Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree hits No. 1 for the 1st time
Move over Mariah Carey, there’s a new Christmas queen in town.
Brenda Lee has topped the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with her holiday classic Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, 65 years after the song’s release, rewriting multiple records in the process.
The song has reached nearly 35 million streams and 21 million radio plays this year, according to Luminate data.
Lee recorded the 1958 classic when she was just 13 years old. It was written by Johnny Marks, a Jewish American singer responsible for other classics you’ve probably heard like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Holly Jolly Christmas. It was prominently played in the 1990 classic Christmas movie Home Alone.
Lee took to Instagram to celebrate the feat.
“I love the Brendanators,” the emotional singer can be heard saying.
Breaking records
The popular track, which has consistently found its way to the top 10 on the chart for the past several holiday seasons, sets a new record for the longest gap between a song’s release and its appearance at number one. The previous record holder was Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You. Released in 1994, Carey’s song took 25 years to accomplish the feat, according to Billboard.
Lee’s song is just the third holiday number one ever on the Hot 100. The Chipmunk Song by The Chipmunks with David Seville, from 1958, spent four weeks in the top spot. Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You spent 12 weeks at number one, according to Billboard.
Ahead of the 65th anniversary of Rockin’, Lee at last released an official music video, which features country superstars Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood.
At 78, Lee is now the oldest performer in history to top the Hot 100, according to Billboard. She moves ahead of legendary jazz artist Louis Armstrong, who was 62 years old when his song Hello, Dolly! topped the charts in 1964.
In an 1985 interview, Brenda Lee said: ‘You can’t be No. 1 forever.’ But this year, she’s back on top for Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, 65 years after it was released.
The song is Lee’s third No. 1 and her first since 1960, when I’m Sorry and I Want To Be Wanted both briefly held the top spot.
Lee, who has a loyal following on TikTok with more than 80,000 followers, remains one of the few women to have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Hall of Fame.
WATCH | Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree:
