Preferred Decade For Holiday Music Fans Is The '90s

Holiday cheer has been starting earlier and earlier as everyone gears up to celebrate the beloved winter festivities. Aside from the food and the decorations, a crucial pillar of instilling Holiday cheer is of course the soundtrack! We all know at least one family member or friend who starts celebrating the holiday season well in advance, sometimes immediately after Halloween!

According to The Tuesday Takeaway from Illuminate, Holiday music fans are all over the map, playing a mixture of classics like Elvis’s Blue Christmas or newer releases like Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me and Blake Shelton’s Cheers, It’s Christmas. Mariah Carey’s "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reigns as the top holiday song, and in 2021, made up 2.1% of all holiday total audio and video streams, or just over 1 in every 50 genre streams. 

Furthermore, during the holiday genre’s peak week in 2021 (week ending 12/23/21), holiday music made up approximately 10% of all US total streams as fans got into the festive spirit. Overall, the holiday genre amassed 10.5 billion total audio and video streams in November and December 2021.

According to Luminate’s Artist & Genre Tracker, the most preferred decade for Holiday Music fans is the 90’s, but the 80’s and 2020’s follow closely behind. Besides their love for 90’s Hits and the Holiday Spirit, these Holiday Music Fans stand out in other ways as well. These folks can’t get enough entertainment and are avid consumers of talk-based content. 

Luminate’s Artist & Genre Tracker highlights that Holiday Fans spend +44% more time listening to podcasts, +63% more time listening to talk radio and +83% more time listening to audiobooks compared to the average U.S. consumer (ages 13+). 

Additionally, Luminate’s Entertainment 365 study found that Holiday Music Listeners are more likely to attend & tune into live events like attending the theater (+86%), live streaming music events (+68%), live streaming podcasts (+66%), and attending live music events (+40%).