Christmas Music Racing up The Charts Far Earlier Than Usual
- Editor OGN Daily
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
Christmas music is really popping off this season, scoring high streaming engagement far earlier than the usual holiday listening cycle.
Christmas music brings a lot of people nostalgic joy and a sense of communal connection, and it seems many people are craving a dose of that earlier this year, after a chaotic stretch of living in “interesting times” (your thoughts on how good or bad that is may vary).
Music-analytics company Hit Momentum told The WSJ that the last time Christmas music listening spiked this early was in 2020 - and we can all remember what the world was going through then. It's pretty obvious that when people are stressed, Christmas music is called upon to be a soothing, merry balm.
On 1 December this year, 30 Christmas songs were in the top 50 on Spotify, compared to only 14 in 2019. Ten days later, 20 of the top 25 were holiday tunes. Holiday playlist creation was also up 60 percent this October compared to last year.
Top songs include Mariah Carey’s 1994 All I Want for Christmas Is You (which just broke the record for most weeks atop the singles chart), classics like Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, and new hits like Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me.
It’s also a big season for the estates of deceased artists. Bing Crosby, whose White Christmas is the best-selling single of all time, generates three quarters of his annual stream in December alone.
Interestingly, according to music manager Jonathan Daniel, Christmas music puts people in such a good mood that it can actually lessen their critical judgment of songs. For some reason, people also feel more comfortable listening to genres they wouldn’t normally seek out during the rest of the year.