Halloween Songs Scare Up Chart Gains, Led by Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’
The song returns to the Hot 100 at No. 44.
Halloween yet again sparked sales and streaming gains for several spooky tunes, led by Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller,” which returns to the Billboard Hot 100 dated Nov. 9 at No. 44.
The song originally reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 in March 1984.
It’s the second straight year that “Thriller” has risen to return to the Hot 100, where older titles can appear if in the top 50 and showing a meaningful reason for their revivals. In 2018, the song returned at No. 31.
“Thriller” soared by 200% to 9,000 sold and by 136% to 13.3 million U.S. streams in the Oct. 25-31 tracking week, according to Nielsen Music. Those metrics spur the track’s return to both Digital Song Sales (No. 11) and Streaming Songs (No. 44).
Jackson’s classic isn’t the top-selling Halloween song of the week, however. That distinction belongs to Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers’ “Monster Mash,” which leaps onto Digital Song Sales at No. 10 with 10,000 in sales (up 253%) while garnering 6.7 million streams (up 312%).
“Monster Mash” hits No. 10 for a second straight year on Digital Song Sales. It was a initially a graveyard, and Hot 100, smash in 1962, when it led the list for two weeks that October.
Ray Parker Jr.‘s “Ghostbusters” is the third-best-selling Halloween song of the week (6,000, up 190%), while Danny Elfman‘s “This Is Halloween” (5,000, up 163%) and John Carpenter‘s “Halloween,” the theme to the 1978 film of the same name (3,000, up 155%), round out the top five.
Streaming-wise, “Thriller” leads the way, followed by Parker’s “Ghostbusters” at 8.8 million (up 152%), Elfman’s “This Is Halloween” (7.8 million, up 160%) and Pickett’s “Monster Mash” (6.7 million, up a 312%).
Other Halloween hits make genre-specific charts following the holiday. On Rock Digital Song Sales, Warren Zevon‘s “Werewolves of London” re-enters at No. 5 (2,000, up 124%), joined by Blue Oyster Cult‘s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” Oingo Boingo‘s “Dead Man’s Party” and King Harvest‘s “Dancing in the Moonlight” (1,000 each). On Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, Marilyn Manson‘s cover of “This Is Halloween” and Rob Zombie‘s “Dragula” re-enter at Nos. 15 and 19 (1,000 each).
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