From Joel Whitburn’s Christmas in the Charts, 1920 to 2004, Top Adult Contemporary Christmas Hits lists the peak positions these seasonal songs reached on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.
O Holy Night – Josh Groban from 2002, #1 for two weeks AC, #109 pop in 2003
Sending You A Little Christmas – Jim Brickman featuring Christy Sterling from 2003, #1 for a week AC
The Christmas Shoes – Newsong from 2000, #1 for a week AC, #42 pop. I hadn’t heard of this song until I had heard a vicious parody by Patton Oswald of it a few years ago. The original, IMO, is cloyingly awful.
The Gift – Jim Brickman, featuring Colin Ray and Susan Ashton from 1997, #3 for four weeks AC, #65 pop
White Christmas – Bing Crosby from 1961, #3 for a week AC. This is the 1947 remake as opposed to the 1942 original. On the pop chart, this version went #3 in early 1948, , #6 in early 1949, #5 in early 1950, #13 in late 1950 and early 1952. The rest are late in the year: #21 in 1953 and 1954, #7 in 1955, #65 in 1956, #34 in 1957, #66 in 1958, #59 in 1959, #26 in 1960, #12 in 1961, and #38 in 1962. I own the collection pictured on the video on CD.
JT
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – James Taylor from 2001, #4 for a week AC. I have the October Road CD that ends with this song.
The Little Drummer Boy – Harry Simone Choral from 1961, #6 for two weeks AC. This is the version my family owned a 45. The 1965 version slows down tremendously – and unnecessarily to my ear – at the end.
All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey from 1994, #6 for a week AC. On the pop charts, #12 in 1994, #35 in 1995and 1997, #83 in 2000. But then – well, look at the Wikipedia page. If I could hear this song exactly once during Advent, I’d be thrilled. Alas, no! There is a Reddit chain “Why do people hate Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ ? One comment: “Christmas songs suck after the first 10,000 times you’ve heard them.”
The Christmas Song – Michael Bublé from 2003, #6 for a week AC
My Favorite Things – Herb Alpert from 1968, #7 for two weeks AC, #45 pop. Is this tune from Mary Poppins a Christmas tune? I…guess so.
