Christmas Music Wrap-Up 2024

Twenty-one years ago, I unwrapped an XM Satellite Radio kit (a receiver and an antenna) on Christmas Day 2003 and promptly installed and activated it in the new family minivan, a 2003 Honda Odyssey. For all of 2004 and into 2005, it changed how I listened to the radio as we made several cross-country trips. Then after buying our daughter an iPod Mini for Christmas 2004, I purchased an iPod Photo as a 2005 Valentine's Day/Anniversary Gift for my wife. Even sent it off to Colorware and had it painted a beautiful and bright shade of purple, her favorite color. That iPod completely changed how I listened to music so about a month after Valentine's Day 2005, I canceled our XM subscription after dealing with two retention agents offering ridiculously low prices and never looked back. Even decades later, I continue to receive solicitations from SiriusXM to return to the hive. It is funny that all emails and snail mails from SiriusXM come addressed to John which is not my name. They are a different type of Dear John letters because I broke up with them.

When The Drive went on-air in 2019, the listener reaction was immediate. Emails, texts, and phone calls poured in. I set up a folder, and then a spreadsheet to track different metrics from listener feedback because that is who I am and what I do. One of those metrics was listeners letting us know that The Drive was the reason they had canceled their SiriusXM accounts. There were dozens of them to start with and within three short months we reached 100 such declarations and I stopped tracking them even as they continued to come in. Another, smaller metric I tracked was listeners telling us that we sounded like or reminded them of different SiriusXM channels. To these listeners, I created a response that broke down exactly how many different SiriusXM channels they would have to listen to come close to the breadth and depth of The Drive's playlist. After listing 15 or 16 channels, I added three words "and The Turtles"; none of the SiriusXM channels play any music from The Turtles because of a lawsuit.

But how did I know what SiriusXM was playing if I was no longer a subscriber you may ask? Was it some top-secret radio station database? Nope, it was our friend Scott's site xmplaylist.com where he tracks the playlists of dozens of the satellite service's channels and presents them in a cool way. Site users can choose from On Now, Newest, and Most Heard on each channel for varying amounts of time (you can look back at On Now for up to 48 hours or choose the Most Heard songs for 30 or 60 Days.) There's also the ability to export playlists for Apple Music and Spotify or as CSV files. There's even a robust and user-friendly search function. Don't forget to buy Scott a coffee if you use his site.

Curious about the growing number of Holiday music channels SiriusXM was offering up, I began tracking them from November 1st through Christmas Day in 2019. Repeating the process each year as the selection of channels grew larger. This year, I monitored five channels that covered the kind of music I like to listen to for the Holidays. Indeed, I did not feel the need to listen to Holiday music until just a few days ago but when I fell, I fell hard and deep into my old favorites with a hunger for songs that were new to me.

Inspired by Matt Bailey's awesome Graphs About Songs post "It's The Most Nostalgic Time of the Year" about the most streamed Holiday songs on Spotify, I decided to do something tangential. Using the Most Heard in the last 60 days function with the Export to CSV function on xmplaylist.com for the following five SiriusXM channels, I prepared the Top 25 Holiday Songs list below with the far right column noting the number of plays each track got across the five stations from November 1 through December 25, 2024.

• 017 Jimmy Fallon's Holiday Seasoning Radio – a mix of holiday classics handpicked by the holiday connoisseur himself
• 071 Holiday Traditions – Traditional holiday recordings from the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s
• 079 Holly – Modern holiday hits
• 105 Hallmark Radio – Timeless Christmas music and carols that celebrate the joy of the season
• 639 Holidays with Jessi & Friends – Jessi Cruickshank and friends bring you a festive mix (Jessi is a popular Canadian television personality)

Scott's site only monitors the main channels on SiriusXM to the best of my knowledge. There are exclusive channels available in the app as well as something called xtra channels. Browsing the company's Holiday Channel announcement, there were a few app and xtra channels I would have liked to see the playlists for but they are unavailable on xmplaylist.com:

• '70s/'80s Holidays – Popular singalong holiday hits from the ’70s and ’80s
• Cool Jazz Christmas – Christmas classics from the greatest contemporary and smooth jazz instrumentalists and vocalists
• Jolly Christmas – Upbeat, energetic holiday hits and feel-good singalong songs
• Rockin' Xmas – Classic Christmas songs that rock, including hits, rarities, and live tracks

1	It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year	1963	Andy Williams	675
2	The Christmas Song	1961	Nat King Cole	672
3	Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree	1958	Brenda Lee	669
4	All I Want For Christmas Is You	1994	Mariah Carey	667
5	Blue Christmas	1957	Elvis Presley	634
6	Santa Tell Me	2014	Ariana Grande	624
7	Jingle Bell Rock	1957	Bobby Helms	621
8	Wonderful Christmastime	1979	Paul McCartney	580
9	Do They Know It's Christmas	1984	Band-Aid	559
10	Last Christmas	1984	Wham!	552
11	Christmas Tree Farm	2019	Taylor Swift	483
12T	A Holly Jolly Christmas	1964	Burl Ives	476
12T	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	1949	Gene Autry	476
14	Santa Baby	1953	Eartha Kitt	474
15	Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays	1998	*NSYNC	446
16	Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer	1964	Burl Ives	442
17	Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)	1963	Darlene Love	429
18	Underneath The Tree	2013	Kelly Clarkson	428
19	Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town	1981	Bruce Springsteen	410
20T	Here Comes Santa Claus	1947	Gene Autry	377
20T	It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas	1986	Johnny Mathis	377
22	Holly Jolly Christmas	2011	Michael Buble	375
23	Happy Christmas (War Is Over)	1971	John Lennon	367
24	Mistletoe	2011	Justin Bieber	359
25	White Christmas	1947	Bing Crosby	358