Best of 2023: A #1 Song 65 Years After Release

 Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree Went to #1

I'm happy that BRENDA LEE made it to #1 with her 65 year old holiday hit, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree". The song came out in 1958 and has shown up on every Billboard Hot 100 chart since Christmas music was regularly listed during the holiday season. 

The song also charted on the 1960 and 1961 Hot 100s. "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree" has never been a number one record until the Billboard Hot 100 was released on December 5, 2023. 

UPDATE: Billboard announced that "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree" will top the Hot 100 for a second week in a row! Congratulations Brenda Lee (December 11).

With that accomplishment, Brenda Lee became the oldest person to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, eclipsing a record Louis Armstrong had since 1964's "Hello Dolly" when he was 64. Today (December 11) Brenda Lee turned 79.

In 1960 she had two #1 songs... "I'm Sorry" and "I Want To Be Wanted" both ballads in a lush, country crooning style. Most of her early records were produced by Owen Bradley, who also produced country music records for Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.

My favorite Brenda Lee song is "Sweet Nothins'" a rock n roll track reached #4 on the Hot 100 in 1959. That track along with "I'm Sorry" and several others appeared on her great 1960 album release, Brenda Lee. We had that record in our family's collection since the 1960s. The whispering intro of "ah ha honey, alright..." grabbed it for me on "Sweet Nothins'".

This year a new video was produced for "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree" which appears in the link below (YouTube). She also sang the song at the Grand Ole' Opry on December 2023 telecast shown on NBC TV.

Best of 2023: The Beatles Now And Then

 

The Last Song by The Beatles

"Now And Then", the song recorded by The Beatles was released on November 2. The song written by John Lennon was given to Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono, John's widow in 1994 along with the songs "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love".

In 1994 George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney worked on the three songs releasing two of them on the Anthology I and Anthology II albums that came out in 1995 and 1996. "Now And Then" laid on the back burner for more than 25 years due to technical reasons. You can learn more about "Now And Then" by watching the short video documentary below:

"Now And Then" made its debut on my Current Top 20 chart at #3 on November 3. By the next week it jumped to #1, replacing "Angry" by The Rolling Stones at that position. "Now And Then" has been the #1 song on my Current Top 20 for the four weeks now. The latest chart as of December 1 is shown below.

"Now And Then" is one of my favorite songs of 2023 and we'll see where it ends up in my end of the year Top 100 for 2023.