Christmas Song of the Day #5: Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
Brenda Lee is one of my favorite female artists of all time. I first heard her music back in the early 1960s when out of a jukebox of 45s we were able to get "Fool #1" by her. It ended up being one of my Mom's favorite songs of the time. It is a nice ballad with a country flavor, produced by Owen Bradley who at the time was also producing records for country singers Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.
"Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" has become over time, a rock n roll holiday classic. It was great that Brenda recorded this classic single back in 1958 when she had that voice that could fill a large concert hall. It is right up there (to me) with her best rock n roll song ever, "Sweet Nothins'" from 1960.
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was released as a single in 1958 to only marginal success that year and the next. It wasn't until 1960 when Brenda Lee struck it big with her #1 single "I'm Sorry" and the aformentioned "Sweet Nothins'" is when the single finally took off. It reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1960.
Since then "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree" has charted again in 1961 and 1962. In 2014 Billboard changed the rules for song placement on the Hot 100. From 2014 onward, "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree" has hit the Billboard Hot 100 every year up to 2019. In 2019 it peaked at #2.
The song is back on the Hot 100 this week at #21.
More than 25 million copies of the single has been sold. It is also the 4th most streamed Christmas song of all time.
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