By Patricia Lanzagarita
MUSIC industry’s record chart Billboard has announced that singer Brenda Lee is the oldest artist to place No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for this week, with her song Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.
The American singer is 78 years old and will turn 79 this coming Monday, December 11.
Holiday is now being felt in the United States after her song clinched the top spot, overpowering Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas, which was ranked in the second spot.
Lee broke the over-a-half-century record of singer and trumpeter Louis Armstrong as the oldest musician who ruled the most-streamed songs in the United States.
Her song, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree was released way back in 1958 and she recorded it when she was only 13 years old.
For the 65th anniversary of the song, Lee made a big effort to push it back to the charts by recording its first official music video which features Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood.
Currently, it has over 8 million views on TikTok and 4.8 million views on YouTube.
Meanwhile, Lovin’ on Me by Jack Harlow is in the third spot, Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms is in fourth, Last Christmas by Wham! is in the fifth, and A Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives is placed sixth for this week’s chart.
The Hot 100 chart ranks the most popular songs across all genres throughout the week. It is ranked by radio airplay, monitored by Nielsen BDS, download sales tracked by Nielsen SoundScan, and streaming activity data provided by leading online music services.
Source: Billboard and NPR Music
(ai/mmm)