Brenda Lee's 'Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree' Finally Tops the Billboard Hot 100
65 years after its release, Brenda Lee's new old-fashioned Christmas classic "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" has finally topped the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard reports the country artist's song made it to the top on Monday (December 4).
Lee recorded "Rockin'" when she was just 13 years old. She's now 78, and holds the status of owning one of three holiday songs that have topped the Billboard Hot 100 in history. “The Chipmunk Song,” by The Chipmunks with David Seville from 1958, spent four weeks on top beginning that December, and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” released in 1994, has rung up 12 weeks at #1.
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"Rockin'" is also Brenda Lee's third Hot 100 #1 – following the reign of 1960's "I’m Sorry” and “I Want To Be Wanted.” Lee has charted 51 Hot 100 hits, starting with “Sweet Nothin’s” – which landed on the chart in December 1959. Notably, Lee also posted the most Hot 100 hits – 46 – among women in the 1960s, one more than runner-up Connie Francis that decade.
What else? "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" now shatters the record for the longest wait from a song’s release – 65 years – to it hitting #1 on the Hot 100. It surpasses the 25-year gap between the release of Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in 1994 and its rise to #1 in 2019.
Billboard also interviewed Brenda Lee after her song topped the Hot 100. "I like that God has given me that favor that I can stand aside and look and know that it wasn’t just me; that it’s a conglomerate of a lot of people that made the song what it is," she said, praising her label: UMG Nashville. "I’m happy for everybody here that’s worked so hard to make this happen because in today’s world, everything moves so fast and furious. But I’m telling you this: My label has come to bat."
Lee marked the 65th anniversary of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by filming the song’s first official music video. It features cameos from Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood. The festive clip features Lee lip-synching to her teenage recording of the song, alongside footage of her and Yearwood baking holiday cookies and chatting with Tucker as everyone dances next to the Christmas tree and enjoys a holiday feast. In other Brenda Lee news, the artist has recently joined TikTok, where she's posted updates about her career.
Dance merrily to the new video for "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" below.
Check out our selection of free stations streaming holiday music at Live365.com.
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Article Image: Close-up of smiling Brenda Lee in 2002, as she visits the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. (Everett Collection via Shutterstock.)