On last week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated January 2), Christmas music dominated. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was in the midst of its now-annual return to No. 1, and 24kGoldn and Iann Dior’s “Mood” was the only non-holiday song in the top ten spots of the chart. Across the entire Hot 100 chart, there were 39 holiday songs included on last week’s tally, which is an all-time record.
Now, though, 2021 has arrived and the holiday season is over, so the Hot 100 is starting to return back to normal. On the latest Hot 100 (dated January 9), Carey’s hit has fallen down to No. 9 and is the only holiday tune remaining in the top ten, while “Mood” is back to No. 1 for the seventh total week. What is perhaps the most impressive chart feat of the week, though, is the return of The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights.” The single, which initially was released in November 2019, wasn’t on the Hot 100 at all last week, but now it’s back up to No. 3. That is the biggest re-entry in the history of the chart, meaning that no song that has ever left the chart has come back from off the chart to on it in this high a ranking.
The #Hot100 top 10 (chart dated Jan. 9, 2021)
— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) January 4, 2021
.@theweeknd's "Blinding Lights" re-enters this week's #Hot100 chart at No. 3.
It breaks the all-time record for the highest re-entry in the history of the chart.
— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) January 4, 2021
This means that “Blinding Lights” extends the records it holds for both most weeks spent in the top 5 of the Hot 100 and in the top 10. As for Carey, she managed to avoid repeating last year’s drastic “All I Want For Christmas Is You” chart descent, when it became the first song to ever fall from the top spot of the Hot 100 one week to off it completely the next week.
