Holiday Hits Riding High on the Billboard Music Charts

The latest edition of Billboard magazine is out, featuring charts for the week ending December 21. I used to enjoy reading Billboard when I was in high school and I regularly followed the pop singles and albums charts (the Hot 100 and Hot 200, respectively). In college I continued to follow the charts, and working on the college radio station made it easier to keep up since we had a subscription to Billboard and were visited regularly by a bunch of cool record company A&R folks. After college, I kept up with the music scene pretty consistently until I got into my mid 30s, when the number of artists I didn't know began to outnumber the ones I did. 

The methods by which Billboard determines its charts have changed radically over the years. They used to be based almost entirely on record sales and airplay, but today's chart makers have to account for such things as streaming on Spotify, YouTube and other services, digital sales and other factors.

During the holiday season, millions of listeners play their favorite holiday tunes many millions of times, driving a holiday-themed takeover of the Billboard charts. The latest Hot 100 for the week ending December 21, 2024, features 29 holiday tunes, including 11 of the Top 20 and five of the Top 10: 

  

I realize I gripe about this phenomenon every year, and I really don't mean to be trashing the classics that return to the charts each December. I only wish programmers would try out some material that's less than 30 years old. And I wouldn't shed any tears if I never had to hear Mariah Carey or Wham! ever again. Happily, my favorite Christmas song of all time, Darlene Love's 1963 release "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is at #31 on the Hot 100, up from #38 last week. It's also #16 on Billboard's "Holiday 100" chart. The Top 10 Holiday songs for the week ending December 21 appear below:

I hope your favorite holiday song turns out to be a big hit again this year!

Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" Tops Billboard's Hot 100

Music history was made this week when 78-year-old Brenda Lee topped Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart of the nation's most popular songs with "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," a record she released 65 years ago. With this achievement, Lee becomes the oldest artist ever to top the Hot 100. Her song breaks the records for longest time after its original release and longest time since its Hot 100 debut to reach the top of the charts.

Written by Johnny Marks and produced by Owen Bradley, the song first entered the Hot 100 at #64 on December 12, 1960, following four Top 10 singles that Lee placed on the chart in the previous 12 months. Her Christmas song peaked at #14 two weeks later. Following changes in the formula by which the Hot 100 is tabulated, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" re-entered the Hot 100 in December 2019 and has returned in each subsequent holiday season. Lee was 15 years old when she recorded the tune.

This is only the third holiday song in Billboard history to top the Hot 100. The first was "The Chipmunk Song," by The Chipmunks with David Seville, in 1958. The second was Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which spent combined total of 12 weeks at #1 during 2019-22. 

This song is Lee's third #1 hit on the Hot 100. The first, "I'm Sorry," which became her signature song, spent three weeks in the top position beginning July 18, 1960. It was followed by "I Want to Be Wanted," which made it to #1 three months later, during the same week I was born. 

The first official music video of the song was recorded only this year to coincide with the 65th anniversary of its initial release. The video features cameo appearances by Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood.

Read More About Brenda Lee's Remarkable Achievement in Billboard Magazine

Billboard Holiday Charts Remain Stagnant

If you follow pop music at all today, you probably check out the sales and airplay charts from Billboard magazine from time to time to see which artists, albums and songs are moving up and down at the moment. Billboard's Hot 100 tracks the top 100 singles every week and the Billboard 200 reflects the top albums or CDs. Most folks in the music interest will tell you that these are the definitive listings when it comes to the current music scene, and Billboard's other charts, including R&B, Dance, Country and Adult Contemporary are equally respected among industry professionals.

Around the beginning of December each year, Billboard features a variety of Holiday Music charts that purport to capture the relative sales and airplay statistics of various holiday tunes. I'm in no position to take issue with Billboard's rankings, one of my greatest pet peeves is the fact that the holiday charts have remained essentially stagnant for the past 20 years or more. Despite the release of a significant number of great new seasonal songs every year, the Top 10 listings feature the same handful of classics at the top of the chart without exception.

Here are two recent charts from Billboard's December 2, 2023 edition, the first of which lists the current Top 10 Holiday Songs, and the second lists the Top 10 Holiday Songs of all time:

 

Sad, isn't it? I realize many people are reluctant to give new holiday songs a chance because the holidays are a sentimental season and it takes a little longer to grow tired of songs you only hear one month out of the year. I also admit that I never liked the entries by Mariah Carey and Wham! even when they were both fresh and new. But c'mon now! Only one of the current Top 10 Holiday tunes is from this century! The majority are at least 50 years old! We've got to do a little better than this!

Sleigh Bells and Mistletoe Christmas Podcast Delivers Christmas Cheer All Year

There are a growing number of podcasts available on holiday-related topics these days, and at least a couple of them include material about seasonal music. One such offering is the Sleigh Bells and Mistletoe Christmas Podcast (SBMX), hosted by Rikki Meece and Mary Richards. Billed as an "all things Christmas" podcast, the program typically starts with a review of holiday-related news followed by a detailed interview with a special guest on a broad spectrum of seasonal topics ranging from "Scary Christmas Ghost Stories" to "A Paul Harvey Holiday." The conversations are fast-paced and informative and the hosts take advantage of their radio and entertainment industry contacts to speak about their areas of interest. Meece, in particular, has years of radio experience, and is currently on the air at KSL NewsRadio in Salt Lake City.

At least a dozen of the available SBMX podcasts focus on holiday music, including 

Christmas Clunkers 1, which discusses the panelists' least favorite and most annoying songs; A New Wave Christmas: 80s Bands On Holidays, and, from just this week, A Billboard Xmas History and Hits, featuring Rob Martinez discussing how a variety of holiday tunes have fared on the Billboard charts as well as how Billboard tracks and reports the scads of Christmas tunes released each year.

I heartily recommend this cheerful podcast, and I'm hoping to look at several other holiday-themed podcasts as the season continues.

Check out the Sleigh Bells and Mistletoe Christmas Podcast (SBMX) on Apple Podcasts

Check out the Sounds of Christmas Podcast hosted by Ken Kessler

Hey, Radio Programmers: How About Playing a Few New Holiday Songs Next Christmas?

As we get ready to close up shop here for our annual post-holiday hiatus, I thought it might be interesting to take one final look at Billboard's most recent Holiday Music Charts.  I was wrong. Nothing to see here, folks. These listings look pretty much the same as they've been throughout the season. In fact, the Airplay chart hasn't changed much since I wrote my last letter to Santa Claus. (I'm reluctant to share my exact age here, but I can tell you that stamps back then only cost a dime.)

Here are the latest tallies for this year:

I know I must sound like a broken record on the subject, but the average age of the ten most frequently played holiday songs this season is 50 years old! Now, it's not that I've necessarily got anything against any of these songs (well, OK, I'd love it if I never had to hear Mariah Carey again), but wouldn't it be nice to see a few stations take a chance and play some music recorded after color television was invented?

To get things started, I figured I'd suggest a few relatively recent releases that today's audiences might enjoy hearing amongst the old-time classics. Here, off the top of my head and in no particular order, are eight possibilities:

A Long Way Home, Sofia Talvik (2014)



Mrs. Claus Ain't Got Nothing on Me, Little Jackie (2010)




Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (2009)



A Christmas Song for You, The Kik (2011)

Christmas In New York, by The Rosebuds (2012)

My Favourite Time of the Year, The Florin Street Band (2011)




Wish List, Neon Trees (2010)


Christmas at the Airport, Nick Lowe (2012)




I could easily pull together another couple of dozen suggestions, but I think I've made my point. Our culture seems to be at a particularly awkward point in its development just now, as we watch two fundamentally different trends continue to unfold. On the one hand, our mass media has become bland and lifeless as TV, radio and traditional print outlets are either gobbled up by a small handful of powerful corporations or quietly put out of their misery. The result is an industry that panders to the lowest common denominator so as to avoid offending potential consumers, or at least Hollywood's conception of what the typical consumer now is. On the other hand, we have the internet — a truly revolutionary tool that gives everyone a microphone and printing press and helps even small groups of like-minded fans to find one another and support an infinite variety of tastes and styles. Of course, the very diversity the internet serves can be manipulated to divide people into ever smaller segments and thereby exert greater overall control over society as a whole, which is why it's so important to follow developments on both a macro and micro level. The challenges we face as a society require increasing vigilance and involvement, along with a generous dollop of holiday spirit and cheer.

Latest Billboard Holiday Charts Show Little Change from Last Week … or Last Century

Here are the latest holiday music charts from Billboard magazine for the week ending December 20, 2014:

Careful observers will notice that there have been a couple of changes on the holiday airplay chart during the past week. For one thing, there's a new #1, as Jose Feliciano's 44-year-old "Feliz Navidad" swapped places with the Burl Ives classic "A Holly Jolly Christmas," which turns 50 years old this year.
In addition, a "new" song broke into this week's Top 10:  "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," by Johnny Mathis, which is actually 28 years old. (I would have guessed it was nearly twice that.) Now, these are all fine old songs (well, except for this week's #5), but the average age of the tunes on this week's airplay chart is now 49 years old! A little more variety would be awfully nice, don't you think?  

Billboard Holiday Music Charts

The first set of 2014 holiday music charts based on radio airplay were released by Billboard magazine this weekend, and — surprise, surprise! — they look pretty much the same as they have since the Nixon administration:

As I understand it, the first chart reflects radio airplay alone, while the second chart reflects not merely airplay but also record sales and download statistics. Including that additional data results in the addition of three 2014 releases to the list at numbers 1, 2 and 6. When airplay alone is considered, the top ten holiday songs of 2014 are all 20 years old or older. I won't let loose with another diatribe here on the moribund state of American radio today. These charts speak for themselves.

Elvis Reigns As Billboard's King of U.S. Holiday Album Sales

Elvis Presley

While they vary in size and not every home has one, the majority of American households have at least a small collection of holiday albums, and once you add up all of the CDs, mp3s and old-fashioned vinyl LPs, you're talking about an awful lot of music. Even casual music buffs can probably name the best selling Christmas song of all time (Bing Crosby's "White Christmas"), but what are the most popular holiday albums? Billboard magazine considered this very question last December, and based on sales figures from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and point-of-sale data from Nielsen Soundscan (for records released after 1991), they compiled the following list of the Top Ten Best Selling Holiday Albums of all time in the United States:

I have to admit that I find this list  upsetting, as I dislike a majority of the top ten best sellers and I actually loathe at least four of them. Of course, there's no accounting for taste, and I'm all for anything that sparks the holiday spirit in someone, whatever the reason. But Kenny G?! Really?

Billboard's Latest Holiday Song and Airplay Charts Are Out (Meh)

Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Claus, from mall to mall and smartphone to smartphone and all the ships at sea. Let's go to press! FLASH! The latest Billboard Hot Holiday Songs charts are out, dated December 14, 2013:

You needn't waste much time on these. They look pretty much the same as they have since the Ford administration. In fact, the only real change of note since last year is that Wham's "Last Christmas" fell of the chart (Praise God!). It was replaced by this radical "new" tune called "Sleigh Ride," which was recorded in 1950!

I guess I sort of get why people are pulled toward some of the old chestnuts for Christmas, and I'm fine with that. What I don't understand is why we don't have at least a few radio programmers somewhere in the land who'd be willing to take a chance now and then and play something new. And I also don't understand why Billboard goes through this ridiculous charade of publishing new holiday song charts each week. Why bother?

Duck Dynasty's Robertson Family Celebrates Christmas with a Hit Record

Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas remains the top selling holiday album in the country for the second straight week, according to Billboard Magazine's latest Holiday Albums chart, dated November 30, 2013. The album features music and observations from Louisiana's Robertson Family, who star in the A&E reality series Duck Dynasty. I've never seen the program myself, but I was intrigued by the following YouTube clip, which previews the final episode of the show's second season, "I'm Dreaming of a Redneck Christmas":



For those who'd like another helping, A&E will broadcast the 2013 Duck Dynasty Christmas Special on Wednesday, December 11, at 10 pm (9 Central). (Q:  Please tell me the mother isn't seriously cooking a duck inside a chicken, inside a turkey, inside a pig!)

This Just In . . . The Latest Holiday Music Charts from Billboard

It's been nearly a month since I've looked at the holiday song charts from Billboard magazine, and since the nation's radio stations are always on the lookout for exciting new material to feature, there's bound to have been an awful lot of movement since then, right? Guess again.  Here are the latest Holiday Airplay and Top Holiday Song charts from Billboard:

There's no need to compare these latest charts with the charts from last month, last year or even five years ago because they've pretty much stayed the same. The only real question is why does Billboard even compile these things at all? It's not as though there isn't lots of good new holiday music out there. I can't even begin to keep up with the volume, but a quick look at Stubby's House of Christmas or Mistletunes, two terrific blogs that focus on new holiday music, establish pretty convincingly that there's no shortage of great new material. I suppose there's something reassuring about hearing the same classic holiday songs year after year, and God knows I'd rather hear Burl Ives and Bing Crosby than anything from Justin Bieber or Nicki Minaj. (Can anyone explain to me why either of these two "artists" is appealing on any level whatsoever?) But with the abundance of beautiful, moving, funny, provocative, old and new holiday songs available, why is it that we hear little more than the same dusty relics over and over again during each new holiday season?

Holiday Charts Expose the Radio Wasteland

In 2007, Bruce Springsteen recorded a song called Radio Nowhere, which, among other things, lamented the death of quality rock radio at the hands of corporate media giants like Clear Channel and Infinity Broadcasting. Of course, a lot of people never got to hear it, because Radio Nowhere and most of the rest of the Boss's catalog were quickly banished from the nation's airwaves by those same corporate interests. When Bruce and I were growing up, rock radio, like rock music itself, was dynamic and edgy. Stations competed with one another for talent as well as listeners, and the best announcers threw themselves into developing their own unique styles and finding the best and most exciting music to play. Over the past 30 years, however, nearly every station of consequence has come under the control of one of the media giants, which invariably results in the adoption of small, tightly controlled playlists and a stifling of creative independence and personality. I hardly ever listen to the radio any more, but I've heard enough to know I'm not missing much. With respect to holiday music, the radio soundscape is just about as flat and uninteresting as you can get, which point is driven home by the by the first Billboard sales and airplay charts for this new holiday season. Haven't seen them? Well, don't worry. They're pretty much identical to the charts from last season, or for that matter any random season of the past dozen years or more:

Considering the significant number of original, topical, funny and/or movingly beautiful holiday tunes that are released every year and the vast catalog of outstanding older material that's also available, it's maddening to realize how few seasonal songs are getting airplay. It's not that the songs getting airplay are necessarily bad songs; heck, one of the songs that made both the "top songs" and airplay charts is on my Christmas comp this year. The bigger point is that these are pretty much the only songs you hear these days because the lifeless corporate drones in charge of programming don't know any better. Little wonder that the number and variety of holiday music sites on the web seems to be increasing each year.

On a more positive note, the only two songs on the first of this season's Top Holiday Songs charts that weren't on last year's final chart displaced two monstrosities by Justin Bieber, so even though those two "new" entries (Andy Williams, at #7, and Wham!, at #10) have a total of 73 years of age between them, there's a silver lining to be found in most every cloud.

TOMORROW, we return to our annual review of the individual tracks on my latest holiday comp CD. (Gee, when you put it that way it sounds pretty grim, no?) We'll be commenting on sounds by Ozzy Osbourne, Al Sears and His Countrymen and the Rev. Edward W. Clayborn, who was telling Americans as early as 1928 that we'd lost our moral grounding as a nation. I guess that puts him just a little ahead of the curve.