Thriller tops Hallowe’en party song chart

Oct. 30, 2008 - PRLog -- The Performing Right Society (PRS) today reveals that Michael Jackson’s Thriller tops the list of most played Hallowe’en songs.

As the third most lucrative trading period after Christmas and Easter, Halloween sales are expected to top £195 million. Britain has picked up the American desire to celebrate ‘All Hallows Eve’, with millions of pumpkins sold and thousands of parties being held celebrating the merge between the living and the dead.

Despite only ever reaching 10th in the UK charts, Thriller went on to become one of the most iconic songs of all time.  Halloween has always been symbolised by music, with more recent pieces being inspired by classic horror movies, such as Somebody’s Watching Me with its references to Psycho.

Although Cliff Richard is known for his squeaky clean image, it seems that Devil Woman is still a hit for those more spooky parties!  Originally released in 1976 the song was covered twice: once by the Accused in 1987 and again by Cradle of Filth in 2005.  Everybody’s favourite – especially for the armies of children ‘trick or treating’ - Monster Mash was first recorded in 1962 by US artist Bobby Pickett and has been religiously played by radio stations on Hallowe’en every year.  


The top ten most popular Halloween songs by use:

THRILLER - Michael Jackson
SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME - Rockwell
BAT OUT OF HELL - Meat Loaf
GHOST TOWN - The Specials
DEVIL WOMAN - Cliff Richard
THERE'S A GHOST IN MY HOUSE - Richard Dean Taylor / The Fall
GHOSTBUSTERS - Ray Parker Jr.
MONSTER MASH - Bobby Pickett
WITCHY WOMAN - Eagles
THE ADDAMS FAMILY - Vic Mizzy
Source: PRS

Ellis Rich, chairman of PRS said: “A scary song that can stand the test of time has to be carefully constructed by its composer and its writers. Top of our list Thriller is just the perfect song for this time of year, it’s memorable, it has a great melody and it genuinely scares.”

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