Are You Playing The Right Xmas Songs?
• Thanksgiving is still two weeks away, but Christmas music has already begun permeating AC airwaves from coast to coast — are you playing America’s favorite Christmas songs? P1 Media Group wanted to know how the 40 most-played Christmas songs from the 2017 Holiday Season rank amongst Christmas music radio listeners. To the surprise of almost no one, the study found that “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms is once again America’s No. 1-testing Christmas song — six decades after its release!
“Christmas music’s appeal is a strong as ever amongst those that listen to All-Christmas stations,” said Ken Benson, Partner & co-Founder of P1 Media Group.
The 40 songs tested were the most-played Christmas Songs from 2017 according to Mediabase. Below find the Top 10 songs from that list:
1) Bobby Helms, “Jingle Bell Rock” (1957)
2) Burl Ives, “Holly Jolly Christmas” (1963)
3) Burl Ives, “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1958)
4) Brenda Lee, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” (1958)
5) Jose Feliciano, “Feliz Navidad” (1970)
6) Cyndi Lauper & Frank Sinatra, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” (1992)
7) Andy Williams, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” (1963)
8) Hall & Oates, “Jingle Bell Rock” (1984)
9) Gene Autry, ” Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1949)
10) Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Linus & Lucy” (1965)
A few highlights from this year’s study: 1) 2017’s most-played Christmas song was Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas is You.” 2) The classics continue to rule, with two versions of “Jingle Bell Rock” and two versions of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” landing in the Top 10. 3) Fourteen of the Top 20-testing songs were recorded between 1942 and 1970. 4) Listeners of Classic Rock, Classic Hits, Country, Top 40, AC, Rock/Alternative and Christian formats are most likely to listen to an All-Christmas format. Check out the entire list of 40 tested songs at p1mediagroup.com/christmas.
