Which Christmas Songs Get the Most Radio Play?

The results may surprise you. Regardless, it’s true the songs are played over and over. And over again.

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Walt Hickey of FiveThirtyEight has this fun item on Christmas songs, which says that the popularity of the tunes is data-driven. Excerpt:

What else gets played in December? Do you really want to hear what I hear? And as often as I hear it?

To find out, I pulled the most recently played 8,000 songs3 on 70iHeartMedia4 soft rock, variety and oldies stations5 that had flipped to their holiday format. These are the most-played songs on holiday radio:

If you think the same songs are played over and over and over, you’re right. The top 15 songs compose half of the music played on holiday radio; the top 53 songs make up 90 percent of the spins. And for a holiday ostensibly about a religious figure’s birthday, the most popular songs on the radio are vastly secular.

I was disappointed to not see Donny Hathaway’s excellent “This Christmas” make the list (below).

But I was also quite relieved that Paul McCartney’s insidious “Wonderful Christmastime” did not make the cut.

Christmas songs list

FiveThirtyEight

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