Chestnut Roasters, Part 2

Summary

Podcast Summary: Hit Parade | Chestnut Roasters, Part 2

Host: Chris Molanphy | Producer: Asha Saludja | Date: December 31, 2021

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Episode Overview

In this special holiday episode, Chris Molanphy explores how certain Christmas songs—so-called “chestnut roasters”—have transformed the careers of their artists, often overshadowing their earlier and sometimes more chart-successful non-holiday hits. With a focus on the streaming era, the episode analyzes airplay and digital metrics to show how Christmas perennials now dominate year-end charts and shape artist legacies in surprising ways. The journey culminates with Brenda Lee, whose iconic "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" has virtually eclipsed all her other accomplishments.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Modern Rise and Power of Holiday Hits

• Streaming Era Resurgence: Classic holiday songs, regardless of original chart success, are experiencing unprecedented popularity on streaming platforms, sometimes dwarfing the artists' year-round classics.
• “Chestnut Roasters”: Molanphy coins the term for artists whose biggest legacy is now their holiday song, sometimes unintentionally.

“These chestnut roasters…are potent every December on the radio and Spotify to this day.”
— Chris Molanphy (00:21)

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2. Case Study: Wham! and the Enduring Power of “Last Christmas”

Timestamps: 02:01 – 09:44

• "Last Christmas" Overview: Released in 1984, it initially struggled on US charts, issued only as a B-side, peaking at #2 in the UK—but was never #1 until 2020, 37 years after release.
• Comparison to Other Hits: Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Careless Whisper” outperform “Last Christmas” in annual US radio airplay—except during the holidays.
  • Radio Plays (2020):
    • “Wake Me Up…”: 60,000
    • “Careless Whisper”: 52,000
    • “Last Christmas”: 40,000 (almost entirely in Nov–Dec)
  • Spotify Streams: “Last Christmas” outpaces the other two, by 40–60%.
• “Whamageddon”: The song’s annual omnipresence spawns a viral challenge to avoid hearing it during the holidays.

“That's a whole lot of George Michael giving it to someone special.”
— Chris Molanphy (06:04)

“It is definitely conceivable that a decade or two from now, 'Last Christmas' is the song written and sung by George Michael that will be best known to Generation Alpha.”
— Chris Molanphy (09:23)

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3. Chestnut Roasters vs. Regular Hits: Other Notable Examples

Timestamps: 09:44 – 25:36

a. The Waitresses

• Known for “I Know What Boys Like,” but their holiday song “Christmas Wrapping” now dominates (6:1 radio play ratio, 9:1 on streaming).

b. The Eagles

• “Please Come Home for Christmas” is spun 31,000 times yearly, streamed 52 million times—but still outperformed by “Hotel California” and “Life in the Fast Lane.”

c. 21st-Century Crooners: Bublé, Groban, Connick

• Their Christmas albums are their bestsellers, with Bublé’s “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” streaming more than his biggest non-holiday hits.

d. Ariana Grande vs. Mariah Carey

• “Santa Tell Me” is a modern perennial (600M+ streams), but dwarfed by “Thank U, Next” and “7 rings”—time will tell if it overtakes them in legacy.
• Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” already out-streams and outplays all her other hits—53,000 annual radio spins vs. 43,000 for “Always Be My Baby,” plus 248 million streams (2020), more than several of her year-round hits combined.

“Mariah Carey…is already mostly consumed at Christmas.” — Chris Molanphy (17:33)

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4. The Beatles and Their Solo Careers: Christmas Hits & Mainstream Legacy

Timestamps: 19:41 – 25:36

• The Beatles never recorded a proper Christmas song; their catalog remains untouchable by holiday competition.
• John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” now receives more annual spins and streams (25,000 spins, 57M streams in 2019) than “Imagine” (20,000 spins, 54M streams).
• Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” rivals his biggest secular hits for radio plays and far exceeds them in streaming.

“It is not too extreme to say Paul McCartney has gone fully to the merry side.”
— Chris Molanphy (23:56)

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5. Brenda Lee: The Ultimate Chestnut Roaster

Timestamps: 25:36 – 41:37

a. A Stellar Career Revisited

• Lee was one of the 1960s' biggest stars, spanning genres from rockabilly to country, with 55 Hot 100 chart entries and two #1 hits (not including “Rockin’”).
• Hits like “I’m Sorry,” “I Want to Be Wanted,” and “Sweet Nothings” made her a pioneer and multiple hall-of-famer.

b. "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" – A Late-Breaking Blockbuster

• Recorded at age 13, it flopped twice before finally landing at #14 in 1960.
• Re-entered the Hot 100 in the streaming era (2013 onwards), surging to #2 behind Mariah Carey in 2019.

“Brenda Lee was an affirmed legend before age 60…before holiday hits rebooted the charts.”
— Chris Molanphy (38:50)

c. Current Data: The Overwhelming Christmas Takeover

• 2020 radio spins:
  • “I’m Sorry”: <600
  • “I Want To Be Wanted”: <200
  • “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”: 17,000+
• Streaming, 2020: “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” = 177 million plays; about 50x “I’m Sorry” + “I Want to Be Wanted” combined.
• Lee’s Christmas hit has nearly eclipsed her entire career for modern listeners.

“Of all the statistics I’ve cited…no act presents a more stark example than Brenda Lee. In 2020…Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree was played by US DJs more than 17,000 times. On streaming…177 million times last year, about 50 times as much as ‘I’m Sorry’ and ‘I Want To Be Wanted’ combined.”
— Chris Molanphy (41:12)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Streaming Playlists and Automated Christmas Dominance:
  "This automated playback—picture what happens when you tell Alexa or Siri to play some Christmas music."
  — Chris Molanphy (06:31)

• On Potential for Brenda Lee’s Resurgence:
  “The streaming, sales, and airplay points separating ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ and ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ are getting close enough that Billboard staffers are starting to speculate Brenda might well mount a challenge to Mariah...by the mid-2020s.”
  — Chris Molanphy (42:00)

• Brenda Lee’s Hall of Fame Speech (2002):
  “It’s a long way from the Georgia cotton fields to the Waldorf Astoria...I owe it to Owen Bradley. And most of all, I owe it to rock and roll. I’m honored. Thank you so very much.”
  — Brenda Lee (38:25)

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Key Timestamps for Reference

• 00:21 — Episode theme introduction: The rise of “chestnut roasters”
• 02:01 — Deep dive into Wham!'s “Last Christmas” and data analysis
• 09:44 — Case studies: The Waitresses, the Eagles, modern crooners, Grande, Carey
• 17:33 — Mariah Carey’s Christmas status vs her regular hits
• 19:41 — Beatles & Solo Beatles Christmas legacy
• 25:36 — Brenda Lee’s full biography and career stats
• 38:25 — Brenda Lee’s Rock Hall induction speech
• 41:02 — Data: Brenda Lee's Christmas dominance over her other hits
• 42:00 — Speculation about Brenda Lee potentially overtaking Mariah

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Takeaways

• Legacy Shifts: Christmas songs are not just seasonal successes—some are becoming the signature works for artists whose once-dominant pop/country/R&B catalogs have faded for newer audiences.
• Streaming & Playlisting Power: Automated playlisting and digital streaming massively concentrate airplay and visibility for holiday hits, sometimes rewriting pop history.
• Brenda Lee, “Chestnut Roaster Supreme”: Few artists embody this shift more completely than Brenda Lee, whose “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” now defines her for modern generations.

“If even a few ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ fans become curious enough to become Brenda Lee fans, well, she would likely regard that as a blessing.”
— Chris Molanphy (41:37)

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Final Reflection:
The episode thoughtfully balances nostalgia, data analysis, and pop culture insight, showing how the hits of yesteryear—especially holiday perennials—are being reborn and reassigned by new listening habits, and sometimes even giving overdue legacies a fresh twist.

Transcript

[Asha Saludja]

You're listening ad free on Amazon Music.

[Chris Melanfi]

This podcast contains seasonal Wham content Whamageddon players discretion is advised.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go.

[Chris Melanfi]

Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfi, chart analyst, pop critic, critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One series. On our last episode, we talked about how perennial Christmas hits, especially in the streaming era, are changing our perceptions of certain holiday hitmakers and overshadowing their other, bigger chart hits from yesteryear. Whether these acts stumbled into a Christmas hit like Gene Autry or Jose Feliciano or eagerly embraced their new jolly Persona like Darlene Love, these chestnut roasters, as I call them, are potent every December on the radio and Spotify to this day. In our second part of the episode, I'll dive deeper into this airplay and streaming data to show just how holiday hits have rebooted the careers of some pop legends. Last holiday season, in the same week that Donny Hathaway's this Christmas made the American top 40 for the very first time, over in the United Kingdom Kingdom, The Official Charts Company announced a similarly improbable feat. This 37 year old song had finally topped the British chart for the first time and well, Whamageddon players, you've been warned.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Last Christmas I gave you my heart.

[Asha Saludja]

But the very next day you gave it away.

[Chris Melanfi]

Last Christmas. Go ahead, sing along if you like was recorded in 1984 by the duo of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, then known as Wham. Laura Snapes, critic for the Guardian, aptly calls the single quote a high watermark of mid-80s British synth pop songcraft. And as I discussed in one of our earliest hit points, Parade episodes about the career of George Michael, it's one of very few songs in the final decades of the 20th century to wind up in the holiday music canon. It's been covered by countless vocalists over the years, including quite recently, Ariana Grande. But all of this would have been hard to predict in 1984 due to the oddball place last Christmas has in Wham's rise to fame. For starters, Last Christmas sounded nothing like the hits George Michael and Andrew Ridgley had broken with, including their UK debut, 1982's Young Guns. First US hit, 1983's Bad Boys, which peaked at a lowly number 60 on the Hot 100. Neither of these songs would wind up as perennials for wham. The following year, however, Michael and Ridgeley really switched up the floor formula with the lead single from their second album. That album was called Make It Big and this single did just that to Wham. I bring up the jitterbugging Wake me up before you go Go for a few reasons. For one thing, it gave Wham their first number one on both sides of the Atlantic. For another, it remains one of their most popular year round radio staples. Their other reliable golden oldie is the single that came directly after Go Go, the sax drenched soul ballad Careless Whisper. Considered a George Michael solo single in the uk, it was credited in America to Wham Fit featuring George Michael. These two blockbuster singles are a useful control group for our experiment in measuring holiday versus non holiday songs legacies. Both of these songs are still bigger on the radio in America than Last Christmas is. According to MRC data, in 2020, the last full calendar year, Wake Me up before you go Go was spun by DJs more than 60,000 times over 12 months. Careless whisper more than 52,000 times. That's compared with just 40,000 spins for last Christmas.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Baby do you recognize me? Well it's been a year. It doesn't surprise me.

[Chris Melanfi]

So why does Last Christmas seem to some so oppressively omnipresent every holiday season? So much so that they've created a game out of trying to avoid it? Well, consider that practically all of those 40,000 annual radio spins for Last Christmas came in the last two months of 2020. If we average out annual plays for Wake Me up before you Go Go, it gets spun throughout the year about 5,000 times a month nationwide, whereas the concentrated two month play for last Christmas is more like 20,000 plays a month just in November and December. That's a whole lot of George Michael giving it to someone special. For another thing, Last Christmas only seems to be getting bigger on streaming services. It's easily WHAM's all time biggest hit thanks to its omnipresence on pre programmed Christmas playlists. By the way, this automated playback picture what happens when you tell Alexa or Siri plays some Christmas music? That explains why a lot of the holiday chestnuts I'm discussing in this episode have blown up in the last five years. On Spotify, Lifetime streams of Last Christmas are about 40 to 60% higher than those of Gogo or Whisper respectively. In 2020 alone, plays for Christmas across all streaming services dwarfed those for gogo2.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

To wake me up before you go Go take your dancing tonight.

[Chris Melanfi]

All of this is remarkable given how out of step Last Christmas now is with its original chart performance or Lack thereof in the US in 1984, last Christmas didn't chart at all as it was only issued as a B side here. At a time when B sides typically didn't chart in the uk, Last Christmas was big, but it never originally hit number one. It was issued in a so called double A side single just before the 84 holiday season. Paired with the slow burning R B lament Everything She Wants.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

When All I.

[Chris Melanfi]

Can See in Britain as we've explained in several prior Hit Parade episodes, Last Christmas slash Everything She Wants got stuck at number two behind Band Aid's enormous charity mega single Do They Know It's Christmas? So when, at the end of 2020, last Christmas finally reached number one one in the UK, it was a big deal. Impossible as this may be to believe, Whamageddoners, there seem to be people who are only recently learning of the existence of Last Christmas. And while the late George Michaels solo career might continue on its own track.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

What It Takes to Stop Them Baby But I'm showing you the door Cause.

[Chris Melanfi]

I gotta have faith it is definitely conceivable that a decade or two from now, Last Christmas is the song written and sung by George Michael that will be best known to Generation Alpha, or whatever we're calling them in the2030s.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Oh my baby.

[Chris Melanfi]

We can do this same kind of data comparison radio spins and Spotify streams versus original chart performance for a range of chestnut roasters that you might be hearing at the holidays right now. Let's start small. For example, 80s new waivers. The waitresses only ever had one hot 100 hit, 1982's delightfully snide I know what boys like I like to tease.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Them they want to touch me I never let them I know what boys like.

[Chris Melanfi]

But even a one hit wonder can become better known for a different song. 1981's Christmas Wrapping now generates the overwhelming bulk of the waitress's activity. 3300 radio plays a year, to be precise, versus less than 500 for I know what boys like. That's about a 6 to 1 ratio in spins, and their streaming ratio is closer to nine to one.

[Asha Saludja]

So deck those halls, trim those trees, raise up cups of Christmas here. I just need to catch my breath. Christmas by myself this year.

[Chris Melanfi]

Okay, what about a much bigger group? As I speak, the Eagles are playing somewhere in America, and it's probably Hotel California. But the 70s rock dominators, founded by Don Henley and the late Glenn Frey, do have a Christmas perennial in their catalog. A cover of Charles Brown's Please Come Home for Christmas, a number 18 Hot 100 hit for the Eagles in 1978.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Please Come Home for Christmas Please Come Home for Christmas. If not for Christmas, My New Year's.

[Chris Melanfi]

Night and today the Eagles Please Come Home for Christmas was spun 31,000 times on the radio in 2020 and streamed 52 million million times. Those numbers sound huge, and they are. But not for the Eagles. That's only about a third as many spins and streams as Hotel California pulls annually. Among the group's other catalog material, their Christmas song runs about neck and neck these days with 1977's cautionary tale Life in the Fast Lane. So sorry all you Lebowski dudes out there. The Eagles are probably going to be known for more than one song for a long time to come, and not just in December. Go ahead and drown your sorrows with a White Russian. As for turn of the millennium hitmakers, it might take a while to determine whether their catalogs will be snowed under by the holidays. If you're a jazzy or classically trained crooner like, say, Harry Connick Jr. Josh Groban or Michael Buble, have a holly, jolly Christmas.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

It's the best time of the year.

[Chris Melanfi]

It's pretty predictable that your long term traffic will be in holiday fare. All three of these Men's Christmas albums are their respective bestseller. Buble's Christmas LP in particular returns to the top five on the the Billboard 200 album chart every year and on Spotify. Even though Buble is the rare modern trad pop crooner who scored big radio hits like 2010's 24 pop 1ac hit haven't met yout Yet, That song's lifetime streaming total is less than half that of Buble's. It's beginning to look a lot like.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Christmas, but the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be on your own front door.

[Chris Melanfi]

For mainstream pop stars whose careers coincided with the streaming era, it may be decades before we know how their holiday fare shakes out. Ariana Grande's infectious Santa Tell Me is widely considered the closest thing the 2000 and tens had to a new Christmas perennial. But as massive as its lifetime streams are 600 million, according to Spotify, that's hundreds of millions less than such re chart toppers as thank u next 7 rings and positions. The long view is what's key. Maybe by 2050 for Grande, Santa Tell Me will have outlasted all of her many hits. For contrast, since Grande has been called Baby Mariah anyway, let's consider how Ms. Mariah Carey the self proclaimed queen of Christmas is faring these days folks. I went as long as I could in this episode before playing the song you probably already heard today sometime before breakfast. All I Want Want for Christmas Is yous is about to go to number one on the Hot 100 for its third holiday season in a row. That is, unless Adele has a mind to stop Mariah. In our Christmas 2019 episode of Hit Parade, we talked about how the elusive Chanteuse pulled off the coup of scoring a 19th career hot 100 number one hit with a quarter century old song. But Remember, Carrie has 18 other number one hits. Is her 19th number one the holiday hit going to eclipse all of them. Year round? Carrie's biggest non seasonal hit is the 1996 chart topper Always Be My Baby. In 2020, US terrestrial radio spun it almost 43,000 times. That is less than all I Want for Christmas is you, which radio spun about 53,000 times that year, so about a 24% gap. But that gap is is nothing compared to what's happening to Mariah's catalog on streaming services. Remember all those pre programmed Christmas playlists I mentioned earlier, virtually all of which feature Mariah? In 2020, all I want For Christmas Is yous was streamed a stunning 248 million times. That's a Drake number. And here's the kicker, that's more annual streams than Carrie's Always Be My Baby plus Her We Belong. Plus Fantasy. Plus one sweet day. Combined. Forget 2050 or 2030 or 2025. Mariah Carey, the woman with the most number ones of any soloist in Hot 100 history, is already mostly consumed at Christmas. But surely that won't happen to the only act with more number ones on the Hotel 100 than Mariah, the band that, thanks to Peter Jackson's Get Back, we're all a little obsessed with this holiday season. Let's be clear, there is little danger that the Beatles mainstream catalog will ever be eclipsed by a Christmas song. Not one by the Fab Four anyway. Several Beatles tracks like Come Together and hey Jude are spun tens of thousands of times per year and streamed tens of millions. It also helps that the Beatles never really recorded a proper Christmas song. Their 1967 track Christmas Time Is Here Again was basically a throwaway, only issued to their fan club at the time and not even currently available on Spotify.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Christmas Time Is Here Again.

[Chris Melanfi]

But the solo Beatles. That's where things get interesting, because both John Lennon and Paul McCartney recorded original Christmas songs that have exploded over the years. For Lennon radio programmers are selective. His classic Jealous Guy is played on the radio only a few hundred times each year. Woman a couple thousand times. And then there's Lennon's most famous solo single, the world peace anthem imagine, a number three hit in 1971. In 2020 it was spun by DJs more than 20,000 times and streamed an unusually large 54 million times. Driven in part by the pandemic and by the 40th anniversary of Lennon's 1980.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Passing, imagine, there's no heaven.

[Chris Melanfi]

But even in a quote normal year, Imagine gets played a lot. In 2019, the last pre pandemic year, radio airplay for Imagine was essentially identical to 2020's and its streams were nearly 41 million. Still pretty huge.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Imagine all the people living for today.

[Chris Melanfi]

So how does that compare to the consumption of another 1971 peacenik single by Lennon and wife Yoko Ono, an anti war holiday perennial that came complete with a children's chor.

[Asha Saludja]

Without any fear.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

So this is Christmas.

[Chris Melanfi]

Happy Christmas. War Is over was spun by DJs nearly 25,000 times in 2019 and streamed 57 million times. Both numbers could considerably larger than those for Imagine. For the record, in 2020, the radio gap between Happy Christmas and Imagine was even bigger. To sum up, John Lennon still hasn't become an exclusively Christmas fueled artist, but he's gradually getting there. What about his former bandmate.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Maybe I'm afraid of the Way I love you?

[Chris Melanfi]

Paul McCartney's post Beatles catalog, both solo and with Wings, does well on the radio. His 1970 classic maybe I'm Amazed got more than 37,000 spins in 2020. And the wings theme for the James Bond film Live and Let Die was played about 33,000 times. Compare those numbers with Paul's 1979 synthesized sticky pudding, Wonderful Christmas Time. With 33,000 spins in 2020 alone, it scored about as much airplay as both maybe I'm Amazed and Live and Let Die.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Simply having a wonderful Christmas Time.

[Chris Melanfi]

That's already pretty remarkable. A twee keyboard ditty Paul tossed off, one that didn't even chart at Christmas of 79, getting spun about as much as his biggest hits. But that's just the radio. On streaming services Mother Mary Bar the Door, Wonderful Christmas time racked up 72 million streams in 2020 alone, more than double that of Lennon and Ono's Anthem and more than Paul's own. Maybe I'm Amazed, Live and Let Die and Band on the Run combined. As with Mariah Carey, it is not too extreme to say Paul McCartney has gone fully to the merry side Still, Mariah, John, Paul, these larger than life luminaries are in no real danger of being forgotten. From January through October, neither really will Darlene Love or even Wham. But there's one artist I haven't covered yet who stands, as I would argue, the ultimate chestnut roaster. Her reputation now riding on not just a single season, but a single song, which is only notable because more than 60 years ago, she was one of the biggest acts on the charts, period.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Dynamite.

[Asha Saludja]

You Dynamite.

[Chris Melanfi]

Brenda May Tarpley, born into deep poverty in Atlanta, Georgia in 1944, began singing professionally as young as 5 and appearing on television at 10. In between those two milestones, her father died when Brenda was 8, making her the family's breadwinner. By age 11, Brenda was signed to Decca Records and adopted the stage name Brenda Lee. Lee never grew taller than 4 foot 9. So when, at age 12, she recorded the cracking rockabilly song Dynamite, the industry nicknamed Brenda Little Miss Dynamite.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Tonight.

[Chris Melanfi]

Even at that tender age, Lee was a spitfire. Her singles, like the telephone number song Bigelow 6 200, had remarkable grit. At a time when queen of rockabilly Wanda Jackson was revolutionizing the role of women in both rock and roll and country.

[Asha Saludja]

I know you've had it when the rocking is through so I let you go home what else can I do? One thing I gotta know I gotta.

[Chris Melanfi]

Know, I gotta know Brenda Lee was doing much the same. Nearly a decade younger than Wanda Jackson, One Step at a Time garnered airplay for lee on both top 40 and country radio in 1957.

[Brenda Lee]

One step at a Time.

[Chris Melanfi]

Lee finally had her major breakthrough at the end of 1959 with sweet nothings, a remarkably self assured single that made Both the Hot 100 and the R&B chart Number four on the pop side, number 12 on the R B side, and the track opened very memorably. Keep in mind, Lee was still only 15 years old.

[Asha Saludja]

Huh, honey?

[Chris Melanfi]

All right.

[Asha Saludja]

My baby whispers in my ear.

[Chris Melanfi]

If you're a millennial or Gen Z listener and that opening sounds familiar, that's because Kanye west sampled it on bound to, his 2013 ode to future wife Kim Kardashian. By the start of the 60s, Brenda Lee was fully established as a teen idol at a time when most teen idols were boys. And she parlayed that image into her. Her first chart topping hit, the unrequited Love Weeper, I'm Sorry. Produced by Owen Bradley, pioneer of the country politan sound made famous by Patsy Cline, I'm Sorry topped the Hot 100 in July 1960 I'm sorry.

[Asha Saludja]

So sorry that I was a joke.

[Chris Melanfi]

Even its B side was a smash and it showed Lee's versatility. The assertive that's all you gotta do reach number six. Three months later, Brenda Lee had her second number one hit, an adaptation of an Italian song, Pertuta la Vita, that was anglicized as I want to be wanted. Striking while the iron was hot, Decca records chose late 1960s to re release a single Brenda Lee had recorded back when she was 13 and that had flopped during the holiday seasons of both 1958 and 1959. Now that Lee was famous, they figured they'd have better luck. It was not only produced by yet again Owen Bradley, it was written by Johnny Marks, the same man who'd penned Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for Gene Autrey. Rockin around the Christmas Tree encapsulated everything that was great about Brenda Lee. It had teen idol energy. She sings Marx's lyrics about a Christmas party hop and a rockabilly sound that was more both country friendly and pop conversant. And as usual for her, Lee's sassy voice was wise beyond her years. As Deca suspected, the third time was the charm for Rockin around The Christmas Tree re released in November 1960, it finally cracked the top 40 in December, peaking at number 14 in a brief four week chart run. So a truly excellent Christmas single that nonetheless missed the top 10. Handicapped by the abbreviated chart runs most holiday songs experienced for Brenda Lee, it was a speed bump. Within weeks in early 1961, she was back in the top 10 with with another stately ballad, emotions.

[Asha Saludja]

You've got me crying, Crying again.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

When.

[Asha Saludja]

Will you let this heartache in emotion?

[Chris Melanfi]

Between 1960 and 1963, Brenda Lee strung together a near unbroken streak of a dozen top 10 singles that blended the ascendant modes of girl group, country politan and teen pop. All before her 20th birthday. Classics like fool number one, you can depend on me and Break it to Me Gently.

[Asha Saludja]

Break it to me Gently.

[Chris Melanfi]

Let me.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Down.

[Asha Saludja]

The easy way.

[Chris Melanfi]

That hit by the Way returned to the Hot 100 in the 80s in a remake by then hot country pop crossover act Juice Newton. A number 11 hit in 1982.

[Asha Saludja]

Gently let me down.

[Chris Melanfi]

By the time Brenda Lee scored one of her last big pop hits in late 1962, the number three, all alone am I.

[Asha Saludja]

Ever since your goodbye all alone with just the beat of my heart.

[Chris Melanfi]

A new generation of hit makers was about to invade our shores. Led by a band of mop tops that had opened for Brenda when she toured Hamburg, Germany. According to chart historian Joel Whitburn, the top five pop acts of the decade of the 1960s, based entirely around Hot 100 performance, were as follows. Unsurprisingly, the Beatles rank first. Right behind them in second place, the King of rock and roll, Elvis Presley.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

We can't Go on together.

[Chris Melanfi]

Ranked third for the 60s R B legend Ray Charles. I guess if you say so I'll.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Have to pack my things and go that's right, you threw J.

[Chris Melanfi]

And ranked fourth for that decade. Again, based just on her chart performance, is Brenda Lee.

[Asha Saludja]

That the number is far from being.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Small.

[Asha Saludja]

And I'll bet that I'm the biggest fool of all.

[Chris Melanfi]

According to Whitburn, Lee edges out fifth placers, the Supremes. Even though Motown's flagship girl group scored a dozen number one hits in that decade.

[Asha Saludja]

Baby, don't leave me oh please don't leave me all by myself.

[Chris Melanfi]

By 1967, as hippie era musical fashion turned away from Brenda Lee, she scored her final top 40 pop hit with Ride, ride, ride.

[Asha Saludja]

If you're not satisfied, you don't care get on your horse and ride, ride down.

[Chris Melanfi]

And then she didn't miss a beat. Her music had long leaned in the direction of country. So by 1969, Brenda Lee pivoted, re promoting herself as a country singer and scoring her first country hits since 1957.

[Asha Saludja]

And I can hear him telling you your lips taste just like she.

[Chris Melanfi]

Lee then proceeded to become a major Nashville hit maker right through the 70s with such singles as the number five country smash Nobody Wins in 1973 and.

[Asha Saludja]

It's Too late to try to say what might have been.

[Chris Melanfi]

And in 74, her biggest country hit, the twangy Big Four Poster Bed, which reached number four and later.

[Asha Saludja]

I was born there in that big.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Four poster big.

[Asha Saludja]

It was just some.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Boards, a rough cut line and a quill to patchwork cotton.

[Chris Melanfi]

She collaborated with luminaries in the field, such as the Oak Ridge Boys, Willie Nelson, and in 1984, on her last major hit with country legend George Jones. Given her pioneering history with Owen Bradley, plus her years of country hit making, in 1997, Brenda Lee was inducted into the Country Music hall of Fame. She has since been cited as an influence on generations of country pop crossover vocalists. From 60s hitmaker Bobby Gentry.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Here's your one chance Fancy don't Let me down.

[Chris Melanfi]

To 90s megastar Shania Twain.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

That don't impress me much.

[Chris Melanfi]

To the debutante queen of country in the aughts, Carrie Underwood.

[Asha Saludja]

I dug my key into the side of this pretty Little souped up four.

[Chris Melanfi]

Wheel drive in 2002, Brenda Lee was also inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. She remains the only woman to be honored doubly by both the country hall and the Rock Hall.

[Brenda Lee]

I have been blessed to sing and be on stages most of my life and this is certainly a stage that I have wanted to be on. It's a long way from the Georgia cotton fields to the Waldorf Astoria and I can tell you that I owe it to Owen Bradley. And most of all, I owe it to rock and roll. I'm honored. Thank you so very much.

[Chris Melanfi]

So just to sum up, Brenda Lee was an affirmed legend before age 60, before digital music and before streaming music rebooted the charts, making it possible for holiday hits to go much higher on the Hot 100 than they ever had before. And that's when Brenda Lee became something new. A 21st century Christmas queen right alongside Mariah Carey.

[Asha Saludja]

Rocket around your Christmas tree at the.

[Chris Melanfi]

Christmas Lee's Rockin around the Christmas Tree started reappearing on the Hot 100 in 2013 when it made a brief comeback at number 50. Two years later, Rockin came back and reached number 30, then number 27 in 2016 and number 9 by 2018, its first ever appearance in the Billboard top 10. Remember, the song had peaked in 1960 at number 14. Finally, in 2019, the year Mariah Carey climbed the last mile to number one with All I Want for Christmas is you, Brenda Lee was directly behind her as Rockin around the Christmas Tree climbed all the way to number two. This resurgence for Lee's Christmas chestnut has not come without cost. Of all the statistics I've cited in this episode about artists whose holiday hits are more consumed than their year round hits, no act presents a more stark example than Brenda Lee. In 2020, Lee's pair of 1960 number one hits were not played very much at all. I'm Sorry was spun fewer than 600 times on terrestrial radio.

[Asha Saludja]

I'm sorry, so sorry.

[Chris Melanfi]

I Want To Be wanted less than 200 times.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

I wanna Be Wanted.

[Chris Melanfi]

And Rockin around the Christmas Tree was played by US DJs more than 17,000 times. On streaming services it was played a stunning 177 million times last year, about 50 times as much as I'm Sorry and I Want To Be Wanted combined.

[Asha Saludja]

Everyone dancing merrily in the new old fashioned way.

[Chris Melanfi]

Now this turn of events can be viewed as a glass half empty or half full. The near obliteration of Brenda Lee's titanic multi genre multi hit career in favor of just one late breaking seasonal hit feels a lot like erasure, especially disheartening in a world where so few women have been acknowledged as pioneers as Lee has at all. On the other hand, many early 60s pre Beatles hits have been blanked on the hit parade in modern times. The few hundred times a year Brenda Lee's other hits are heard on the radio or Spotify could well be the coattails of her Christmas chestnut blockbuster. If even a few Rockin around the Christmas Tree fans become curious enough to become Brenda Lee fans, well, she would likely regard that as a blessing. By the way, Lee has now gone back to number two behind Mariah Carey for two straight holiday seasons and before the end of 2021 is expected to do so again in the most recent chart week. The streaming sales and airplay points separating All I Want for Christmas Is yous and Rockin around the Christmas Tree are getting close enough that Billboard staffers are starting to speculate that Brenda might well mount a challenge to Mariah, if not this year, then some holiday by the mid-2020s. Billboards. Jason Lipschitz and Melinda Newman, both prior guests on Hit Parade the Bridge have even suggested that perhaps Carrie might graciously encourage her fans to stream Lee's Christmas Chestnut instead of her own one year giving the 77 year old her first number one hit in over six decades. It's delightful to picture Mariah and Brenda teaming up in this way. And one more thing. If Carrie chooses to do this and Lee decides to make one last run at the top of the charts, Brenda's still kicking. This performance is from 2016, and barring pandemic limitations, one imagines Little Miss Dynamite would be only too happy to go back out on the road again. Brenda Lee is living proof you're never too old to reboot the Christmas spirit Party hop. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer is Asha Saludja. Asha is also my producer for our monthly Hit Parade the Bridge shows, available exclusively to Slate plus members. In our latest Bridge episode, Asha and I recap the year in Hit Parade, including highlights from our favorite episodes and letters from listeners. To sign up for Slate plus and hear that show and all our shows the day they drop, visit slate.com hitparadeplus June Thomas is the senior Managing Producer and Gabriel Roth the Editorial Director of Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of [e-mail] podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the hit parade back your way. Until then, keep on marching on the One I'm Chris Melanfi.

[Guest or Vocal Performer]

Everyone.