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By Jasmine Laws
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Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is the most popular Christmas song across all states in America, but as a Newsweek map shows, many states have their own favorites.
Carey's hit was the Number One song on the Billboard Hot 100 last year, as well as the previous four years during the festive season. It was the most listened to song in Illinois, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Georgia, according to data collected by Finance Buzz on Google Trends.
But other songs that were the favorites in at least three states included, "Run Rudolph Run," "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year," "Jingle Bells," "Deck The Halls," and "Feliz Navidad."
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However, probably due to its popularity which means it is endlessly played during the month of December, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" was also ranked as the "most annoying" Christmas song in a survey conducted by Finance Buzz.
Asking a sample of 1,250 Americans, the outlet found, despite being another favorite, "Feliz Navidad" was ranked the third most annoying song. "Deck The Halls" was also branded annoying, ranking sixth.
Even though they can become overplayed around the festive season and drive us crazy, Christmas songs are still widely loved.
Speaking to Newsweek about how Christmas songs have endless popularity, Jambox Entertainment Inc music producer Lee Evans said, "Christmas songs are great if they are memorable, and they touch that common nerve we all have around the holidays."
While in other music genres, songs try to be "new, trendy, and somewhat daring, Christmas music tends to be nostalgic and bring up a feeling of family and togetherness," Evans said.
Evans, who is currently working on a number of Christmas songs, explained that any song that is endlessly popular will have a "simple, catchy hook, and is about a relatable topic," pointing to how we all remember nursery rhymes, like we remember classic Christmas songs.
Offering a scientific view on Christmas music's popularity, Brian Rabinovitz, a professor of psychological sciences and Faculty Affiliate of the Neuroscience Program at the College of William & Mary, said to Newsweek that while Christmas songs really aren't that different from other popular music, "we naturally make associations in memory and if Christmas is a joyful time for you and there are particular songs you listen to at that time you will naturally make an association."
"You likely listened to these songs while spending quality time with friends and family and perhaps feeling the anticipatory excitement of presents to come," he added, explaining why people have soft-spots for festive music.
Not only does listening to Christmas music have fond associations for a lot of people, but in general, "the more we hear a song the more we like it," the professor added, explaining why songs can be endlessly popular.
Rabinovtiz said that if you find yourself "motivated to listen to a particular song you are likely also experiencing that pattern of activity. Another major part of our enjoyment of music relates to making predictions and experiencing positive surprise. While listening to a melody our brains engage in a process of pattern detection."
Professor Joe Bennett, a Forensic Musicologist at Berklee College of Music, who has undertaken research into Christmas music in the U.K. and the U.S., told Newsweek that Christmas songs also build focus on "themes of homecoming, togetherness, love and family."
In his research, he found that across the most played songs in the U.K. and the U.S. "six main lyric themes recurred across the decades." These included "home, being in love, lost love, party, Santa and snow," he said.
Musicians seem to be keen to get their names on the billboards this year as a number of big name releases have already come out.
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This includes Kelly Clarkson's new album When Christmas Come Around … Again. The album was dropped on Spotify on November 1, and teased with a release of one of its songs, "You For Christmas," which came out in September.
A new album that came out even earlier was When I Think Of Christmas by Vince Gill and Amy Grant, being added to Spotify on September 13.
Orville Peck, a musician who is known for wearing a mask covering his face during his performances, released a single before December too, called "Happy Trails," which was added to Apple Music on October 25.
The singer behind "Tik Tok" and featured on Pitbull's "Timber," Kesha, also released a single in October called "Holiday Road."
With many more new songs coming out this year for Christmas, it'll be interesting to see if any of the old classics are replaced with any of these newbies.
Based on data collected by The Washington Post in 2021, it'll be hard for the newcomers to take the limelight away from long-loved festive favorites as only three of the most popular 20 holiday songs were released this century.
Often people like the old classics because of the happy memories they have tied to them, Rabinovitz said to Newsweek.
He said, "If you learn a Christmas song while you are sitting by a fire drinking hot chocolate and feeling cozy while it snows outside, your memory for the song may be directly attached to everything else you are experiencing at that time. This means that when you hear the song again you may think of that hot chocolate and how cozy you felt when you heard the song before. It also means you may think of the song the next time you are having hot chocolate while sitting by the fire."
Commenting on how this impacts new artists trying to write Christmas songs, Rabinovitz said, "this presents a challenge to any artist who wants to make a new Christmas song because there is only so much room for new Christmas songs."
In order to create an endlessly popular song, Bennett said it's about "getting the balance right between familiar cultural tropes, and having something original about the record that makes people sit up and listen."
Artists are "trying all the time to find that secret sauce, to achieve the coveted status of Holiday classic," he said.
However, he added that combining something of the new and the familiar was "very difficult to do."
Rabinovitz added that his advice to an artist in this situation would be "to cover a popular traditional Christmas song but add some twists or changes that separate it just enough."
Update 11/25/24, 02:45 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Brian Rabinovitz.
Update 11/26/24, 02:45 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Joe Bennett.
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