Digital Age Gives Old Holiday Favorites First Week on Chart ...and Other Phenomenons

The digital age continues to change the face of the music chart landscape with new phenomenons.

The January 7, 2017 issue of Billboard's Hot 100 (released December 27, 2016) saw debuts of the holiday favorites of Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad" (at #44), Burl Ives' "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (#46), Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (#48), and Wham!'s "Last Christmas" (#50). Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" even received its new peak at #29. How can this be when all the songs are over--and well over--30 years old?

For starters, the original chart was weighted heavily by commercial singles sales. Several of the above holiday recordings were not originally released as commercial singles, rendering them incapable of charting according to chart rules at the time.

Modern chart rules consider commercial sales (physical and digital download), radio airplay, and streams (even from YouTube, Spotify, Facebook, etc.) of singles and tracks, which has allowed those songs of the past to receive a place on the chart--even their first placing--during the peak of the holiday season.

Overall, we see the following formula:
Digital downloads and streams  +  modern chart rules  =  the opportunity to potentially claim a charting position for songs that were previously incapable of appearing on the chart.

Under these circumstances, it is not uncommon to now see non-single album tracks nab a chart position upon a popular album's release. This grants modern artists opportunity to rank up more chart entries than artists even 15 years ago. For example, according to Billboard's website, 17 of the 18 tracks from the deluxe edition of Justin Bieber's Purpose (2015) have claimed a position on the Hot 100. However, only 7 of the 14 tracks from Michael Jackson's Dangerous (1991) charted on the Hot 100--all 7, of which, were singles. Understanding this makes modern chart success and former chart success incomparable, particularly when considering the number of tallies an artist has had on the chart.

In fact, the modern chart rules give artists the opportunity to nearly monopolize the Hot 100. Bieber's 17 simultaneously charting tracks from Purpose claimed spots that could have offered songs from other artists a chance to perform that week on the chart. Still, the Hot 100 measures popularity of songs, so whether those popular songs are from the same artist or not, they have earned their position, even if they snag the opportunity of other artists' work possibly ever laying a claim on the chart.

These aren't the only chart phenomenons the digital age has produced. In 2014, Idina Menzel's child fan favorite "Let It Go," from Disney's motion picture Frozen, peaked at #5. Not only was the song well-sold, but it is probable that technologically savvy 4 year olds had something to do with it, since the chart recognizes every YouTube and Spotify play. In other words, every iPad toting child that knows how to access YouTube has power to influence the modern music chart. Amazing! Personally, I've termed this the Let It Go Effect.

The effects on the chart this holiday season is another reminder of how the digital age is a new era with new possibilities. As for those newly-charted old holiday favorites, each fell off the chart the following week, except for "Last Christmas," which received its current new peak at #41--most likely helped by George Michael's passing.


***Other George Michael hits to reenter the Hot 100 this week include "Faith" (#47) and Wham!'s "Careless Whisper" (#33), while the Billboard 200 saw a reemergence of his albums TwentyFive (#12), Faith (#18), and Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael (#84), as well as Wham!'s Make It Big (#168).