Holiday Songs That Reached the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 10

A select 16 shiny holiday hits have hung like ornaments in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10.

The Chipmunks’ “The Chipmunk Song,” with David Seville, became the first Yuletide track to reach the region, logging for four weeks at No. 1 in the 1958 holiday season.

Two other carols have spent time upon the Hot 100’s highest bough: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” from 1994, for 19 total weeks at No. 1 beginning in 2019, and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” from 1958, for three weeks over the 2023 holiday season.

The two most recently released holiday hits to go (over the river and through the woods) to the Hot 100’s top 10 did so on the Dec. 28, 2024-dated chart: Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me,” released in 2014, and Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree,” from 2013.

Previously, superstar saxophonist Kenny G boasted the most recently released holiday top 10: His take on “Auld Lang Syne,” released at the end of 1999, hit No. 7 in the Y2K holiday season. (A mix including news clips of noteworthy 20th century events added to the original instrumental’s reach.)

The most vintage seasonal song to have reached the Hot 100’s top 10? Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You).” He unveiled the chestnut in 1946.

Notably, the bulk of holiday hits that have dashed to the Hot 100’s top 10 have done so in the 2020s, as streaming has grown and holiday music has become more prominent on streaming services’ playlists. (Further, for much of the Hot 100’s history, holiday songs were not eligible to make the list, appearing instead on seasonal surveys.)

As for the titles of the 16 top 10 Hot 100 holiday entries, five feature “Christmas” and one “Navidad.” “Tree” has appeared in two titles. (Plus, fittingly per their sleigh positions, “Rudolph” reached the top 10, over the 2020 holidays, before “Santa.”)

Here’s a recap of every holiday song that has made a holly jolly journey to the Hot 100’s top 10, listed from the most recently released to the earliest.