The top 20 Halloween songs on YouTube will entertain even the spookiest of spirits.
Michael Jackson in Thriller YouTube
Halloween is just about a week away, so you have just the right amount of time to compile your trick-or-treat playlist. And when it comes to streams, lucky you, the gods of data and research are on your side, as is pop culture.
That said, if you thought that Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was the number one Halloween song you might be right. And if you thought that videos of Halloween songs are just as popular as audio streams of said songs, you might be right as well. Just ask YouTube. The streaming video giant has compiled a list of the top 20 songs deemed the most popular around this time of year. (But for what it’s worth, this bass-heavy trap remix of “Spooky Scary Skeletons” in my opinion, is the dopest Halloween song going right now.) And Whodini’s “The Freaks Come Out At Night” is an interesting choice. Back when I was a kid, and the song came on the radio, I thought it was all about hypersexual mankind and had no idea it would later be presented as zombie-fare.
Here are the top 20 Halloween tunes on YouTube.
Billboard has its own hotlist, which includes many of the songs on YouTube’s list and adds in “Black Magic Woman” by Santana and “The Time Warp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show. Also notable is that Backstreet Boys spoof song “I’ll Kill You That Way by The Slashstreet Boys” did not make these two lists. I’m also (slightly) sad that my favorite, artistically deadly video, ” Helena,” by My Chemical Romance isn’t having a Halloween run this year. Boo. (Hoo.)
I’m a Pulitzer-nominated, independent journalist, and I love reporting on arts and culture. TV, music and movies are my jam. You’ve seen my byline as a staff reporter at The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald and The Chicago Sun-Times. I’m the former senior editor of Ebony magaz…
Adrienne Gibbs is a Chicago-based journalist. Follow her @adriennewrites on FB and Twitter.
