Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Move Over Mariah, Brenda Lee Is Rockin'

 


Mariah Carey might not be the queen of the holiday charts after all, reports Axios.

The big picture: Carey's ubiquitous "All I Want for Christmas is You" is only the second most-played Christmas hit, according to Spotify, trailing Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."

When "All I Want for Christmas is You" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in 2019, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" peaked at #2. Carey repeated the climb to #1 the next year, with Lee right behind her in second. Then it happened again in 2021. And 2022.

This Christmas might belong to Lee.



A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Lee was just 13 when she recorded the Christmas classic in 1958.

Now 78, she dances along in a new video released this year to celebrate the song's 65th anniversary.


Between the lines: Billboard's rankings involve multiple metrics, including radio plays and streaming data. The latest chart is led by Taylor Swift and doesn't include any Christmas songs. "Rockin' Around" currently sits at #7 on Spotify's daily list of the most-played songs in the U.S., ahead of "All I Want" at #12.

On Christmas Day for each of the last three years, on Spotify at least, more Americans have listened to Lee describing "everyone dancing merrily in the new old-fashioned way" than Carey declaring what she really wants for Christmas.

By the numbers: Carey held Spotify's top spot on Christmas in 2017, 2018 and 2019 — with "Rockin' Around" just behind — and also hit #1 for a few days in 2020. But "All I Want for Christmas" peaked at #2 in 2021 and #3 in 2022, according to data from Chartmetric.

Lee has now been #1 on Christmas in each of the past three years, holding down the top spot for two straight weeks in December, 2021 and four days last year.


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