When the holiday season comes around, one consistent factor that makes it feel like Christmas is the music. There are many classic Christmas songs, but among those are the top hits that stay popular yearly. While Christmas is known as the Mariah Carey time of year, many other great songs will put you in the Christmas spirit. When surveying the student body at Pennridge High School, the top five Christmas songs were, respectively: “Last Christmas,” “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Happy Xmas (War is Over),” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “All I Want for Christmas is You.” There is a good chance when shopping or listening to the radio during the holidays you’ll hear one or many of these songs.
Starting at the top, “Last Christmas” by Wham! received the highest rating of four out of five stars. Wham!,a British pop duo wrote the song, which was produced by George Michael. After being released on Dec. 3rd, 1984 this song took off, spending five consecutive weeks at No. 2 in the UK singles chart and overall being the highest-selling single to never top the charts with 1.9 million copies sold for many years. It became the third biggest song of all time in the UK through sales and streams. The popularity of “Last Christmas” doesn’t end in the UK though, with this song remaining popular in the US. Many artists have also covered it and released their versions, like Taylor Swift, Pentatonix, and Ariana Grande. The pop genre maintains the festive spirit in the song, allowing it to be one of the most successful Christmas songs since 1984, as proved by the data and covers by popular artists.
Moving on to the second most popular, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” was given a 3.76 rating out of five. This song was written by Edward Pola and George Wyle as a celebration of the holidays in 1963. It was recorded and released that year by Andy Williams. “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” has become a consistent top runner in discussions about the best Christmas songs. It has been on pop singles charts around the world in the 2010s and 2020s, peaking at No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 2020 and No. 9 on the UK singles chart in 2021. Whether this is a result of being in the popular movie, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” or being on countless Christmas playlists, this song has made a name for itself when it comes to the holiday season, and Andy Williams is known for this Christmas hit.
“Happy Xmas (War is Over)” comes up just short of the number two spot and stays in third place with a rating of 3.74 out of five. This song was released in 1971 as a single by John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band and Yoko Ono with the Harlem Community Choir. It was Lennon’s seventh single released outside of his work with the Beatles. The focus of this song was to protest against the Vietnam War. There are themes of social unity and peaceful change through personal accountability, and the goal of the song was to convey optimism when it came out. Through the counterculture movement of protests against American involvement in the Vietnam War, there were billboards all over cities declaring “WAR IS OVER If You Want It – Happy Christmas from John & Yoko.” When Pennridge senior Evie Rindone was asked about the list she said “On the list, War is Over is probably my personal favorite song, however, I keep it off my list because the Vietnam War doesn’t really put me in the Christmas spirit, but John Lennon hits you in a way few others do with that song.”
A well-known classic, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee received fourth place with a 3.62 rating. The song was written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958, marking the beginning of its success. She recorded it when she was 13 years old, which might seem young, but her age didn’t stop the song from becoming incredibly popular. By the song’s 50th anniversary, it had sold over 15 million copies around the world with the fourth most digital downloads sold of any Christmas song. College student Jacob Stash shared how he enjoys traditional Christmas songs like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”. He explained, “I prefer traditional music and don’t really listen to modern Christmas songs, traditional has better songs and is more nostalgic.” This song also gained a lot of traction by being played in a notable part of “Home Alone,” the popular Christmas movie that is categorized as a classic. In 2019, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which was a big deal, especially considering it is a Christmas song and is mainly listened to solely during the holiday season. And just like Last Christmas, other known artists have released covers of this song, adding to its fame.
Coming in at number five with a 3.48 star rating, there wouldn’t be a list of popular Christmas songs without the arguably most-known Christmas song of all time, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey. She wrote and produced it with Walter Afansieff. The song was released on October 29, 1994, and since has become a Christmas standard with a significant rise in popularity every December. It re-enters the charts every year, weeks before Christmas, and has reached No. 1 in over 30 countries. It is the best-selling Christmas song of all time in the U.S., and there is no conversation about Christmas songs without this one being mentioned, regardless of whether you love or hate this song.
Singing is a popular activity during the holiday season, whether it’s listening to Christmas music, artists releasing festive songs during this time, going caroling to spread joy or simply just putting a playlist together of your favorite holiday songs. These five songs are just some of the classics that come around every December that give cheer for all to hear and get people in the Christmas spirit.
Sources:
Last Christmas
It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
All I Want For Christmas Is You
