We’ve made two lists, and we’ve checked them twice (actually more than twice): Billboard‘s Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs and Greatest of All Time Top Holiday Albums charts.
The surveys, led, respectively, by Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and Vince Guaraldi Trio‘s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, premiered Thursday (Nov. 18) in the Greatest of All Time section of the charts menu on Billboard.com. (See below for complete chart methodology.)
‘I Had Absolutely No Idea the Impact the Song Would Eventually Have Worldwide’
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” hangs atop the highest bough on Billboard‘s 100-position Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs chart.
The track has topped the weekly Holiday 100 for all but five of the tally’s 50 weeks so far, including the last 30 in a row since December 2015.
“When I wrote [it], I had absolutely no idea the impact the song would eventually have worldwide,” Carey marvels to Billboard of the carol, released on her 1994 album, Merry Christmas. “How could I? It was so early on in my career and most young artists, at that time, weren’t really making Christmas music at the onset of their careers.
“When writing [it], I was tapping into a bittersweet mixture of longing and festiveness,” Carey muses. “I had grown up wishing I could have a functional family Christmas like the ones I saw on TV or in the movies, but truth is … that never happened! So, I wrote the song for the little girl in me filled with holiday spirit.
“The record really has brought me full circle, and I’m so full of gratitude that so many people enjoy it with me every year.”
Carey’s relatively modern Yuletide anthem paces a top five on the Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs chart, in which Nos. 2 through 5 were originally released in the 1940s through the ’60s.
Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs Top Five:
1, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey
2, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” Brenda Lee
3, “Jingle Bell Rock,” Bobby Helms
4, “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You),” Nat King Cole
5, “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” Burl Ives
What Christmas Is All About: ‘Charlie Brown,’ and More
Meanwhile, Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack crowns Billboard‘s 50-position Greatest of All Time Top Holiday Albums recap (marking an atypical win, and holiday present, for the beleaguered but good-natured title character).
The set, released in 1965 alongside the classic TV special of the same name and which includes such favorites as “Christmas Time Is Here,” has spent a record 297 weeks on the weekly Top Holiday Albums chart, through the latest, Nov. 20-dated, ranking.
Michael Bublé’s Christmas places at No. 2 on Billboard‘s Greatest of All Time Top Holiday Albums recap, with the 2011 collection having posted a record 29 weeks atop the weekly Top Holiday Albums tally, including on the latest list. Plus, Mannheim Steamroller claims two spots in the retrospective’s top five with a pair of releases from the 1980s.
Greatest of All Time Top Holiday Albums Top Five:
1, Vince Guaraldi Trio, A Charlie Brown Christmas (soundtrack)
2, Michael Bublé, Christmas
3, Mariah Carey, Merry Christmas
4, Mannheim Steamroller, A Fresh Aire Christmas
5, Mannheim Steamroller, Christmas
How we charted the holiday hits: The Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs and Top Holiday Albums charts are based on actual performance on Billboard‘s weekly Holiday 100 and Top Holiday Albums charts, from the former’s inception on Dec. 10, 2011, through the ranking dated Jan. 2, 2021, and the latter’s history dating to Dec. 21, 1985, through the ranking dated Oct. 30, 2021. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at no. 1 Earning the greatest value and weeks at lower ranks earning less. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted to account for different chart turnover rates over various periods.
