Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” led Xperi’s ranking of Halloween songs heard on radio in cars in the United States, with 343,000 listening sessions during the week of Oct. 25–31. The DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal, Xperi’s in-car radio audience measurement platform, tracked sessions across 550 U.S. markets.
The ranking covers those markets only, not worldwide listening or music across all platforms. “Thriller” ranked first in nearly every market measured and drew more than twice as many sessions as the second-place song, Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters.”
The top three songs were all released in the 1980s, and tracks from the 1970s and 1980s dominated the ranking. The oldest entry was Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You,” released in 1956. The only song from this century was Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll,” released in 2009.
The chart also features familiar voices in more than one place. Michael Jackson sings on two entries: “Thriller” and Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me,” where his guest vocals went uncredited. Danny Elfman also appears twice, as the lead vocalist on Oingo Boingo’s “Dead Man’s Party” and “This Is Halloween” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Three other chart entries also appear prominently in films: “Ghostbusters,” “The Time Warp” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “This Is Halloween.”
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246 U.S. markets added to DTS AutoStage
