In 2023, music legend Brenda Lee earned the title of honorary Queen of Christmas when her timeless 1958 hit, “Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree,” claimed the highest spot on the Billboard chart, dethroning Mariah Carey’s perennial vacation anthem, “All I Need for Christmas Is You.”
Initially launched when Lee was simply 13 years outdated, the music was penned by Johnny Marks, identified for writing different vacation classics like “Rudolph the Purple-Nosed Reindeer” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas.”
Over the many years, Brenda Lee’s jazzy vocals and the music’s upbeat rhythm have cemented it as a seasonal staple.
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Brenda Lee Displays On ‘Rockin’ Round The Christmas Tree’ And Its 1 Billion Stream Success
Now, because the 2024 vacation season will get underway, Lee appears able to reclaim her festive crown.
On December 10, it was introduced that “Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree” has surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify, making it the primary vacation music by a feminine nation artist to realize this milestone. “I used to be dumbfounded after I heard,” Lee informed PEOPLE Magazine. “I can’t even suppose that prime, a lot much less say it!”
The Recording Trade Affiliation of America (RIAA) additionally acknowledged Brenda Lee for “Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree” reaching seven-times platinum standing, signifying over 7 million copies offered. It stays the second-highest licensed Christmas music in historical past, trailing solely Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
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Brenda Lee On ‘Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree’ Legacy
Though “Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree” offered steadily all through the Fifties and early Nineteen Sixties, its standing as a beloved cross-generational anthem wasn’t solidified till the Nineties. Since then, its recognition has solely grown.
“Any individual known as me in the future and so they stated, ‘Brenda, have you ever seen that new film?’ I stated, ‘No, which one?’ And so they stated, ‘’Residence Alone.’ Your music is throughout it.’ And that is actually when it began,” Lee expressed.
In 2023, Brenda Lee launched a brand new music video for the vacation traditional, that includes cameos from nation icons Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood. This yr, she launched a particular seven-inch vinyl version, together with a limited-edition pink model accessible at Goal.
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Is Brenda Lee Prepared For The Holidays?
Brenda Lee, like so many others, finds it arduous to imagine the vacation season has arrived as soon as once more. “It appears to slide up on you earlier than you already know it!” she shares with fun. Amid the festivities, she hopes to carve out a while for her favourite pastime. “I’m a ferocious reader,” she says, and he or she’s additionally trying ahead to reconnecting with family members.
“I’m type of old school,” Lee explains. “I wish to have my household and all my associates come over. We have fun and have a very good time.” The celebrations revolve round her “old school” Christmas tree. “I all the time have a stay, inexperienced tree. I just like the scent of it. I’ve ornaments from the time my children had been little. We all the time put these on together with the brand new ones that we add yearly.”
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With Christmas and her birthday each falling in December, Lee will get a double dose of needs. This yr, she’s hoping for one thing way more significant than materials presents. “I would like individuals to not undergo and to have a very good life,” she displays. “Our world strikes so quick and livid. I feel it bypasses kindness. I simply need our world to be higher.”
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A Battle Between ‘Rockin’ Round The Christmas Tree’ And ‘All I Need For Christmas Is You’
Launched in 1994, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” first achieved vital chart success, reaching quantity six on the Billboard charts and quantity two in each the UK and Japan. Within the years since, the emergence of streaming platforms has propelled the music to extraordinary new heights, solidifying its place as one of many best-selling digital singles in historical past.
“I used to be engaged on it on my own … on this little Casio keyboard and writing down phrases and serious about, ‘What do I consider at Christmas? What do I like? What do I would like? What do I dream of?'” Carey said when she celebrated the music’s thirtieth anniversary. “And that is what began it.”
With a formidable 16 million copies offered worldwide, the music has topped charts in over 30 nations throughout the vacation season, incomes its place as a timeless Christmas traditional. In the meantime, “Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree” has offered over 25 million copies worldwide.
