Record-breaking singer and Atlanta native Brenda Lee did it again this week.
Her classic holiday hit, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” topped the Billboard Hot 100 last week 65 years after its initial release. That meant she became the artist with the longest gap between No. 1 songs. Lee also became the oldest person to ever top the chart at age 78.
With the news announced Monday by Billboard on her birthday that the holiday classic was No. 1 for a second week, that means she broke her own record after just a week — she’s now the oldest person to ever top the chart at age 79.
Original story published Dec. 4, 2023:
Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ tops Billboard Hot 100
Atlanta native Brenda Lee has been heavily promoting her not-at-all new song “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” in recent weeks and it worked: the song has landed on top of the Billboard Hot 100 65 years after its initial release.
Lee, for the first time since Billboard began allowing re-releases of Christmas songs to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, has beaten perennial winner Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
Lee’s label UMG Nashville convinced Lee to release her first music video of the song last month. She recorded it in Nashville, Tennessee, in October with her friends Tanya Tucker and Georgia native Trisha Yearwood. She is also set to perform the song on NBC’s “Christmas at the Opry” on Thursday. She even recently joined TikTok where Dolly Parton today feted her.
The 78-year-old Nashville resident told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution how much she enjoyed recording the song in 1958 when she wasn’t even a teenager. Over the years, she said she assumed her No. 1 1960 song “I’m Sorry” would be her signature song. Instead, this cheery song, penned by Johnny Marks, has become her enduring legacy.
The song was released in 1958 and 1959 but didn’t chart on the Billboard chart until 1960 after “I’m Sorry” had topped the chart. It peaked at No. 14 that year. Since 2019, when Billboard began allowing older songs to return to the chart, it had previously peaked at No. 2 in 2019 and 2022.
Because of the quirks of Billboard rules, “Rockin’” is only the third holiday song to land at the top of the chart. “The Chipmunk Song” did so in 1958 and “All I Want for Christmas” has totaled 12 weeks at No. 1 collectively since 2019.
This is Lee’s first No. 1 since “I Want To Be Wanted” in October 1960, more than 63 years ago, making her the artist with the longest gap between No. 1 songs. Cher previously held the mark between 1974′s “Dark Lady” and “Believe” in 1999.
It is also the longest gap between a song release and hitting the top of the Billboard chart, shattering the record previously held by Carey.
Lee is also the oldest person to ever top the chart at age 78, surpassing Louis Armstrong, who was 63 when “Hello, Dolly!” was No. 1 in 1964.
On the separate Holiday 100, she supplants Carey for the first time. Carey had been at the top of that chart for 43 consecutive weeks going back to 2015.
Four of the top five songs on the BIllboard Hot 100 this week are Christmas songs. Carey is at No. 2, followed by Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” at No. 4 and Wham’s “Last Christmas” at No. 5. Jack Harlow is the only non-holiday song in the top 5 at no. 3 with “Lovin’ On Me.”
About the Author
