This may have been the biggest year ever for Christmas music, at least going by the charts. Holiday songs took the top 24 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 for the chart week dated Jan. 3, compared to a previous-record top 16 last year. Seasonal hits also accounted for 46 of the chart’s top 50, the top 13 spots on the Billboard Global 200 and a record seven albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. Santa got some help from the fact that the charts’ tracking week in question ended on Christmas Day, but the boom is very real.
Who’s getting the big gifts, though? Compared to other genres, a relatively small number of recordings, and an even smaller number of songs, account for a great deal of holiday music streaming, which seems to be fueled more by playlists, according to several music executives. The popularity of hits by artists that don’t have a ton of name recognition suggests the importance of DSP-curated playlists. “Jingle Bell Rock,” No. 3 on the Hot 100 for the week, is a Christmas classic, but it’s hard to imagine that many Americans know Bobby Helms sings it — let alone consider themselves serious fans.
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Nostalgia matters, too. In 2019, Billboard took an in-depth look at Christmas music toward the beginning of its streaming-fueled boom and found that that the most popular versions of Christmas songs are the iconic ones that listeners remember; dozens of artists have covered “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” but Gene Autry’s 1949 version is the most popular. Is it old-fashioned compared to some other versions? That seems to be part of its appeal.
That makes the holiday chart relatively stable compared to some others. In 2018, the top five holiday tracks, in order, were Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” and Burl Ives’ “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.” Seven years later, the top of the Hot 100 chart dated Jan. 3 didn’t look all that different: Carey’s hit came in at No. 1, followed by “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Jingle Bell Rock,” then Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (No. 8 in 2018) and Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me.” The other songs didn’t fall far: Williams’ hit was No. 9 and Ives’ was No. 12.
Big Christmas songs are evergreens — pun intended — that bring in money every year. In Carey’s case, her holiday hit redefined her career — it didn’t hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 until December 2019, but it has been No. 1 for a record 22 weeks since then. (I think it will be the most popular song of the 21st century.) That makes the competition for new hits intense. So far, though, the holiday charts are dominated by songs written before Carey released “All I Want for Christmas” in 1994. “Santa Tell Me,” which came out in 2014 and has peaked at higher chart positions over the past few years, is one obvious exception; another is Kelly Clarkson’s 2013 “Underneath the Tree,” which was No. 8 on the Jan. 3 chart. Michael Bublé’s 2011 Christmas album accounts for two songs in the top 50: “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” at No. 13 (just ahead of Perry Como’s iconic version at No. 18) and “Holly Jolly Christmas” at No. 33 (behind Ives’ version at No. 12). Other exceptions toward the top of the chart include Jonas Brothers’ “Like It’s Christmas” at No. 27, Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe” at No. 29 and the Clarkson and Grande duet “Santa, Can’t You Hear Me” at No. 31. In a few years, these songs could be considered classics.
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The most prominent Christmas artist is Bing Crosby, who has three songs in the top 50: The 1947 version of “White Christmas” at No. 16, “Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas)” at No. 49 and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” at No. 50. (His estate made a partnership agreement with Primary Wave in 2021.) Other estates with holiday hits include those of Nat “King” Cole, who has “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)” at No. 6 and “Deck the Halls” at No. 20; Dean Martin (“Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow” at No. 7 and “Baby it’s Cold Outside” at No. 35); Andy Williams (“The Most Wonderful Time,” and “Happy Holiday / The Holiday Season” at No. 42); Gene Autry (“Here Comes Santa Claus [Right Down Santa Claus Lane]” at No. 22 and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” at No. 30); the Vince Guaraldi Trio (two “Peanuts” themes at No. 23 and No. 47) and The Jackson 5 (“Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” at No. 43 and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” at No. 4). Active artists with multiple Hot 100 Christmas hits include Bublé; Grande and Clarkson, due to their duet; Darlene Love, with “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” at No. 14 and “Winter Wonderland” at No. 40; and Gwen Stefani, with “You Make It Feel Like Christmas” at No. 46 and “Shake the Snow Globe” at No. 55.
The success of artists with multiple hits is also reflected on the Billboard 200. Crosby’s Christmas collection comes in at No. 2 on the chart dated Jan. 3. The top 10 is rounded out by Bublé’s Christmas at No. 3, Cole’s The Christmas Song at No. 4, the Phil Spector Christmas album at No. 5, the Charlie Brown Christmas special soundtrack at No. 7, Carey’s Merry Christmas at No. 8 and a collection of Frank Sinatra’s holiday music at No. 9.
The Global 200 has a few interesting differences. The top five songs are the same as the Hot 100 and even fall in the same order except that “Last Christmas” is No. 1. The rest of the chart isn’t so different, although Sia’s “Snowman” comes in at No. 13, as opposed to No. 41 in the U.S., and it has some songs that didn’t make the Hot 100 in the U.S., most prominently “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens at No. 25, the Band-Aid benefit song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” at No. 30, “Driving Home for Christmas” by Chris Rea at No. 33 and “Step into Christmas” by Elton John at No. 35. Surprisingly, at a time when more global hits are in other languages, nearly all of the Christmas songs on the Global 200 are in English. At a time when it’s harder than ever to have a hit that appeals to a wide range of listeners, holiday music seems to be one of the few things that unites different audiences.
