More than 40 years after it first charted, Michael Jackson "Thriller" has reached a new peak on the Billboard Hot 100, climbing all the way to number 2.
The song rises from number 20 to number 2 on the Hot 100 chart dated November 14, according to Billboard chart data from Luminate. The tracking week ran October 30 to November 5, covering Halloween and the days right after it, and the Halloween effect lifted the classic to a height it never reached in its own era. "Thriller" previously peaked at number 4 in March 1984.
The numbers tell the story. "Thriller" drew 17.4 million streams in the tracking week, up 87 percent, with 11.3 million in radio airplay audience, up 172 percent, and 4,000 sales, up 48 percent. The parent album Thriller climbed to number 2 on the Billboard 200 as well, its highest peak in over 40 years.
The top of the chart this week belongs to Ella Langley, whose "Choosin' Texas" holds at number 1. Just behind "Thriller," Tame Impala and JENNIE "Dracula" rises from number 5 to number 3, a new high for the song, while leading the Radio Songs chart for an eighth week.
"Thriller" was not the only Halloween classic surging. Ray Parker Jr. "Ghostbusters" reenters the Hot 100 at number 12, Bobby "Boris" Pickett "Monster Mash" reenters at number 13, Rockwell "Somebody's Watching Me" jumps from number 39 to number 14, and "This Is Halloween" climbs from number 41 to number 21. Christmas arrived early too, with Wham "Last Christmas" returning at number 37 and Mariah Carey "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reentering at number 39. Carey song has ruled the Hot 100 for 22 weeks to date, the second longest run in the chart history.
The new peak is a reminder of how deep "Thriller" still runs in the culture. The song, the video and the album shaped pop music for a generation, and every Halloween the world returns to it. This year the return was bigger than ever, enough to push a song from 1984 past nearly every new release on the chart and into the runner up spot, more than four decades after it first appeared.
For Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, the record books keep moving. A song the world has known by heart for over 40 years now holds a chart peak it never held before.
Sources: Billboard via GetUrTix News, MJWorld Network
