At the moment there are mainly Christmas songs from the past in the charts. “Last Christmas” by Wham!?Also 40 years old. With “Jingle Bell Rock” there is even one at the top, which was released in 1957.
“Billboard” is now at least clarifying who has been successful with hits for the Christmas season in the last 25 years. Sales and streams were counted. At the forefront is “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande from 2014. The singer is followed by Kellsy Clarkson (“Underneath The Tree”, 2010) and Michael Bublé with his new version of “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” (2011 ).
What’s striking is that there isn’t a single song in the top 10 that was released before 2010. The noughties were probably a Xmas misery.
The most successful Christmas songs of the last 25 years
- 1. “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande (2014)
- 2. “Underneath The Tree” by Kelly Clarkson (2010)
- 3. “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé (2011)
- 4. “Like It’s Christmas” by The Jonas Brothers (2019)
- 5. “Merry Christmas” by Elton John & Ed Sheeran (2021)
- 6. “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber (2011)
- 7. “Snowman” by Sia (2017)
- 8. “You Make It Feel Like Christmas” by Gwen Stefani (2017)
- 9. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Michael Bublé (2011)
- 10. “Holly Jolly Christmas” by Michael Bublé (2011)
A little footnote to the Ariana Grande hit. According to her own statements, the singer could have ruined it herself with a raunchy video.
“We shot video last minute with no budget just to have something to release,” she told Spotify some time ago. “In the original video, I was seen wearing strange Christmas underwear and spanking Santa with a cane. And I really insisted on that. I thought to myself, ‘This is the right mood for this song. Believe me, I know.’ And the label was like, ‘Hey, honey, I don’t think we can use this.’ I’m glad I listened to them then.”
Just to be clear: Ariana Grande is a far cry from Mariah Carey’s mega-hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” when it comes to sales and streams. But the song just appeared before the turn of the millennium.