Brenda Lee Becomes Oldest Person To Earn A New #1 Hit As “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” Tops Hot 100
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Breaking: Mariah has fallen.
Every year since the streaming went mainstream, Christmas songs have climbed the Billboard Hot 100 around the holidays. In 2019, that led to the then-strange phenomenon of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” hitting #1 a quarter-century after its release — a feat the song repeated four years in a row. Chart followers have since gotten used to seeing old songs Every December, the song has been a lock to spend multiple weeks at #1. But this year, a different, much older Christmas classic has taken over pole position.
As Billboard reports, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” tops the Hot 100 for the first time this week, 65 years after its release. That destroys the previous record for longest gap between release and reaching the summit, which was Carey’s 25-year interim with “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” At 78, Lee is also the oldest person to earn a new #1 hit on the Hot 100, surpassing Louis Armstrong, who was 62 when “Hello, Dolly!” topped the chart in 1964.
“Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” is Lee’s third #1 hit on the chart and first since 1960, when she topped the chart with “I’m Sorry” and “I Want To Be Wanted.”
“Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” originally peaked at #14 upon its release in 1958 and climbed all the way to #2 in recent years, spending nine weeks in that spot between 2019 and now. Lee has been promoting it this year with its first official music video, a TikTok campaign in which she discusses her career, and even singing it on an airplane intercom. She’s set to perform it Thursday on NBC’s Christmas At The Opry special. It’s only the third holiday song to hit #1 following “The Chipmunk Song” and “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
Carey’s tune is at #2 this week, followed by last week’s chart-topper “Lovin On Me” by Jack Harlow at #3. Other holiday songs in the top 10 include Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” at #4, Wham!’s “Last Christmas” at #5, Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” at #6, and Andy Williams’ “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” at #10.
