The Billboard Hot 100 charts usually highlight new recordings but an unusual exception is holiday music as this specific genre continues to create room for old favorites alongside newer tracks that enter into rotation annually. Typically new songs by 20-30 year old artists are present but when the winter holiday season hits older music often gains more streaming attention especially as these classics are heard through various media outlets. Billboard charts have listed various artists throughout its existence but certain holiday songs stay among the top performers with their songs making repeated chart appearances each year.
Holiday Music Breaks Chart Norms: Older Songs Gain Top Positions and Earning Power
The usual pop music model has changed come November when old holiday songs are once again popular, many songs from musicians long since passed such as Bing Crosby and Perry Como rise to the top spots with notable royalty payments for the holiday season. The current top five songs hold an average age of 52 years among various artists such as Bobby Helms whose “Jingle Bell Rock” is 67 years old this contrasts to many new artists. These selected tunes become yearly favorites and earn the most revenue which creates financial opportunity each season for these select artists who managed to break through during initial release. Bobby Helms' “Jingle Bell Rock” and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin Around The Christmas Tree” both are holiday staples many years after initial release to various generations.
The Endless Pursuit of Holiday Hit Records as Artists Vie for Canonization
Many recordings from artists aim to join the Holiday canon after successful singles such as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee and “Last Christmas” by Wham! however many fail to make it to long term listening rotations despite strong initial releases. The opportunity for recurring income encourages many artists to keep creating new holiday singles both covers and original releases with new artist and fresh sounds hoping to achieve recurring long term revenues. Only very few tracks eventually join the top charts as ongoing popular traditions creating massive royalty checks for those lucky artists and labels. Billboard is a major media outlet that monitors music industry shifts to showcase various trends.
Billboard's Top 25: Modern Holiday Songs of the Last 25 Years
Billboard used consumption data through December 12 from Luminate and compiled the list to determine how much sales and streams each artist received for the last 25 years during this time period. Billboard provides a detailed ranking of top holiday songs that have entered the mainstream over the past 25 years from 2024 down to 1999 and all of the artists that have entered the list including Ariana Grande and Kelly Clarkson.
Ariana Grande and Kelly Clarkson’s Modern Holiday Classics Reach Top Ten on Billboard Charts
Ariana Grande's 2014 release “Santa Tell Me” consistently gained popularity since its release by becoming a standard. Ariana Grande's song was co-written by Savan Kotecha who also wrote Ellie Goulding’s Love Me Like You Do along with ILYA the producer and writer for Grande’s song Problem showing impressive resumes between co writers and producers . Kelly Clarkson’s rousing 2010 release “Underneath the Tree” also is a notable addition with music composed and produced with Greg Kurstin who was another talented musical producer on her hit. Ariana Grande “Santa Tell Me” ranks eighth and Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree” ranks ninth in the overall charts for top ten Christmas songs on Billboard making a great mark in top charts. Kelly Clarkson released her album “Wrapped in Red” in 2010 that includes her popular “Underneath The Tree”.
Michael Bublé’s Multiple Takes on Holiday Classics Among Chart-Topping Songs and Various Renditions
Michael Bublé released his version of "It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" back in 2011 adding this version to be popular alongside Perry Como and Bing Crosby’s interpretations in 1951 written by Meredith Wilson. Michael Buble has five of his renditions including "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" first released by Judy Garland during 1944’s Meet Me In St Louis” as a very well known holiday hit. Michael Bublé's many album releases provide multiple songs that were covered by Buble that charted over many different years since original release by various musicians and labels making an incredible market impact. Buble's “Holly Jolly Christmas" has the second most listened to ranking after Burl Ives version created back in 1965.
Modern Artists Showcase New Talent with Holiday Tracks Like Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber
The Jonas Brothers released "Like It's Christmas" back in 2019 while Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe” debuted in 2011 alongside much critic scrutiny. Gian Stone served as a producer for the 2019 "Like Its Christmas" for Jonas Brothers while Mike Elizondo who worked for Snoop Dogg helped for the new recording along with Justin Bieber The Messengers worked with him for production on Mistletoe album that debuted back in 2011. Both Bieber’s album titled Under the Mistletoe plus Jonas Brother album have been repeatedly streamed over time with very high sales volumes on online markets demonstrating their staying power. Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe” originally reviewed unfavorably on Billboard eventually did find mainstream attention after an initial underwhelming reception from the reviewers .
Sia and Gwen Stefani Join the Ranks With Rising Holiday Music Successes over last ten years
Sia’s 2017 hit “Snowman” with the help of a Tiktok challenge and Gwen Stefani’s title track “You Make It Feel Like Christmas” also achieved great success on music streaming sites in later years after initial release. Sia’s song "Snowman” was also created and produced alongside Greg Kurstin who also worked with Kelly Clarkson while Gwen Stefani's song co-written alongside country star Blake Shelton. “Snowman” by Sia reached viral attention due to the TikTok challenge from 2020 that featured vocal range whereas "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" album failed to make an initial top 100 mark on Billboard chart eventually reaching mainstream audiences at a later date. Both artists albums continue to be heavily rotated among holiday music playlists during recent years as their songs gained audience attention.
Pentatonix and Laufey Release Unique Renditions and Fresh Holiday Songs
Pentatonix's acapella cover of Leonard Cohen’s 1984 "Hallelujah" version is now considered most popular released in the last 25 years surpassing versions previously held by Bon Jovi K.D Lang and Jeff Buckley versions of same song. Laufey also achieved her first Top 100 placement with "Christmas Magic" which gained extra traction because it also featured on the Amazon movie Red One which had a theatrical release in December 2024. Pentatonix version of Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah” that featured on their album is now considered top version when compared to many others after numerous sales and streaming data confirmed such findings. Laufey also worked alongside Spencer Stewart for the music production of her unique song showcasing unique sound. Laufey’s recent collaboration with amazon also helped provide recognition during a very competitive period for Holiday songs and music streams that include multiple artists.
Other Notable Holiday Hits: From Kelly Clarkson's Duet to Meghan Trainor's Jingle Bells
Kelly Clarkson partnered with Ariana Grande in “Santa Can You Hear Me?” from her album When Christmas Comes Around which saw popularity among streaming services. John Legend recorded Stevie Wonder's classic “What Christmas Means to Me” along with other artists for popular album titled "Legendary Christmas. ” Katy Perry's Amazon Original “Cozy Little Christmas” that was both written and produced along with Greg Wells created an additional successful holiday release as both releases experienced heavy listening. Pentatonix's recordings "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” plus “Mary, Did You Know” as covers proved incredibly successful, and beat earlier original versions such as Bing Crosby version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman." Megan Trainor created "Jingle Bells" that rose to number 78 on Billboard charts demonstrating unique talent at reinterpreting the classic holiday hit with both modern style as she follows original rendition by Frank Sinatra.
Taylor Swift's and Laufey's New Original Releases Join Ever Growing List of Holiday Standards
Taylor Swift's original “Christmas Tree Farm” plus her other version "Old Timey Version" did see good initial sales but does not appear in the top chart positions usually as Taylor Swift tends to occupy most charts within other genres. Laufey created a jazzy cover of "Winter Wonderland" that gained traction across streaming platforms demonstrating talent that crosses different genres of holiday music as also shown through prior hit. Sabrina Carpenter's "Santa Doesn't Know You Like I Do" mixed classic holiday music tones with melancholy achieving greater appeal after album release further confirming the impact different tones can achieve among holiday audiences during the specific holiday season. Taylor Swifts “Christmas Tree Farm” made to billboard number 8 for best Christmas songs during the 21st century. Laufey is quickly becoming well known for combining classical jazz music with modern pop tunes .
Michael Buble’s "Christmas Baby Please Come Home" with the album that is called Christmas and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” along with Idina Menzel’s cover of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” paired with Buble all round out the most successful modern versions of traditional holiday songs while proving the popularity of classic cover hits. The album "Christmas” was released in 2011 making strong sales during the past decade. The final song that charts on list includes For King & Country’s rendition of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” which bests most other renditions with the exception of Bing Crosby's prior recording. Michael Buble remains highly successful covering multiple christmas standards by adding his very own creative twist on popular traditional songs with a huge success during holiday release windows year after year.