On Monday (Dec. 4), Brenda Lee made history when her classic holiday chestnut, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time — 65 years after the song’s release.
Lee, whose indomitable spirit and powerful voice, even as a child, earned her the nickname “Little Miss Dynamite,” recorded “Rockin’” when she was just 13. Now, at age 79, she’s watching as the song, promoted by major label UMG Nashville, has reached the pinnacle of Billboard’s all-genre chart. In the process, the song has become only the third holiday song to reach No. 1 ever on the Hot 100.
“I like that God has given me that favor that I can stand aside and look and know that it wasn’t just me; that it’s a conglomerate of a lot of people that made the song what it is,” Lee tells Billboard, seated in the downtown offices of label UMG Nashville, just after UMG Nashville chair/CEO Cindy Mabe revealed the news of the song’s new peak.
“I’m happy for everybody here that’s worked so hard to make this happen because in today’s world, everything moves so fast and furious. But I’m telling you this: My label has come to bat,” Lee said.
Produced by Owen Bradley, “Rockin’” was initially released in 1958, though the song’s initial chart impact was modest. Lee earned her first two No. 1 Hot 100 hits in 1960, with “I’m Sorry” and “I Want to Be Wanted.” Bolstered by those successes, “Rockin’” reached an original peak of No. 14 in December 1960. Between December 2019 and last year, the song would spend nine weeks at No. 2 on the Hot 100, behind only Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Lee recorded “Rockin’” in the heart of Nashville’s Music Row, at Bradley’s Quonset Hut, her mature-beyond-her-years voice paired with the song’s rockabilly holiday feel, creating what would become her signature song.
“The producer cut the air way down in the studio,” Lee recalled. “He had a big Christmas tree and everyone was there — the Anita Kerr Singers and the A-team [of revered Nashville studio musicians], as we called them. It was like a little touch of magic kind of sprinkled in, and it turned out to be magic. It really did.”
Johnny Marks, the songwriter behind other holiday classics including “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” also wrote “Rockin’,” with Lee in mind for the song.
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