by Alice Littlehale ’27
October 25, 2023
The Halloween season is many people’s favorite time of the year. The air is crisp, the leaves are crunchy, and you can get cozy with blankets and a warm drink. Students say they get in the Halloween spirit by picking out costumes, carving pumpkins, watching movies, putting up decorations, and listening to music. But every year at costume parties and down decoration-lined streets, it feels like the same few songs play. Are there any “new” Halloween songs? What counts as one, anyway? Here’s the student perspective.
The Peabody Press surveyed 40 students on their Halloween playlists. Only ten responded. Respondents agree that the playlists they hear don’t change from year to year.
Connor Harris ‘25 says, “I don’t think there are a lot of songs out there because Halloween isn’t a major religious holiday. There’s only, like, eight.”
Libin Abdulle ‘26 describes hearing the same songs yearly as the “hallmark of Halloween”.
Students agree on what some of these autumn classics are. Top songs were: “The Monster Mash” (Bobby Pickett) at one, and “Thriller” (Michael Jackson) and “Somebody’s Watching Me” (Kennedy Gordy) tied for second. “The Monster Mash” was on ~57% of student playlists, and “Thriller” and “Somebody’s Watching Me” were on ~43% of student playlists.
Clara Smail ‘24 says that she likes her top songs because her tastes span many genres. “I like a good variety of Halloween songs, everything from jazz to pop,” she said.
Claire Gilliam ‘24 likes disparate types of music too.
“These songs are not only great Halloween songs, but also great jazz songs on their own,” Gilliam said.
Respondents then reflected on what songs they heard the most during the Halloween season. 67% said they heard “Spooky Scary Skeletons” (Andrew Gold) the most this time of year, and “the Monster Mash”, “Ghostbusters” (Ray Parker Junior), and Michael Jackson songs were mentioned frequently.
Interestingly, “Monster Mash” ranks 1st, “Thriller” 2nd, “Spooky Scary Skeletons” 8th, and “Ghostbusters” 19th nationally on Spotify every Halloween.
Almost all songs mentioned by students were from before the year 2000, but modern artists have started climbing up the rankings. “Bad Guy” and “Stranger Things Theme” are both in the yearly top 20.
So while some of the song rankings were reflected nationally, there were many unique submissions.
Here’s songs from USN students’ playlist this Halloween:
And here’s a playlist with some lesser-known spooky songs:
Is the same music here to stay, or will new artists overtake yearly playlists? It’s hard to say. Hopefully, the next “Monster Mash” or “Thriller” will come out soon and give us all another Halloween classic to enjoy.
