Playlists & MusicNo. 1469 · The 2026 edition
Music News: What states listen to the most Halloween music?
Our own summary of the original — the full post and photos live at thecurrent.org.
About this
An episode of The Current's daily Music News podcast, hosted by Jay Gabler, rounding up several music stories from late October 2018. It leads with Spotify data on which places and people stream the most Halloween music, then covers the Beastie Boys audiobook, the Polaris Heritage Prize winners, the death of guitarist Wah Wah Watson, Tina Turner's book interview, and a New Orleans brass cover of Joy Division. The page also lists the songs sampled in the podcast.
The list
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01
Spotify Halloween listening data
Utah top spooky-listening state; women in 30s-40s biggest fans; D.C. not high despite The Exorcist.
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02
Beastie Boys audiobook announces star-studded cast
Audiobook cast includes Chuck D, Snoop Dogg, Kim Gordon, Bette Midler; 600-page book out next Tuesday.
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03
Polaris Heritage Prize winners announced
Jury honored Kid Koala, Dream Warriors, Cockburn, Ferland; public chose Neil Young, Rush, Broken Social Scene, Morissette.
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04
Remembering Wah Wah Watson
Guitarist Melvin Ragin died at 67; played Funk Brothers tracks for Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Gloria Gaynor.
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05
Tina Turner dishes on books
Turner favors spiritual nightstand reads, cites Jackie Kennedy as role model, wants Mick Jagger's autobiography.
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06
Joy Division, New Orleans style
Hot 8 Brass Band covers 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' in viral Crescent City video.
Facts from the original
- Spotify says Halloween playlists gain traction a couple weeks before October 31 and spike on the day itself and the preceding party weekend.
- Utah is the top state for Halloween music listening and a hub for paranormal buffs.
- Salem, Massachusetts, and Doylestown, Pennsylvania (where Signs is set), have spooky reputations and high Halloween listening; Washington D.C. is not high on the list despite The Exorcist.
- Two of the three most popular Halloween songs are by African-American artists: Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' and Ray Parker Jr.'s 'Ghostbusters'.
- The biggest Halloween music fans demographically are women in their 30s and 40s.
- The Beastie Boys Book is 600 pages and the surviving Beasties are going on a book tour; the audiobook is narrated by Mike D and Ad-Rock.
- Polaris Heritage Prizes honor classic Canadian albums released before the Polaris Prize began in 2006, split by decade between jury and public prizes.
- Melvin Ragin, known as Wah Wah Watson, joined Motown's Funk Brothers in 1968; his name came from his wah wah pedal.
- Tina Turner said her go-to nightstand books include 'anything by the Dalai Lama or Deepak Chopra.'
- Turner would invite Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Dante to a literary dinner party and would serve Thai food because she likes things spicy.
- Turner felt a connection to ancient Egypt and Hatshepsut, which inspired 'I Might Have Been Queen.'
- Joy Division's 1980 song 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' has been widely covered, including by Fall Out Boy, Nouvelle Vague, and Soul Asylum.
