Pandora Unveils Top 5 Most 'Thumbs-Up' Holiday Tunes

Pandora has released new data that reveals insights into the holiday music listening habits of the service’s more than 200 million registered users, indicating that Americans are tuning in to their favorite holiday music earlier than ever.

Pandora Chief Marketing Officer Simon Fleming-Wood said, “Music plays such a big role in our lives, and this is especially true during the holidays. There’s nothing quite like the right soundtrack to bring on the festive mood, and to share and create new memories with family and friends. Whatever our listeners are celebrating, Pandora is an effortless way to bring your favorite holiday music to life.”

Last year, over 25 million Pandora users listened to more than 187 million hours of holiday music.

While Christmas Day tends to be the most popular day of the year for holiday music, with nearly 28 percent of songs listened to that day being played on a holiday-themed station, listening data shows that Pandora listeners are tuning in for holiday tunes even earlier.

Simon Fleming-Wood

Fleming-Wood added, “We see listeners run search queries on holiday music as early as October, and by mid-November, nearly 10 percent of our listeners are tuning into a holiday-themed station.”

Pandora data also highlights states that have the greatest number of listeners getting into the holiday music spirit. Last year, Vermont and New Hampshire listeners were the most festive, with more than 40 percent of their listeners tuning into holiday music on Christmas day.

Another state embracing their inner Mele Kalikimaka wasHawaii, with 36 percent of Pandora listeners there tuning into a holiday-themed station.

Pandora listeners can once again get in the seasonal spirit this year with a variety of holiday-themed genre stations, including Christmas, Jazz Holidays, Navidad Tropical, Mariah Carey (Holiday), Swingin’ Christmas, Classical Christmas, Hanukkah and many more. For the 2013 holiday season, Pandora has also added new holiday-themed genre stations specializing in smooth jazz, choirs, Celtic Christmas and a series of stations devoted to Latin holiday music.

The five most “Thumbed-Up” songs of the 2012 holiday season included:

1. “All I Want for Christmas is You”
2. “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”
3. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
4. “Jingle Bell Rock”
5. “Santa Baby”

To check out a full list of Pandora’s holiday-themed genre stations visit: http://www.pandora.com/music/holiday.