen	"The large cobra was in an opulent dining room, singing a cappella in a hauntingly sad soprano voice." - Chapter 20

Book 3: The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook is where the bangers really kick on thanks to Carl's trap "Alarm Module" indicator, which selects "a random, culturally important song from the past US Billboard Hot 100" and plays it at Norwegian Black Metal-levels through the tunnels of the Iron Tangle. Probably one of Dinniman's most ingenious and hilarious gimmicks in the series so far, Book 3 features songs like "Fergalicious" and the theme song for the Def Leppard cart, "Rock of Ages."

Freezing Moon - Mayhem	"Norwegian Black Metal loud." - Chapter 1
Fergalicious - Fergie	"Peaking at Number 2 on January 13, 2007, it's 'Fergalicious!'" - Chapter 1
How Deep Is Your Love - The Bee Gees	"A bizarelly long sequence of a beat-up John Travolta riding the subway from the movie Saturday Night Fever while the Bee Gees played in the background." - Chapter 3
The Price Is Right Theme Song - Edd Kalehoff	"It was cheesy 1970s-style game show music with trumpets and keyboards and percussion music in a disco beat." - Chapter 7
Glory Box - Portishead	"It was replaced with a sultry, jazzlike song being played over a loudspeaker. The music was a mix of voice and free-form synth." - Chapter 9
Wonderwall - Oasis	"It'll be 'Wonderwall'! I just know it,' Donut shouted... 'It's the greatest song of all time!'" - Chapter 27
Physical - Olivia Newton-John	"Peaking at Number 1 on November 21, 1981, it's 'Physical!'" - Chapter 27
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor	"I had one gold on 'Eye of the Tiger." - Chapter 27
Mack the Knife - Bobby Darin	"'Mack the Knife' for the grullo line." - Chapter 28
Rock of Ages - Def Leppard	"...this one playing 'Rock of Ages' by Def Leppard." - Chapter 28
Demiurge - Meshuggah	"Music started to pulse. This was heavy metal. A deep, pulsing, bass-driven chugga-chugga-chugga." - Chapter 33

Book 4: The Gate Of The Feral Gods

While not quite as packed with Billboard hits as Book 3, The Gate of the Feral Gods has some really intense music-based scenes and a handful of hilarious shouts. From Toy Story's iconic Randy Newman jam to Lil Pump, Book 3 arguably has the widest-ranging selection of tracks.

Raindrops at Night by the Window - Haiqiong Deng	"Quiet music wafted through the large L-shaped room. I saw it was a young, teenage changeling playing a stringed instrument that was like a square-shaped guitar. The music was subtle, but haunting. It had kind of an Asian vibe." - Chapter 3
The Host of Seraphim - Dead Can Dance	"Haunting, eerie music started to play, echoing across the desert." - Chapter 9
You Got A Friend In Me - Randy Newman	"On the screen, the movie was the original Toy Story." - Chapter 10
Krigsgaldr - Heilung	"The music was different than usual. It was slow and haunting, but with a distant, steady beat. A chink, chink, chink, almost like a hammer slowly beating an anvil." - Chapter 16
Jump Around - House of Pain	"Peaking at Number 3 on October 10th, 1992, it's 'Jump Around!'" - Chapter 22
Boss - Lil Pump	"IS THIS SERIOUSLY THE ONLY BASS-HEAVY SONG YOU COULD THINK OF? WHAT ABOUT LIL PUMP?" - Chapter 22
Machine Gun (16 Bit Remix) - Noisia	"This was pure, deep dubstep growl punctuated by high-pitch, ear-piercing glitches that sounded like whale song. It gave the sense of overwhelming, frenetic panic." - Chapter 26
Space Jam - Quad City DJ's	"...no longer paying attention to the movie on the screen, which appeared to be the original Space Jam." - Chapter 28
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded - Johann Sebastian Bach	An organ played hymnal music as this first achievement appeared." - Chapter 32

Book 5: The Butcher's Masquerade

The sixth floor holds a load of surprises for Carl and Donut, and also some unexpected bangers, particularly Donut and Mongo's showstopping performance for "Anaconda," where Mongo gets to show off his sick moonwalking skills. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for the live-action show to hear Donut sing Bea's famous drunken melody, "All Eyes on Me."

Theme From "The A-Team" - Mike Post and Pete Carpenter	"She hummed the theme to the A-Team. 'Carl, I think I've figured out the melody I'm going to use for my Standing Ovation spell.'" - Chapter 3
Respect - Aretha Franklin	"...dozens of different songs blasted into the night. I heard everything from Aretha Franklin to ZZ Top." - Chapter 5
Sleeping Bag - ZZ Top	See above.
Kickstart My Heart - Mötley Crüe	"Peaking at Number 27 on January 27, 1990, it's 'Kickstart My Heart!'" - Chapter 5
Give It Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers	"I placed an alarm trap. It'd play 'Give It Away' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers." - Chapter 11
Ballroom Blitz - Sweet	"Peaking at Number Five on October 18th, 1975, it's 'Ballroom Blitz!'" - Chapter 35
It Began In Afrika - The Chemical Brothers	"Pulsing EDM music started to play, pounding over the rain.... Monkey-screeching sounds and bongos punctuated the electronic squeal of the music." - Chapter 46
Someone Like You - Adele	"If Taylor Swift or Adele can profit off of heartache, I'm quite certain I can as well. It'll make for a good song." - Chapter 52
All Too Well (10 Min Version) - Taylor Swift	See above.
Footloose - Kenny Loggins	"This is Footloose, not one of your Rambo movies." - Chapter 52
Anaconda - Nicki Minaj and Sir Mix-a-Lot	"Topping out at Number Two on September 6th, 2014, it's 'Anaconda!'" - Chapter 70
Die Young - Ke$ha	"THAT WAS LOW-KEY CARL.... THIS WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO MY KE$HA ACT MISS BEATRICE AND I PERFORMED IN CLEVELEAND." - Chapter 70
Thunderstruck - AC/DC	"Out of nowhere, AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck' started playing... The damn AI was using it as boss music." - Chapter 76

Book 6: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Once again, there's no shortage of tracks from Book 6, this time featuring a huge range of both hilarious and unexpected references. Dancing otters, male strippers getting down to Christmas music, blast-beat death metal from Cattle Decapitation—The Eye of the Bedlam Bride's soundtrack is as wild and random as Carl and Donut's adventure itself.

Spongebob Squarepants Theme Song - Mark Harrison and Blaise Smith	"You look like a knock-off version of that starfish guy from that Krusty Krab cartoon, but with only one eye. Great, now I’m going to get the theme song stuck in my head." - Chapter 2
Bring Back The Plague - Cattle Decapitation	"Has the same effect as wearing a shirt for the band Cattle Decapitation to church." - Chapter 3
Up Down (Do This All Day) - T-Pain	"With the advent of the real-time vocal synthesizer, underprivileged youths such as T-Pain, Kayne, and Ke$ha were finally able to crawl out from underneath their ordinary lives and become the shining stars they were destined to be." - Chapter 11
Believe - Cher	"At the same time, aging musicians, cough like Cher, were able to keep their stars aloft just a little longer, proving once and for all that nothing, not even the lack of natural talent, could stop the upward momentum of technology." - Chapter 11
The Mountain - Trans-Siberian Orchestra	"The music was an orchestral mix of distorted heavy guitars and keyboards. After a moment, I realized it was a bombastic version of the classical song In the Hall of the Mountain King. It sounded like something that heavy metal Christmas band, Trans-Siberian Orchestra would play." - Chapter 15
CHIHIRO - Billie Eilish	"The deep bass of a somewhat familiar Billie Eilish song pounded, drowning out the techno from the dance club behind me." - Chapter 23
Girl Money - Kix	"Above, some sort of otter thing was gyrating up on the platform while a song, apparently called “Girl Money,” blasted." - Chapter 23
Material Girl - Madonna	"Topping at number two on March 23rd, 1985, it’s 'Material Girl!'" - Chapter 32
BANG YOUR HEAD - DJ Diesel	"YOU EVEN HIRED DOCTOR BONES. HE’S THE BEST DJ SINCE DJ DIESEL." - Chapter 34
Psycho - Muse	"As I pulled up the menu, the heavy guitar riff rose in volume. This wasn’t just entrance music, but an actual song. “Psycho” by Muse. I only recognized it because my friend Sam would never stop listening to this album." - Chapter 42
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer - Elmo & Patsy	"The male strippers were all here, too, wandering about holding red cups. One of them—Author Steve Rowland—was slow dancing with Britney despite the music, which was currently “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." - Chapter 48
The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) - Alvin & The Chipmunks	"Someone had dragged the Bluetooth speaker all the way to the open door, and it was blasting an Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas song." - Chapter 49
Conga! - Gloria Estefan	"Each ad or catalog featured stacks and stacks of today’s hottest music, from Hall and Oates to ABBA to my personal favorite, Gloria Estefan." - Chapter 56
I Want It That Way - Backstreet Boys	"We set off those teleports and a goddamned alarm trap that I had to pull into my inventory because it wouldn’t shut up. It was playing a Backstreet Boys song." - Chapter 57

Book 7: This Inevitable Ruin

Unsurprisingly, Oasis makes the list yet again seeing as Donut is a huge fan, this time with their 1995 hit "Don't Look Back in Anger." Also, the fact Dinniman references this super weird and obscure King Missile song is equal parts hilarious, worrisome, unsurprising, and completely out of left field. And no playlist can call itself complete without a little Limp Bizkit.

Holy Diver - Dio	"You’ve received a cassette copy of Dio’s 1983 masterpiece debut, Holy Diver." - Chapter 2
Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis	"Do you know the song 'Don’t Look Back in Anger' by Oasis?" - Chapter 8
Killing In the Name - Rage Against the Machine	"Peaking at Number 3 on June 20, 2020..." - Chapter 23
Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	"This was by someone named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart." - Chapter 34
Adore You - Harry Styles	"For music, maybe 'Adore You' by Harry Styles." - Chapter 43
Holy Wars... The Punishment Due - Megadeth	"It's 'Holy Wars... The Punishment Due.' ... "I wasn’t familiar with this song, which was by the band Megadeth" - Chapter 55
Lollipop - Lil Wayne	"MY FRIEND LIL WAYNE WROTE IT. IT’S ABOUT WIENERS... 'Topping at number one on May 3rd, 2008, it's 'Lollipop!'" - Chapter 67
Detachable P*nis - King Missile	"Outside, the song changed. I missed the title, but it was a guy talk-singing about a detachable p*nis." - Chapter 67
Break Stuff - Limp Bizkit	"The song was 'Break Stuff' by Limp Bizkit." - Chapter 76

Book 8: A Parade Of Terribles

Karaoke time! Book 8 gives us a massive range of great songs thanks to Carl and Donut's eclectic tastes and their experiences at the Lollipop Karaoke Bar. A Parade of Horribles probably could get its own separate playlist given the sheer number of songs referenced throughout the sprawling book, with over 20 different tracks throughout the novel.

Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode	"It’s like what would happen if Orren ever discovered Depeche Mode." - Chapter 7
Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple	"I recognized it as ‘Smoke on the Water’ from Deep Purple." - Chapter 12
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd	"From the garage, the song 'Free Bird' from Lynyrd Skynyrd played." - Chapter 13
Tell It to My Heart - Taylor Dayne	"That was 'Tell It to My Heart' by Taylor Dayne." - Chapter 15
Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears	"You're up next, singing 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World.'" - Chapter 15
Tarzan Boy - Baltimora	"I signed up to sing 'Tarzan Boy' by Baltimora!" - Chapter 15
Friends - Elton John	"It was an Elton John song, and it was loud enough to hear over the rain." - Chapter 18
Black and White - Three Dog Night	"The song 'Black and White' by Three Dog Night blared from the bugbear van." - Chapter 18
Dragula - Rob Zombie	"It was a car-racing song about witches and ditches." - Chapter 31
Fame - Irene Cara	"The jukebox was playing that ‘Fame’ song from the movie." - Chapter 37
Careless Whisper - George Michael	"The red Oni creature was onstage belting out 'Careless Whisper' by George Michael." - Chapter 39
White Wedding - Billy Idol	"That was 'White Wedding' as sung by the Minister of Blood-Letting." - Chapter 39
Love Shack - B-52s	"Next up is Tipid singing 'Love Shack' by the B-52s." - Chapter 39
My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion	"Celine Dion! What about Celine Dion?" - Chapter 39
Mother, Father - Journey	"She'd picked a Journey song, and she had not engaged her Auto-Tune." - Chapter 40
In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins	“I will be performing ‘In the Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins.” - Chapter 53
Cruel Summer - Bananarama	"Dekoki was singing 'Cruel Summer' by Bananarama." - Chapter 54
Take on Me - A-ha	"Singing 'Take on Me' by A-ha, it's Princess Donut and Carl!" - Chapter 56
Have You Ever Seen The Rain? - Creedence Clearwater Revival	"Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain?' started to play." - Chapter 72
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor - Beethoven	"I didn’t know the name of the piece, but it was from Beethoven." - Chapter 77

The Full Dungeon Crawler Carl Playlist (Part 1)

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The full DCC playlist includes one of the oddest mixes of music I've ever seen in one collection, which seems appropriate given the strangeness of the books themselves. It isn't every day you find a list of songs featuring Fergie, Cannibal Corpse, Phil Collins, Bach, and Limp Bizkit all in one place, but here we are. The full playlist comes in at just over 80 tracks, and you can listen to them at the Spotify link here if you want to make things easy on yourself.

With Book 9 of Dungeon Crawler Carl on the way, which will be split across two separate volumes, there's sure to be even more great music on the way. With over five hours of music to keep readers busy in the meantime, not to mention a new roleplaying game and deck-building tabletop game on the way, the next installment of Matt Dinniman's hugely popular universe will be here before we know it.

Dungeon Crawler Carl