2024’s Top Halloween Costumes: From Moo Deng to Chappell Roan

From singing superstars to adorable baby animals, the pop culture phenomenons of the past year are inspiring Halloween costumes in 2024.

New data has found that rising pop stars such as Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter have seen a surge in interest for costumes this spooky season.

Based on Google and TikTok searches calculated on Keyword Tool, searches for famous singers, the famous pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng and characters from the movie Saltburn have skyrocketed recently, showing viral pop culture moments are driving ideas for Halloween costumes worldwide.

The Beetlejuice movie sequel has helped see a surge in the popular costume with a 398 percent increase in U.K. Google searches.

Other singing stars to be inspiring Google and TikTok searches include Sabrina Carpenter who has enjoyed a huge year career-wise and has become known for her vintage outfits inspired by old, Hollywood glamour. The search “Sabrina Carpenter costume” jumped 3,677 percent on TikTok globally.

Costume retailer Smiffys, based in the U.K., commissioned the research and also found Charli XCX, with her trend-setting “Brat summer” style, has also been a huge inspiration for this year’s Halloween. Her album, Brat, with its iconic lime green cover and edgy songs, along with her futuristic fashion choices, has seen searches for Charli XCX Halloween costumes jump 2,963 percent on TikTok.

Huge film moments, such as the box-office smashing Deadpool & Wolverine, have inspired many searches including for Lady Deadpool, who appeared in a stand-out scene in the action movie as one of many different version of the comic book character. Played by actress Blake Lively, Lady Deadpool became instantly iconic for her svelte figure and tall, blonde ponytail.

Beyond music stars and movies characters, 2024 has seen a growing interest in more unique costume ideas that come from all facets of pop culture, according to Smiffys.

One notable new trend is people searching “Moo Deng costume” in honor of the pygmy hippo born in a Thai zoo in July and in a few short months, has taken the world by storm with her sassy attitude and adorable face.

Searches for Moo Deng-inspired outfits surged 53,900 percent as people seek to join in the trend of on one of the most famous faces to be introduced to the world this year.

Even Haliey Welch, also known as the “Hawk Tuah,” girl, launched an officially licensed Halloween costume of herself at Spirit Halloween, turning one of the year’s biggest viral moments into a Halloween costume.

While there has been a surge in more creative and newer costume ideas, some of the more traditional costumes are still holding ground across the country, with witch, dinosaur and Spider-Man the most popular costumes in the U.S.

Regardless of what costumes people will wear this year, there is expected to be a downturn in Halloween spending in 2024.

Thanks to rising inflation, consumers were expected to spend about $11.6 billion on Halloween, a slight drop from the $12.2 billion spent the previous year, based on research compiled by Statista.