Can there be any lingering doubt about who really holds the Queen of Christmas crown? Brenda Lee has returned to the highest spot of the Billboard Sizzling 100 chart with “Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree,” 65 years after the tune’s 1958 recording.
The chart-topper sees the singer as soon as often called Little Miss Dynamite breaking at the least a number of Billboard data, together with the longest wait between a tune’s launch and reaching #1, and the longest span between an artist’s #1 hits. At 78, Lee turns into the oldest individual to ever prime the chart, a file beforehand held by Louis Armstrong, who was 62 when “Hi there, Dolly” peaked in 1964.
Simply 13 when she recorded what would turn into one of the vital beloved and enduring vacation classics, Lee has been celebrating the tune’s sixty fifth anniversary with a flurry of exercise: Final month she appeared within the tune’s first-ever video, that includes cameos by nation stars Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood (see it above); and he or she’s scheduled to carry out the rockin’ tune on NBC’s Christmas on the Opry airing Dec. 7.
Oh, and he or she joined Tik Tok, the place she’s been introducing that “sentimental feeling” a few “Christmas get together hop” to a complete new technology of listeners.
In its announcement at this time, Deadline’s sister publication Billboard traced the stats and historical past of the tune written by Johnny Marks and produced by Nashville’s legendary Owen Bradley. Although recorded and launched in 1958, the tune didn’t hit the Sizzling 100 till 1960, when it peaked at #14. “Rockin’” made it to the #2 spot over time – in 2019 and 2022 – however by no means went to the highest till now.
With the tune’s present peak, Lee can boast of getting simply the third vacation tune to hit #1 (the opposite two are 1958’s “The Chipmunk Track” by The Chipmunks with David Seville and Mariah Carey’s 1994 seasonal chart perennial “All I Need for Christmas Is You”).
The tune is Lee’s third Sizzling 100 #1, following two 1960 hits “I’m Sorry” and “I Need To Be Needed.”
With this week’s prime spot, Lee units the next chart data, in response to Billboard:
- Longest run to #1. Writes Billboard’s Gary Belief: “Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree’ shatters the file for the longest wait from a tune’s launch – 65 years – to it hitting No. 1 on the Sizzling 100. It surpasses the 25-year hole between the discharge of Carey’s ‘All I Need for Christmas Is You’ in 1994 and its rise to No. 1 in 2019”;
- Longest span of #1s. “Lee moreover rewrites the file for the longest span of an artist topping the Sizzling 100: 63 years, 4 months and three weeks, from her first week at No. 1 with ‘I’m Sorry’ (July 18, 1960) by way of the most recent checklist. She supplants Carey, whose span of leaders stretches 32 years and 5 months, from her first week in cost (Aug. 4, 1990) together with her debut single ‘Imaginative and prescient of Love’ by way of the latest week on prime for ‘All I Need for Christmas Is You’ final vacation season”;
- Longest break between #1s: “Making extra historical past,” Billboard writes, “Lee marks the longest break between Sizzling 100 No. 1s: 63 years, one month and two weeks between ‘I Need To Be Needed’ (Oct. 24, 1960) and ‘Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree’”;
- Oldest #1 artist: “Lee is 78 years younger; her new Sizzling 100 coronation will add to her birthday celebration Dec. 11,” says Billboard. “She turns into the senior-most artist to prime the chart, surpassing Louis Armstrong, who was 62 when ‘Hi there, Dolly!’ led in 1964. Amongst girls, Lee passes the likewise busy Cher, who was 52 when ‘Consider’ dominated the Sizzling 100.”
Cher, in the meantime, had some good vacation information of her personal: “DJ Play a Christmas Track,” from her first-ever vacation album Christmas, is #1 on Billboard’s Grownup Modern radio airplay chart.
