(December 10, 2025) – Every holiday season, the Hot 100 feels a little like an old attic: songs you packed away last year suddenly tumble back out, all shiny, sentimental, and ready to take over the chart again. But this year’s Christmas takeover isn’t just another nostalgic shuffle through the holiday bins. The 2025 surge has turned into a statistical blizzard—rewriting records, elevating different classics to new heights, and pushing some unlikely contenders into the spotlight, while lowering the shine on others.
Yes, Mariah’s thawing is complete with her annual ascension to a history-tying No. 1, but the chart is also bursting with other eye-opening milestones worth unwrapping with Christmas still 15 days away!
Mariah’s 19th week for her 19th No. 1
“All I Want For Christmas” crowns the list for a 19th week (in a seventh consecutive holiday season). No other song has topped the chart in more than two distinct chart runs—only Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” which managed two (in 1960 and again in 1962), had more than one such run prior to Mariah’s now-seventh annual return.
With 19 frames at No. 1, The Queen of Christmas reclaims a share of the longevity crown she once owned outright. Prior to 2017, Carey’s duet with Boys II Men — “One Sweet Day” — set the longevity record in 1996 for most weeks at No. 1 (consecutive or otherwise) with 16. Then it was tied by Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” in 2017 before being broken by fellow front runners “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey, with 19 weeks apiece at No. 1.
Carey is likely to reclaim the lead all to herself next week as “Christmas” has a substantial lead over current challengers by Wham! and Brenda Lee. If Carey remains at No. 1 next chart she’ll break the tie at 20 weeks. If she holds on beyond that, she’ll get her 100th total week atop the Hot 100 — extending her mind-boggling lead over current runner-up Rihanna, whose cumulative total stands at 60 weeks at No. 1.
Wham! and George Michael: This Christmas or Next?
Speaking of Wham!, the duo of the late George Michael and musical partner Andrew Ridgely get their highest charting hit since former No. 1 “Everything She Wants” in June 1985 as “Last Christmas” — released in 1984 — climbs to No. 2. The yuletide classic breaks out of a tie with No. 3-peaking hits “Freedom” and “I’m Your Man,” also from 1985-86.
Even more impressively, Wham! becomes only the third act during the streaming-era annual holiday resurgence to send a Christmas song into the top two (following Brenda Lee and Mariah Carey). The only other song that’s come close is Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” which is a perennial No. 3 hit.
And here’s a blog-reader-assisted gem (thank you, Bob Ridge): with “Last Christmas” back in the top ten, George Michael now has two top-ten songwriting credits this year, thanks to “Father Figure” being interpolated into a recent Top 10 hit by Taylor Swift. If anyone can find another ’80s recording act pulling that off this year (or this decade), comment below and let us know.
Btw, George died on Christmas day 2016, so if “Last Christmas” doesn’t complete its climb to the top spot this Christmas, it’ll be a sure fire contender next Christmas as we commemorate the tenth anniversary of his passing.
A changing of the Christmas tide?
Burl Ives’ perennial “A Holly Jolly Christmas” rises from No. 24 to No. 16—not bad for early December—unless you notice the competition. Of the 15 songs ahead of it, 11 are also Christmas songs.
Ives’ tune has peaked at No. 4 or No. 5 in each of the last six holiday-dominated seasons (2019–24). But he didn’t have to battle a wave of newer Christmas classics before: Wham!’s new peaks, Ariana Grande’s modern holiday staple (“Santa Tell Me”), Kelly Clarkson’s sleeper seasonal smash (“Underneath the Tree”)—all climbing higher each year.
If this week is any indication, this could be the first time since Christmas music began dominating six years ago that Burl Ives misses the top five entirely.
Can ‘Sam the Snowman’ save the day?
There’s hope for Ives. Television’s annual airings of the 1964 Rankin/Bass classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer—where Ives narrates as Sam the Snowman and performs “A Holly Jolly Christmas”—bookends the tracking week that will determine next week’s chart (dated Dec. 20).
• Airing 1: Dec. 5
• Airing 2: Dec. 11
In addition to those two airings on NBC, the classic film is also available on streaming platforms. And if anyone can give Burl Ives a holiday miracle 61 years after the song debuted, it’s Sam the Snowman himself.
A Christmas presence like never before
All of this talk of Christmas music leads us to this final observation: there are already currently 38 Christmas songs on the latest Hot 100 (dated Dec. 13), with 37 of them in the top half. That’s 74% of the top 50, which is the highest percentage of holiday hits in that region of any chart dated Dec. 13 or before. And the calendar is on holiday music’s side this year: with Dec. 25th falling on a Thursday (the last tracking day for the chart week dated January 3, 2026), there are still three more full chart weeks in which Christmas music will only increase its presence. The last time Christmas fell on a Thursday and was perfectly timed to end with Billboard’s tracking week was in 2014 before holiday streaming exploded. This year’s alignment (coupled with lower-than-normal point totals for today’s non-holiday hits) could produce something we’ve never seen: an entire top 50 that is 100% holiday music (note: many of the holiday hits are ineligible to chart unless they rank above No. 50 due to their recurrent status).
We will be monitoring that one like NORAD watching for Santa on its radar.
So as Billboard tallies its biggest sleigh ride yet, DJROBBLOG will keep refreshing the data, adjusting the tinsel, and tracking every twist in this snow-dusted saga. And when the last gift is opened, the mistletoe drops, and the garland comes down, we may look back on 2025 as the year Christmas didn’t just dominate the Hot 100…
It owned it.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
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