October 27, 2021 3 minutes read

Are we ready for the cultural shifts that come along with Halloween? While the world gets into a spooky spirit, news trends give a view of the present undercurrents. In this pandemic era, this has manifested even more clearly.

We at Wizikey crunched 5 million news articles derived from over 5000 digital publications and 1500+ brands and their related products and services to understand the top Halloween 2021 trends. The report highlights the culture shift over the past few years, with OTT trends having a greater impact on what people wear to parties and events. 

Top Halloween Costumes of 2021

The latest report from Wizikey reveals that the Red and Green Hoodie of Squid Games are the most popular Halloween costumes this year.  The news popularity for the red and green hoodie is 2X of Joker and 2.5X of Spiderman. Leaving ancient villainous characters like Dracula and Cruella de Vil far behind, Squid Games is all set to capture the reel to real opportunity. 

The gender-neutral costumes of the Squid game have been a key factor in raising its popularity. Interestingly, the fourth most popular theme for Halloween 2021 is “Batman”, from DC Comics. Other popular costume themes included Black Widow, Michael Myers, and Wonder Woman.

Costume historians generally agree that the tradition of dressing up in costumes on Halloween goes back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. On this night, the Celts would douse themselves in costumes, paint their faces, and carry tapers with them as they would walk between their homes and bonfires to ward off evil spirits.

Spooksperson of the year

Wizikey wanted to delve into the Share of Voice of each of the spooky characters associated with Halloween. Among all the spooky characters associated with Halloween, ghosts are the most popular “spookspersons”. This is followed by witches, vampires, zombies, and goblins.

Top Halloween Candies of 2021

Halloween is the biggest candy-giving holiday of the year. It’s also one of the biggest candy-eating holidays. That’s because there are over 100 million Americans who go trick or treating on Halloween! Candy consumption increases more than 50% between September and November.  Wizikey’s insights show Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Cream Fangs, Haribo Trick or Treat 630z, and Resse’s Peanut Butter Halloween Pumpkins are the most favorite candies during this year.

Top Halloween Movies of 2021

People are gearing up to scream at some of the scariest movies out there. So, what are the scariest scary movies that are on everyone’s lists this year? According to Wizikey’s report, Halloween Kills dominates, followed by Scream, and Shang-Chi.

Halloween Popularity by State

We decided to examine which states make the news for their costumes and parties every year. Halloween is celebrated in large-scale gatherings in each state with different themes. Wizikey’s report reveals New York, California, and Texas are making the most news for their events this year.

Changing Trends

Wizikey’s insights indicate that the popularity of Disney’s Moana and Darth Vader has declined over the past decade. It now remains to be seen how the emerging OTT characters impact Halloween in the coming years.

If you are looking to understand the trends of any event with Wizikey, contact us and we will introduce you to the fastest and most accurate analytical dashboard we have.