This week, there are five Christmas songs in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The oldest of those holiday tracks was released in 1957 (“Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms), while the “newest” one came out 30 years ago (“All I Want For Christmas” by Mariah Carey). The others (“Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee, “Last Christmas” by Wham!, and “A Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives) are from 1958, 1984, and 1964, respectively.
But what’s the biggest “new” Christmas song, a.k.a. one that didn’t come out during or before the Clinton administration?
Billboard looked at every Christmas track released in the past 25 years, “ranked by total consumption (streams and sales),” and found the most popular to be “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande, from 2014. It’s hard to say whether the track would be more or less canonical if Grande’s label agreed to her original diea for the music video.
“We did [the video that was released] last minute with no budget just to have something to put out,” she told Spotify. “The original video, I was in weird Christmas lingerie and I was hitting Santa with a cane pole. And that was something I was really insistent [on]. I was like, ‘That is the right vibe for this song. Believe you me, I know it.’ And the label was like, ‘Hey, honey, I don’t think we can use this.’ I’m glad I was reeled in that time!”
Below, you can see the other contemporary Christmas favorites.
The 10 Most Popular Christmas Songs Released In The Past 25 Years
1. “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande (2014)
2. “Underneath The Tree” by Kelly Clarkson (2010)
3. “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé (2011)
4. “Like It’s Christmas” by The Jonas Brothers (2019)
5. “Merry Christmas” by Elton John & Ed Sheeran (2021)
6. “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber (2011)
7. “Snowman” by Sia (2017)
8. “You Make It Feel Like Christmas” by Gwen Stefani (2017)
9. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Michael Bublé (2011)
10. “Holly Jolly Christmas” by Michael Bublé (2011)
