Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” has made its annual Halloween-season return to the Billboard Hot 100, reentering the chart dated Nov. 7 at No. 20.
The title track from Jackson’s 1983 album posted major gains across streaming, radio and sales during the approach to Halloween. According to Luminate, “Thriller” generated 9.3 million chart-eligible streams in the United States from Oct. 23-29, an increase of 49%.
Its radio airplay audience doubled to 4.2 million, while sales rose 61% to 3,000 during the tracking period.
A seasonal comeback with chart history
The latest reentry adds another chapter to the song’s long-running Hot 100 story. “Thriller” originally reached No. 4 in March 1984, becoming the seventh and final top 10 hit from the album of the same name.
The album spent 37 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the longest run for an album by a single artist. It was also the first album to produce seven Hot 100 top 10 songs.
Jackson, who died in 2009, has returned to the Hot 100 with “Thriller” during the same season every year since 2018. The song revisited the top 20 for the first time in 2021 and reached the top 10 a year ago, when it climbed to No. 10.
Although this year’s No. 20 reentry falls short of that recent high, the song’s simultaneous growth in streams, radio audience and sales shows that its Halloween surge extended across multiple forms of listening and consumption.
More Halloween favorites rise
“Thriller” was not the only Halloween-linked recording to return to the Hot 100. Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” reentered at No. 39 after collecting 6.3 million streams, up 52%.
The track also drew a radio audience of 1.5 million, a 49% gain, and sold 1,000 copies, up 58%. Jackson provided backing vocals on the song, which originally peaked at No. 2 in March 1984. That month, “Somebody’s Watching Me” and “Thriller” appeared together in the Hot 100’s top 10 for three weeks.
Citizens of Halloween’s “This Is Halloween” followed at No. 41, powered by 6.1 million streams and a 68% increase. Written by Danny Elfman, the song comes from the 1993 stop-motion animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas.
“This Is Halloween” first reached the Hot 100 in 2023 and achieved its current chart high of No. 26 last year.
The Halloween impact was even more visible on the Streaming Songs chart, where supernatural-themed tracks accounted for the six largest percentage gains.
“This Is Halloween” led that group, followed by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers’ 1962 recording “Monster Mash,” which rose 63% to 5.8 million streams. Ray Parker Jr.’s 1984 song “Ghostbusters” increased 61% to 5.9 million.
“Somebody’s Watching Me” and “Thriller” came next, while Tame Impala and JENNIE’s “Dracula” completed the six-song run. “Dracula,” which is at its No. 5 Hot 100 high, grew 11% to 7.2 million streams.
ShowBiz Take
“Thriller” returning to the Hot 100 is no longer an isolated revival. Its yearly reappearances since 2018 have turned the song into a recurring presence during the Halloween period, with last year’s No. 10 peak establishing how high that seasonal momentum can carry it.
This latest result also goes beyond one Jackson hit. Three Halloween-associated songs reentered the Hot 100, while six supernatural-themed titles dominated the percentage-gain rankings on Streaming Songs. Together, those numbers show a broad seasonal shift in listening rather than a surge limited to a single recording.
For “Thriller,” the No. 20 return places a song that first peaked in 1984 back inside the upper fifth of the Hot 100, supported by renewed activity across streaming, airplay and sales.