"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is a Christmas song written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958; it has since been recorded by numerous other music artists. By the song's 50th anniversary in 2008, Lee's original version had sold over 15 million copies around the world with the 4th most digital downloads sold of any Christmas single.[3][4] In 2019, Lee's recording of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[5] In November 2023, Lee released a music video for the song, and in December, the song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking Lee's third number-one single and making Lee the oldest artist ever to top the Hot 100 at age 78, later breaking the record once again one week later at the age of 79. The song also set the record for the longest period of time between an original release and its topping the Hot 100 (65 years), as well as the longest time between number-one singles by an artist: 63 years, one month and two weeks.
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was written by Johnny Marks, who had previously penned "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas".[6] In spite of her mature voice, Lee recorded the song when she was only 13 years old. In a 2019 interview with The Tennessean, Lee recalled that she had no knowledge as to why Marks wanted her specifically to sing it: "I was only 12 [sic], and I had not had a lot of success in records, but for some reason he heard me and wanted me to do it. And I did."[6]
An instrumental version of the song appears as background music in the 1964 television specialRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which exclusively featured music written by Marks. It can be heard in the scene where Rudolph first arrives at the Reindeer Games and meets another reindeer named Fireball. A fully sung version of the song would later appear in Rankin/Bass's 1979 sequel Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. The song was also used in the 1990 film Home Alone during a scene when Kevin McCallister pretends that there is a holiday party taking place in his house, and discourages the burglars from robbing it. The song was also featured in The Christmas Special episode of Regular Show in 2012. The song was also used in D-TV set to the Disney cartoons, Pluto's Christmas Tree and Mickey's Christmas Carol.
In 1991, Lee rerecorded the song and other standards for A Brenda Lee Christmas, which includes only the rerecording and not the original version.
On November 3, 2023, Lee released a music video for the song, consisting of the 78-year-old Lee lip synching to the original recording of her 13-year-old voice at a party that includes Trisha Yearwood and fellow former teenage country music star Tanya Tucker.[8]
In October 2024, Universal Music Group released “Noche Buena y Navidad,” a Spanish adaptation of the song that features an AI version of Lee’s vocals. Rewritten in Spanish and produced by producer/songwriter Auero Baqueiro, the goal was to make it sound like 13-year old Lee was singing the song in Spanish. The new version uses a plug-in from AI music tech company SoundLabs. To create “Noche Buena y Navidad,” after rewriting the song, Baquiero brought in Chilean vocalist Leyla Hoyle to record a Spanish language guide track while mimicking the pitch and phrasings of the original. The vocal stems were then sent to SoundLabs, which ran the vocals through its “Brenda Lee” AI vocal model that was trained on hours of the singer’s isolated vocal stems, including the original “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” Baquiero then mixed the new isolated AI-generated vocal into the original music elements of the track. The project was completed with a full sign-on from Lee. “Throughout my career, I performed and recorded many songs in different languages, but I never recorded ‘Rockin’ in Spanish, which I would have loved to do,” Lee said in a press release. “To have this out now is pretty incredible, and I’m happy to introduce the song to fans in a new way.”[9][10]
Chart performance and sales
Although Decca released the single in both 1958 and again in 1959, it did not sell well until Lee became a popular star in 1960. That Christmas holiday season, Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" placed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time, eventually peaking at No. 14. It continued to sell well during subsequent holiday seasons, peaking as high as No. 3 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1965. Lee said, "It was magic, and I think we all knew it. It took a few years to take off, but once it did, it really did."[6]
The song experienced a large resurgence in popularity due to its use in the film Home Alone in 1990.[11] Lee recalled, "Somebody called me and said, “Have you seen the movie Home Alone? You ought to, because they've got "Rockin'” really featured in it.” That's when it really took off with the youngsters. I knew it was special, but you never know what's going to be a hit — if you did, we'd all have hits every day. It has been a wonderful gift."[12]
Lee's 1958 recording still receives a great deal of airplay, as radio station formats ranging from top 40 to adult contemporary to country music to oldies to even adult standards have played this version. It has since turned into a perennial holiday favorite, and due to rule changes in 2014[13] has returned annually to the Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching No. 2 in the 2019 holiday season[14] and returning to that runner-up position each of the following three years (for a total of nine nonconsecutive weeks at No. 2).[15] In December 2023, the song finally reached No. 1. By attaining the Hot 100's top spot 65 years after its original release, the song broke the record for the longest amount of time for a single to make the number-one position. It was also only the third time in the over six-decade history of the Hot 100 chart that a Christmas/holiday song reached No. 1 (following "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" by David Seville and The Chipmunks in December 1958, and "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey in December 2019).[16] With the achievement and her celebrating her 79th birthday at the same time, Lee also became the senior-most recording artist to top the Hot 100 chart, surpassing Louis Armstrong, who was 62 years old when "Hello, Dolly!" led the chart in early May 1964. Among female recording artists, Lee also passed the previous record held by Cher, who was 52 years old when "Believe" ruled the Hot 100 chart in March 1999. Making even more history, Lee set a new record for the longest break between number-one singles on the Hot 100 chart: 63 years, one month, and two weeks between "I Want to Be Wanted" making No. 1 on the week ending October 24, 1960, and the ascent of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" to the top.[15]
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" has consistently been the most-played Christmas song on Spotify during the month of December since 2021.[17]
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" reached over one million in digital downloads by 2016 according to Nielsen SoundScan, making it fifth on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in SoundScan history.[32] The song has sold 1,170,000 copies in the United States as of December 2019.[33] On December 9, 2024, the Recording Industry Association of America certified "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" 7× Platinum for US sales of 7 million copies of the digital single.[34]
On the official UK Singles Chart, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" peaked at No. 6 when it was released in the United Kingdom in 1962. In 2013, due to downloads, it became one of a number of songs to re-enter the UK Singles Chart near Christmastime each holiday season. The single peaked at No. 63 on Sunday, December 15, 2013. Then in 2017, it reached No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart, its highest chart position since 1963.[35] On the week ending January 5, 2023, the song reached No. 4, peaking two places higher than its original release 61 years prior.
Track listing
Side A
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (Johnny Marks) – 2:02
Its accompanying video featured the two hosting a Christmas party with guests including The Mekon and an appearance from Smith's comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones, carol singers played by the band Curiosity Killed the Cat and Spitting Image puppets of Bette Midler and Tina Turner. Rolf Harris' cover of "Two Little Boys" (the Christmas number one single of 1969) was referred to in the song lyrics and at this point a photo of him was shown in the video - however, since Harris was disgraced for sexual offence crimes, this reference has been cropped out of airplay, except in Australia where the clip is played in full. The ABC network in Australia played the unedited clip as recently as 25th December, 2024
Canadian singer Justin Bieber released a cover version of the song as a promotional single on November 12, 2020, exclusively on Amazon Music.[121] On October 29, 2021, the song was released on streaming platforms worldwide as an official single.[122][123]
Background
Talking about the cover, Bieber said: "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" has always been one of my favourite songs to celebrate the holidays and I'm excited to team up with Amazon Music to share my own version, with my fans. I'm so thankful to be able to spend the season with loved ones, and to also use this opportunity to give back to LIFT, Inner-City Arts and Alexandria House: three incredible organizations that I've supported in the past. I hope my fans join me in reaching out to the communities and organizations they care about, to help spread joy to those who need it most."[124][125]
Commercial performance
On December 25, 2020, the song entered the top 20, arriving at #8. The following week, on January 1, 2021, it further climbed to #4, its peak position.
Brenda Mae Tarpley, known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country and Christmas music, she achieved her first Billboard hit aged 12 in 1957 and was given the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite". Some of Lee's most successful songs include "Sweet Nothin's", "I'm Sorry", "I Want to Be Wanted", "Speak to Me Pretty", "All Alone Am I" and "Losing You". Her festive song "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", recorded in 1958, topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, making Lee the oldest artist ever to top the chart and breaking several chart records.
"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!. Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in several European countries. The song has been covered by many artists including Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Whigfield, Crazy Frog and Billie Piper.
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey from her fourth studio album and first holiday album, Merry Christmas (1994). She wrote and produced the song with Walter Afanasieff. It was released as the lead single from the album on October 29, 1994, by Columbia Records. The track is an uptempo love song that includes bell chimes, backing vocals, and synthesizers. It has received critical acclaim, with The New Yorker describing it as "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon". The song has become a Christmas standard, with a significant rise in popularity every December.
"The Christmas Song" is a Christmas song written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé. The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song in June 1946.
"Jingle Bell Rock" is an American Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. It has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas season since then, and is generally considered Helms' signature song. "Jingle Bell Rock" was composed by Joseph Carleton Beal and James Ross Boothe, although both Helms and session guitarist on the song Hank Garland disputed this. Beal was a Massachusetts-born public relations professional and longtime resident of South Ocean Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Boothe was an American writer in the advertising business.
This article contains a listing of Dean Martin's original singles, LPs, and compilations from his career.
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart is compiled and released to the public by Billboard on Tuesdays, but post-dated to the following Saturday.
"I Want to Be Wanted" is a popular song performed by Brenda Lee.
The discography of Canadian singer Justin Bieber consists of six studio albums, three remix albums, three compilation albums, two extended plays, 76 singles, and 10 promotional singles. Bieber has attained eight number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 and eight number-one albums on the US Billboard 200 charts. As of June 2019, Bieber has sold an estimated 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), he has sold 24 million albums and 122.5 million digital singles units as a lead artist, in the United States. Bieber was named the "Greatest Pop Star of 2016" by Billboard. He was also named the Billboard Year-End Top Male Artist for 2016 and placed number seven on the magazine's Decade-End Top Artists Chart for the 2010s.
"Mistletoe" is a Christmas song by Canadian singer Justin Bieber. The song was written by Bieber and his producers, Nasri Atweh and Adam Messinger. The song was released on October 17, 2011, as the lead single from his second studio album and first Christmas album, Under the Mistletoe (2011). "Mistletoe" is a pop and R&B song, that has reggae influences. "Mistletoe" received generally positive reviews from most music critics. The song reached the top ten in Canada, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway, and slightly missed the top 10 in the US, peaking at 11, while also reaching the top forty in nine other countries. It set the record for the highest debut for a Christmas song in Billboard Hot 100 history. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Roman White. It features the singer singing on a snowy, lit-up street.
The Streaming Songs chart is released weekly by Billboard magazine and lists each week's top streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services in the United States. The chart represents one of the three components, along with airplay and sales, that determine the chart positions of songs on the Billboard Hot 100, which ranks the most popular songs in the United States.
Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music.
The singles discography of American singer Brenda Lee contains 90 as a lead artist, four as a collaborative and featured artist, nine released in foreign languages, 21 promotional singles, 19 other charting songs and two music videos. Lee's debut single was released by Decca Records in 1956 called "Jambalaya ". The 1957 single "One Step at a Time" was her first to make the US charts. The 1958 release of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" did not chart until Lee had further charting singles in 1960. Originally the US Hot 100 top 20, it would later top the same chart 65 years later in 2023. In recent years, it has also made chart positions in several other countries.
References
↑ Rees, Dafydd; Crampton, Luke; Lazell, Barry (1989). Guinness Book of Rock Stars. Guinness Books. p.293. ISBN0-85112-872-6.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 52,53. týden 2021 in the date selector. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 50. týden 2022 in the date selector. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 51+52. týden 2023 in the date selector. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
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