HOLIDAY CLASSICS

The Christmas Hits That Are Trending on Spotify This Season

There’s no better way to get in the holiday spirit than by cranking up the festive tunes. From cheerful classics to jolly pop hits, we wanted to see what people are humming along to this season. After looking under the hood of Santa’s sleigh, here’s what we found when it comes to Spotify streaming.

Listeners were eager to get a jump-start on their merry music—Sunday, November 28 saw the most streams of Christmas music outside of the month of December. Mariah Carey’s 1994 pop hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” continues to be a favorite—it recently hit 1 billion streams on Spotify. But that’s not the only woman-powered song that’s been accumulating some play time on listeners’ speakers. Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” took the top spot in the U.S. for the most-streamed Christmas song during the first week of December this year.

Looking at global listening over the past month (November 1 through December 9, 2021), we found that five familiar tunes are holding their place at the top of the Christmas tree—proving they are classics for a reason. Unsurprisingly, Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is the most-streamed Christmas song on Spotify. The second most-streamed song is “Last Christmas” by Wham!, followed by Michael Bublé’s “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.” Rounding out the top spots are “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms and Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” This roundup comes as no surprise, as four of these songs are ranked in Spotify’s top five most-streamed Christmas songs of all time. 

If you’re looking for more contemporary Christmas songs to add to your playlist, the top five most-streamed Christmas tracks that have been released in the past five years are: “Snowman” by Sia, White Christmas” by Amy Grant,Santa’s Coming for Us” by Sia, Hallelujah” by Pentatonix, andMerry Christmas” by Ed Sheeran and Elton John.

We also decided to see what other Christmas tunes listeners are adding to their own user-generated playlists. Beyond the songs mentioned above, some of the most popular tracks include: “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber, “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (with The B. Swanson Quartet)” by Frank Sinatra, and “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid

The next time you sit down with your eggnog, make sure these Christmas hits are queued up. And if you’re looking for more, give the Spotify Singles: Holiday Collection playlist a listen.