The 25 Most Popular Christmas Songs Released in the Last 25 Years, Ranked by Streams & Sales

Normally, there’s little room near the top of the charts for decades-old recordings. Most of the year, the Billboard Hot 100 is dominated by new songs by artists in their 20s and 30s; while old favorites are still streamed, they’re mostly relegated to commercials, TV series and radio. But holiday music is an exception to the rule that popular music is a young person’s game.  

Come November, though, the script is flipped and classic holiday favorites — many of them by singers and songwriters who have long since passed — enter the charts. Right now, the top 5 songs on the Hot 100 have an average age of 52 years. The youngest song of the group, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You,” was released 30 years ago, while at 67, Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” is old enough to collect Social Security. America has collectively decided that these few songs, competing against countless others, are the holiday standards worthy of their attention — and as a result, they receive the biggest royalty checks of the season year after year.  

There’s no shortage of recordings hoping to become the next “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (Brenda Lee) or “Last Christmas” (Wham!). Indeed, the lure of recurring earnings from a hit seasonal song results in a never-ending flow of new holiday recordings — some original songs, others cover versions of proven favorites. Success is elusive, though, and few tracks break through the competition to become perennial favorites.

So which songs have entered the Christmas canon? Billboard compiled this list of the top 25 “new” holiday songs released in the last 25 years, ranked by total consumption (streams and sales) through Dec. 12, according to Luminate. Each item shows the year the recording was released and its rank among the most popular holiday songs of 2024 (both old and new) overall.