P1 Media Group Releases U.S. Top Christmas Songs 2022

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, October 31, 2022

P1 Media Group

P1 Media Group has releases its annual Christmas Music Research. P1 surveyed radio listeners nationwide likely to listen to an all-Christmas music radio station during the holiday season. The company tested the appeal of the 40 most-played and 40 most-streamed Christmas songs from the 2021 Holiday Season, a total of 60 unique songs, according to Luminate's holiday charts.

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee is America's #1 Christmas song, edging "Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms for the first time in five years by a fraction of a percentage point. "Christmas music's appeal remains as strong as ever amongst American radio listeners who listen to All Christmas stations 'frequently' or 'sometimes' and personally enjoy Christmas music on a local radio station during the holiday season," said P1 Media Group Partner, and co-founder Ken Benson, "As we often see, there is a lot to learn when we compare radio airplay to on-demand streaming data, even with holiday music. Understanding streaming data can help broaden the appeal of your station."

This following list includes the 19 Christmas songs from the Top 40 most-streamed that didn't make the Top 40 most-played airplay chart. The research suggests that these 19 songs should be considered for airplay.

Key Findings

• The Holiday Classics rule the Top 20, including "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Jingle Bell Rock," and two versions of "Holly Jolly Christmas," "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas," and "Sleigh Ride."

• 2021's #1 Stream and Airplay song "Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" from 1994 is the newest song in the Top 20 and is the 6th highest testing Christmas song this year.

• 27% say Christmas Music should begin in early November. 24% Beginning of December, 21% Thanksgiving, 21% mid-November and 9% mid-December.

• 70% of Women want Christmas music to begin sometime in November versus on 57% of Men

• The most surprising finding in the study is that 48% say Christmas music programming should stop on New Year's Eve. 24% on December 26, 16% Christmas Day, 7% December 27 and 6% some other time.