Meet the Oldest Artist Ever to Top Billboard's Hot 100
Actually, I bet you've already met!
If you follow rock, pop, R & B, or almost any other kind of contemporary music, you're familiar with the Billboard Hot 100. It's the American music industry's standard record chart: a chronicle of which songs, in order, are most popular in the US right now.
Billboard has been the standard for these statistics for nearly a hundred years, originating in 1913 with rankings of the top ten songs. It's tracked the top 100 since 1958, moving with the times and tweaking its formula to accommodate the popularity of streamed music. In that time, we've grown fairly familiar with the concept! We believe Billboard when it tells us that the number-one song of 2022 is Harry Styles' “As it Was,” or that the record-holder for most entries on the chart is Drake, with a terrifying 327. Yes, Billboard seems to do one thing, and they do it very well.
So it is with perfect peace that we can trust in the authenticity of the latest chart-topper. It's not a group your kids listen to. It's not Taylor Swift! And it's not Mariah Carey, with her nightmarishly inescapable holiday bop, “All I Want For Christmas!” Well … at least not anymore.
Who is it, then? Surprise - it's 50s and 60s sweetheart sensation Brenda Lee, with no less than the seasonal standard, “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree!”
In achieving her number-one position, Lee sets two records. The first is for the longest amount of time elapsing between a song’s debut and its number-one status - 65 years, in this case. “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” is as old as the Billboard Hot 100 itself! Lee’s second record is for the oldest artist to achieve a number-one slot - she’ll turn 79 on December 11.
Yes, Brenda Lee recorded and released this sweet musical treat in 1958, when she was just 14. (And just what, exactly, are you doing with your life, huh?)
Asked by Variety to comment on her record-setting record, Lee explained:
I have wonderful, wonderful fans that have been with me from the first time I opened my mouth to sing, and they’ve stayed with me, and everybody’s been loyal, and I’m more happy for them than I am for me. You can’t keep a good song down.
Well, yay! This is the kind of news I like seeing. Good for Brenda! Good for listeners! And good for Taylor Swift, who's had quite a year and has earned a little break.
To celebrate the 66th anniversary of “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree," an official music video was created. Give it a listen below, whether you're planning to rock around a tree, a menorah, or your blissfully-empty home as you opt out of the holiday craziness!
