Every year, as soon as Thanksgiving passes, and increasingly even earlier, the same songs return: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” Bobby Helms’s “Jingle Bell Rock” and others recorded decades ago. In recent years, these old songs haven’t just reappeared. They have climbed to the very top of the Billboard Hot 100, the main chart of the most popular songs in the country.

A 25-year journey to No. 1

Mariah Carey released “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in 1994 on her album Merry Christmas. It was popular from the start, but for years it couldn’t reach the top of the Hot 100, partly because older chart rules made it difficult for songs that weren’t sold or promoted as singles in the usual way.

That changed with streaming. In December 2019, 25 years after its release, the song finally reached No. 1 on the Hot 100. It has returned to the top in several holiday seasons since, and the start of its yearly climb has become a seasonal news story in its own right.

Why streaming changed everything

Billboard’s charts now count streams from services like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube alongside sales and radio play. That favors songs people choose to play repeatedly, and holiday music is the ultimate repeat listen:

  • Millions of people build or play the same holiday playlists every year.
  • Streaming services feature holiday playlists prominently in December, often with the same classics at the top.
  • Stores, restaurants, parties and family gatherings play holiday music for hours at a time.

When that listening is concentrated into a few weeks, old songs can briefly outperform the year’s biggest new releases.

Brenda Lee’s record

The most striking example came in December 2023, when “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” which Brenda Lee recorded as a teenager in 1958, reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 for the first time, 65 years after it was recorded. It became one of the oldest recordings ever to top the chart.

Why new holiday songs struggle

Plenty of artists release Christmas songs every year, but very few become standards. The same playlist habits that lift the classics make it hard for anything new to break in. Listeners want the songs they grew up with, streaming services feature the tracks people already play the most and the season is short, so a new song has only a few weeks a year to build familiarity.

That is why the holiday canon has barely changed in decades, with “All I Want for Christmas Is You” one of the few modern additions to join the older standards.

The business of a holiday hit

For the artists and songwriters behind them, holiday classics are remarkably valuable. A song that returns every year earns streaming royalties, radio play, use in commercials and films, and cover versions by other artists. Carey co-wrote “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” so she earns from it as both a performer and a writer each time it is played.

When does the season start?

Retailers and radio stations have pushed holiday music earlier and earlier, some starting in early November. But streaming data tends to show the big surge after Thanksgiving, when listening to holiday playlists jumps sharply. That is usually when the classics begin their climb up the charts again.

What we think

The return of the holiday classics is a small, cheerful example of how technology reshapes culture. Streaming rewards what people choose to replay, and nothing gets replayed like the songs tied to family traditions.

The downside is that the holiday canon has become hard to join. For a new Christmas song to become a standard, it now has to beat songs that listeners have loved for 30 or 60 years. That rarely happens, which is exactly why the same songs will be back at the top this December.