'All I Want For Christmas Is You' Joins Christmas Classics As #1 ASCAP Holiday Song In 2017

Top Christmas Songs

The AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS (ASCAP) has released its Top Holiday Songs for 2017. According to an ASCAP analysis of streaming and terrestrial radio data, 1994’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” written by WALTER AFANASIEFF and MARIAH CAREY, moves to #1, joining CHRISTMAS classics like “A Holly Jolly Christmas” (written by JOHNNY MARKS, 1962) and “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” (written by SAMMY CAHN and JULE STYNE, 1945) at the top of the charts.

Also gaining in popularity is another “recent” holiday song, GEORGE MICHAEL’s “Last Christmas” from 1984. The rest of the Top Ten Holiday Songs chart is dominated by old school ASCAP favorites, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (JOHNNY MARKS, 1958), “Jingle Bell Rock” (JOSEPH CARLETON BEAL/JAMES ROSS BOOTHE, 1957), “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” (MEREDITH WILLSON, 1951), “Sleigh Ride” (LEROY ANDERSON/MITCHELL PARISH, 1950), “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (JOHNNY MARKS, 1949), and the 1960s favorite, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” (EDWARD POLA/GEORGE WYLE, 1963).

“Music is such an essential part of the holiday season, and beloved holiday favorites have lasting appeal across all generations, whether performed by JUSTIN BIEBER, KATY PERRY and ARIANA GRANDE, or BRENDA LEE and JOHNNY MATHIS,” said ASCAP Pres. and award-winning songwriter PAUL WILLIAMS. “As time has passed, new classics like ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ and ‘Last Christmas’ have evolved in the hearts and minds of music listeners, and taken their rightful place at the top of the today’s holiday songs chart.”

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