Service of A First: Two Billboard Top 100 Songs Celebrate Christmas–What Does It Mean?
December 27th, 2019
Categories: Christmas, Music, Song
Gary Trust reported that Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” represent the first time the Billboard 100 had a twofer of Christmas songs at the top.
In “Mariah Carey No. 1, Brenda Lee No. 2 in Billboard Hot 100’s First-Ever ‘Christmas’ Double Up,‘” on Billboard.com, Trust went on to write that “a record-tying four seasonal songs rank in the Hot 100’s top 10, as Burl Ives’ ‘A Holly Jolly Christmas’ climbs 10-6 for a new high and Bobby Helms’ ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ rolls 15-9.”
You can’t extrapolate with certainty the significance of this development but it’s fun to try. Are we becoming more traditional? Is music more accessible to people through their smartphones so they can easily add seasonal tunes to family gatherings? What are your favorite Christmas songs?
Tags: Billboard 100, Bobby Helms, Brenda Lee, Burl Ives, Mariah Carey
My favorite Christmas song is “Oh holy night.” Obviously, it is very religious, and in a minor key.
JBS,
I like many of the religious Christmas songs too: “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” “Drummer Boy” and “Good King Wenceslas.” None are in the Billboard top 10.
I like them, too. I also like “Silent Night.”
JBS is not only right, but tactful. These chart toppers haven’t the slightest thing to do with Christmas. Just imagine the Holy Family bopping around the tree, hitching a sleigh ride with Santa, not to speak of finding one’s true love….tied up in bright red and green ribbons, perhaps? Cheery and tuneful as they may be, these songs not only miss the spirit of the event, many might find them disrespectful. Christmas IS a religious event, so let’s respect it for what it is.
Imagine the uproar should someone come up with “Have Yourself a Happy Little Hannukah!”
Lucrezia,
Many of the popular Christmas songs were created by Jewish composers so I would guess that were they alive they might compose a few Hanukkah songs as well. I suspect commercialism hadn’t yet hit Hanukkah in the day which is why they don’t exist.