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Chained To The Rhythm: The Month In Pop

The 2022 State Of Pop Address

2:45 PM EST on January 3, 2022

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 04: (L-R) Avril Lavigne poses with Olivia Rodrigo, recipient of the Songwriter of the Year award, during Variety’s Hitmakers Brunch presented by Peacock | Girls5eva on December 04, 2021 in Downtown Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Variety)

|Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Variety

The holiday season is over, but the holiday charts -- the Billboard Hot 100 top 10, in particular -- mirror a certain ongoing generational war. Gen X pop icon Mariah Carey and her unshakable "All I Want For Christmas Is You" hit #1 (for a third straight year), while millennial Adele's "Easy On Me" hovered at #3. At #2 was Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" -- a boomer classic. Kicked out of the top 5 was Gen Z jam "Stay" by the Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber, replaced by midcentury yuletide bedrocks "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Holly Jolly Christmas," which debuted in the '60s and '50s, respectively. So many decades, and they’re all knocking against each other in the top 10. It certainly makes you think about whether or not the generations can coexist peacefully in the pop music world when recent history (see: "OK Boomer," etc) has suggested otherwise.