Most Popular Christmas Songs

According to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, these are the Top 25 most-performed “Holiday” songs for the first five years of the 21st Century:

1. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) – Mel Tormé, Robert Wells
2. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town – Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie
3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin
4. Winter Wonderland – Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith
5. White Christmas – Irving Berlin
6. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne
7. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer – Johnny Marks
8. Jingle Bell Rock – Joseph Carleton Beal, James Ross Boothe
9. I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Walter Kent, Kim Gannon, Buck Ram
10. Little Drummer Boy – Katherine K. Davis, Henry V. Onorati, Harry Simeone
11. Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish
12. It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year – Edward Pola, George Wyle
13. Silver Bells – Jay Livingston, Ray Evans
14. Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree – Johnny Marks
15. Feliz Navidad – José Feliciano
16. Blue Christmas – Billy Hayes, Jay W. Johnson
17. Frosty The Snowman – Steve Nelson, Walter E. Rollins
18. A Holly Jolly Christmas – Johnny Marks
19. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – Tommie Connor (PRS)
20. Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) – Gene Autry, Oakley Haldeman
21. It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas – Meredith Willson
22. (There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays – Bob Allen, Al Stillman
23. Carol Of The Bells – Peter J. Wilhousky, Mykola Leontovich
24. Santa Baby – Joan Ellen Javits, Philip Springer, Tony Springer
25. Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney (PRS)

Some facts about the Top 25 ASCAP Holiday Songs:

Oldest songs:
“Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and “Winter Wonderland” (both 1934)

Newest Song:
Wonderful Christmastime (1979)

Songs introduced in motion pictures:
“White Christmas” in Holiday Inn (1942)
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
“Silver Bells” in The Lemon Drop Kid (1950)

Writer with most Top Holiday Songs:
Johnny Marks with three – “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas”

Most recorded Holiday Song:
“White Christmas” with well over 500 versions in dozens of languages.

“Sleigh Ride” is the only Holiday song written originally as an instrumental piece for a symphony orchestra. The Boston Pops Orchestra gave the first performance in a concert conducted by Arthur Fiedler at Symphony Hall in Boston, May 4, 1948. Mills Music published it that same year. The Boston Pops Orchestra recorded it in June of 1949. Mitchell Parish added lyrics in 1949.