NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - December 15, 2010) - The holiday season is in full swing and for many people this festive time of year wouldn't be the same without familiar holiday songs being played on their radios. ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) has released its latest list of most-played holiday songs, based on performance data tracked by airplay monitoring service, Mediaguide, from over 2,500 radio stations nationwide.
While "Sleigh Ride" maintains its lead on the top 10 list, "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" have gained in popularity, moving up one place each to take the #3 and #6 spots, respectively. "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" has entered the chart for the first time this season -- knocking out "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and overtaking "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting...)" -- claiming the #9 spot on the list.
The top 10 most-played ASCAP holiday songs so far this holiday season are listed below.
The list represents an aggregation of all different artist versions of each cited holiday song played on radio from 10/1/10 through 12/10/10. Each song includes songwriter credits, and cites the most popular artist version currently being played on radio.
1. "Sleigh Ride" - played 111,759 times
Written by Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish
Most popular artist version performed by Leroy Anderson
2. "Winter Wonderland" - played 100,435 times
Written by Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith
Most popular artist version performed by Eurythmics
3. "Jingle Bell Rock" - played 84,620 times
Written by Joseph Carleton Beal, James Ross Boothe
Most popular artist version performed by Bobby Helms
4. "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" - played 81,221 times
Written by Edward Pola, George Wyle
Most popular artist version performed by Andy Williams
5. "White Christmas" - played 70,975 times
Written by Irving Berlin
Most popular artist version performed by Bing Crosby
6. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" - played 66,916 times
Written by Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin
Most popular artist version performed by The Carpenters
7. "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" - played 66,190 times
Written by Meredith Willson
Most popular artist version performed by Bing Crosby
8. "Frosty the Snowman" - played 56,755 times
Written by Steve Nelson, Walter E. Rollins
Most popular artist version performed by Jimmy Durante
9. "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" - played 54,338 times
Written by: Johnny Marks
Most popular artist version performed by Brenda Lee
10. "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting...)" - played 54,087 times
Written by Mel Tormé, Robert Wells
Most popular artist version performed by Nat King Cole
ASCAP Members Perform Classic Holiday Songs for Festive Video Collection
Some of ASCAP's cheeriest and jingliest members grabbed their sleigh bells, antlers and cozy hats to perform some of the most-played holiday songs for a collection of homespun videos to celebrate the festive season. Robbie Fulks & Nora O' Connor and Adam Levy & Jill Sobule sent in some holiday spirit from their home bases; Glee's Darren Criss, Savoir Adore and Jon Brodeur came caroling at ASCAP's offices; and a few folks got a visit from ASCAP out in the world, like the Brooklyn supergroup led by Tim Mislock and Nicole Atkins who recorded in Mislock's home studio, and Dawn Landes' double-sized band who took a moment backstage at Joe's Pub in Manhattan. They chose their own backgrounds (everything from a digital crackling fire in a flat screen hearth to borrowed poinsettias), locations and songs, so each video is a unique take on the holiday season with a classic song at its heart. Check out the videos here:
http://bit.ly/hGNoy4.
About Mediaguide
Mediaguide, co-owned by ASCAP, uses proprietary digital fingerprinting and watermarking technology to monitor and measure music and advertisement airplay on more than 2,500 commercial, non-commercial and college radio stations in over 150 US markets, real time, 24/7.
About ASCAP
Established in 1914, ASCAP is the first and leading U.S. Performing Rights Organization (PRO) representing the world's largest repertory totaling over 8.5 million copyrighted musical works of every style and genre from nearly 400,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members. ASCAP has representation arrangements with similar foreign organizations so that the ASCAP repertory is represented in nearly every country around the world where copyright law exists. ASCAP protects the rights of its members and foreign affiliates by licensing the public performances of their copyrighted works and distributing royalties based upon surveyed performances. ASCAP is the only American PRO owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com