Brenda Lee rocks her way to record-breaking US Billboard chart Christmas No.1, aged 78
A cheery festive staple sung by US artist Brenda Lee has reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart a mere 65 years after its release.
A cheery festive staple sung by US artist Brenda Lee has reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart a mere 65 years after its release.
The ascension of her single Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree has broken the recent holiday chart dominance of fellow US singer Mariah Carey, whose song All I Want For Christmas is You has ruled the American chart every holiday season since 2019.
“This is amazing! I cannot believe that Rockin’ has hit No.1 65 years after it was released, this is just so special!” said Lee, 78, in a statement.
“The song came out when I was a young teenager and now to know that it has resonated with multiple generations and continues to resonate — it is one of the best gifts I have ever received,” she said. “Keep on Rockin’ and Merry Christmas!”
Written by Johnny Marks, and originally recorded and released in 1958, Lee’s song first charted in December 1960, and reached a peak of No.14 in what was thought to be its heyday.
Born Brenda Mae Tarpley in Atlanta in 1944, her small stature of 145cm earned her the nickname Little Miss Dynamite.
1960 was a very good year for 15-year-old Lee: her other two No.1 hits, I’m Sorry and I Want To Be Wanted, also reached the top spot.
After starting out singing rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly songs, Lee went on to find a home in country music while notching 51 Billboard Hot 100 hits in her career.
Her influence in both genres was cemented when she became the first woman to be inducted into both the Country Music and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame, in 1997 and 2002, respectively.
Yet while Lee’s most famous song has returned to the pop charts in the streaming era, it had never polled higher than No.2, having been habitually bested by Carey’s Christmas mega-hit – until this week.
Thanks to a marketing push from her parent record label, Universal, on the occasion of its 65th anniversary, the song was recently accompanied by its first official music video, featuring cameos from fellow country stars Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood.
As well, Lee joined the video platform TikTok, where she has 84,000 followers, while the song has been used in 1.1m TikTok videos.
Those promotional efforts paid off on Tuesday, Australian time, when Billboard announced that Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree became the third holiday No.1 in Hot 100 chart history, following The Chipmunk Song by The Chipmunks with David Seville (1958) and Carey’s 1994 release All I Want for Christmas Is You, which first reached No.1 in 2019.
In a statement, Lee said, “Thank you to the team at UMG/UMe who worked so hard to celebrate the song’s anniversary this year. But most importantly, thank you to the fans who keep listening.”
Her achievement also smashed the record for longest wait between a song’s release to eventually top the pops: its 65 years surpasses the 25-year gap of Carey’s Christmas chart ascent.
Its nine weeks spent at No.2 in recent years before rising to No.1, meanwhile, matches Billie Eilish’s contemporary hit Bad Guy.
Lee is now the senior-most artist to top the US chart, surpassing Louis Armstrong, who was 62 when Hello, Dolly! reached No.1, and Cher, who was 52 when her song Believe ascended in 1999.
And on Monday, December 11, Lee will have something else to celebrate: her 79th birthday.
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