After 65 years, Brenda Lee's 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' has finally reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This is the song's first time reaching number one, and it also breaks the record for the longest wait between a song's release and its ascent to number one. Lee now has three number-one singles, with her last one coming in 1960.
The Guardian reported that, written by Johnny Marks, the man behind Christmas favourites such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, the song was recorded when Lee was 13. Initially a flop, it rose to the US Top 20 in 1960 after Lee's pop career had taken off and earned her back-to-back No 1 singles earlier that year.
It found a new audience with a high-profile placement in Home Alone in 1990, but Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree lay dormant in the charts until 2014, when its popularity on streaming services helped it return. It has charted in the US every year since and spent nine weeks at No 2 over the holiday season last year.
Brenda Lee's 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree has also broken two other records previously held by Mariah Carey. It has surpassed Carey's record for the longest wait between a song's release and its ascent to number one, which was 25 years. Additionally, Lee has broken Carey's record for the longest span of time between an artist's first number-one single and most recent, which was 32 years.
