Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson emerged as the dominant forces in U.S. music streaming this past Halloween. Data provided by Luminate shows massive spikes for Gaga's recent releases and the continued seasonal reign of Jackson's most famous hit.
Lady Gaga's 10.57 million stream surge
Lady Gaga secured the top spot among artists this season, experiencing a 65% increase in her total catalog streams during the Halloween weekend. According to Luminate, Lady Gaga's music garnered 10.57 million official on-demand U.S. streams on October 31, a sharp climb from the 6.39 million streams recorded on October 24.
Three specific tracks fueled this growth. "The Dead Dance," an Emmy-nominated synth-pop song, saw the most dramatic rise with 1.14 million streams on October 31, representing a 414% increase. Additionally, "Abracadabra" jumped 232% to over 1.04 million streams, while "Bloody Mary" reached 1.37 million streams, bolstered by a 91% increase driven by social media edits and sped-up versions.
The 16 million stream weekend for Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" continues to be the gold standard for holiday music, maintaining its status as the best-performing song of every Halloween season.. As Luminate reported,the track earned approximately 10.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams on October 31 alone.
The total weekend volume for "Thriller" reached roughly 16 million streams, including 4 million on October 30 and 2.3 million on the following Sunday. While the song was already positioned in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 for the chart dated October 31, the data does not explicitly confirm if the track secured the No. 1 spot for the holiday.
From Rick James to October Country: The 505% jump for 'Witch'
The "Haunted Algorithm" is creating unexpected winners by pushing non-traditional horror tracks into seasonal playlists.. Rick James' 1981 funk hit "Super Freak" became a surprise staple, hitting 1.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams on October 31, which was a 328% gain over the previous Saturday.
Even more obscure artists are finding new audiences through these digital trends. October Country, a psych-rock group from the late 1960s, saw their song "Witch" explode from 82,000 streams on October 24 to 493,000 streams on October 31—a massive 505% increase. Similarly, the Backstreet Boys saw "My Oh My" grow by 192% to reach 405,000 streams, likely due to the song's dark lyrics and music video.
Will Queen's 'Death on Two Legs' join the seasonal rotation?
The music industry is now monitoring which tracks might become the next perennial Halloween hits.. Potential candidates include "Death on Two Legs" by Queen, "Ghostin" by Ariana Grande, or "Freak Like Me" by Adina Howard.
One lingering question is whether the current dominance of legacy acts like Michael Jackson can be permanently disrupted by the viral nature of social media.. While Luminate data confirms the current leaders, it remains to be seen if a new, modern "Thriller" will emerge or if the algorithm will continue to rotate through a diverse mix of 80s funk and 60s psych-rock.
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