Mariah Carey & Brenda Lee make ‘Billboard’ chart history with Christmas 1-2 punch

Columbia Records

Last week, Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” made history when it hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, the first holiday hit to do so in 60 years. Now, Mariah is also part of two other pieces of Billboard history.

Mariah’s song remains at #1 on the Hot 100 this week, but at number two, it’s Brenda Lee‘s Christmas classic, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” This marks the first time that the number one and number two songs on the Billboard Hot 100 are both Christmas hits.

“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was originally released in 1958 but first charted in 1960. Last week, when it rose to number three, it set a record for the longest climb into the top five: 59 years and nine days. By the way, Lee recorded her hit version when she was just 13 years old, in 1958. She turned 75 on December 12.

Meanwhile, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has broken the record for the biggest streaming week ever for a holiday song: It racked up just over 54 million streams in the week ending December 19, according to Nielsen Music.

In addition to those two holiday hits, there are two other classic songs in the top 10: Burl Ives‘ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” at number six, and Bobby Helms‘ “Jingle Bell Rock” at number nine.

Outside of the top 10, Wham!‘s 1984 hit “Last Christmas” has made the top 20 on the Billboard 100 for the first time, at #17. This is now Wham!’s seventh top-20 hit, and the highest the duo has ranked on the chart since “The Edge of Heaven” hit number 10 back in 1986. Wham! frontman George Michael died on Christmas Day 2016.