Minecraft and Poppy Playtime Crash Google's Top Halloween Costumes of 2026
Nerds won Halloween (again).
Anthony
Google released its annual list of trending Halloween costumes on October 14, and this year the nerds are clearly dominating. The rankings come from Google's Frightgeist tool, which compares US costume searches this September against last September (Frightgeist). In other words, the list measures momentum. The most popular costumes on the 31st could look completely different.
What are the top trending Halloween costumes of 2026?
Here's Google's top 10, per Time Out.
- Buddy the Unicorn, from the horror film Buddy
- NeeDoh, the squishy fidget toy
- Nikki, from Obsession
- Agamemnon, from The Odyssey
- Lily Love Braids, from Poppy Playtime
- Oliver Tree
- Verity, from a viral Minecraft horror series
- Carl, from Dungeon Crawler Carl
- Disco Scooby-Doo
- Hazel Hook, from Descendants
By my count, 8 of the top 10 come out of movies, games, books or cartoons, and only NeeDoh and Oliver Tree don't. Dungeon Crawler Carl cracking a Google top 10 is a genuine milestone for LitRPG fans. (Princess Donut also sits at No. 5 on the pet list, which she would undoubtedly consider an insult.) Just beyond the top 10, Invincible shows up twice, with Thragg at No. 13 and Viltrumite at No. 23. X-Men has Cyclops at No. 20 and Nightcrawler at No. 24 (Frightgeist).
Dolly Parton is the most popular trending kids' costume this year. She's also No. 2 on the pet list, right behind (of all things) a centipede. Bullseye from Toy Story rounds out the top three pet costumes. Parton died in August at 80 (AP via MPR News), and a generation of kids dressing up as her might be the most wholesome tribute of the entire year. Further down the kids' list, Ash Ketchum is No. 5, Pomni from The Amazing Digital Circus is No. 9, and Grogu just sneaks in at No. 10.
For couples and best friends, the top trending duo is Disco Scooby and Shaggy, followed by Cyclops and Jean Grey from X-Men. The Mandalorian and Grogu land at No. 12 on the duos list, so Star Wars families have a coordinated option too.
If you're planning a nerdy costume, tag us on Instagram and we'll share our favorites.
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Header image by Petar Milošević via Wikimedia Commons, cropped, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0. X-Men cosplay photo by Chris Favero via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.
