Oct 29 | By Karen Quach
As the first flurries of winter snow appear and the Thanksgiving decorations go back into storage, you’re certain to start hearing your favorite Christmas songs playing on the radio, signaling the beginning of the holiday season.
If you don’t count the Scrooges out there, Christmas music is incredibly popular across the United States. As radio stations switch their programming to Christmas music, they often drastically increase the number of listeners, sometimes doubling or tripling their audience! Even people who stream music on the internet listen to more Christmas music as the holiday season approaches, with Christmas songs making up 22% of all Spotify streams on Christmas in 2017.
However, as with any type of music, people have different opinions about which holiday jingles are the best, so we did a little research to find out which festive tunes were searched for the most in each state.
Festive Findings
- Mariah Carey’s holiday hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!)” was the most searched Christmas song in 11 states, the most of any on this year’s list. This song made history in 2019 for being the first Christmas song in 60 years to break into the top five spots on Billboard’s Hot 100.
- “Frosty the Snowman” took the top spot in six states. Oddly enough, the lyrics in the original song don’t mention Christmas at all!
- Bumped from its first-place spot in our previous rankings, “Jingle Bells” was the top searched in the third most states this year. This classic is over 150 years old and was once performed in space.
- Popular country musician Gene Autry recorded the first versions of both “Frosty the Snowman” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” most searched in six states and one state respectively.
| State | Song |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Frosty the Snowman |
| Alaska | Last Christmas |
| Arizona | Jingle Bells |
| Arkansas | Blue Christmas |
| California | The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) |
| Colorado | Jingle Bell Rock |
| Connecticut | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| Delaware | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| District of Columbia | White Christmas |
| Florida | Feliz Navidad |
| Georgia | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| Hawaii | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| Idaho | Sleigh Ride |
| Illinois | Santa Baby |
| Indiana | It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year |
| Iowa | Winter Wonderland |
| Kansas | Jingle Bell Rock |
| Kentucky | Holly Jolly Christmas |
| Louisiana | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| Maine | Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree |
| Maryland | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| Massachusetts | Frosty the Snowman |
| Michigan | Happy Xmas (War Is Over) |
| Minnesota | Happy Xmas (War Is Over) |
| Mississippi | Frosty the Snowman |
| Missouri | Mary, Did You Know? |
| Montana | Blue Christmas |
| Nebraska | Jingle Bells |
| Nevada | Jingle Bell Rock |
| New Hampshire | Frosty the Snowman |
| New Jersey | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| New Mexico | Santa Baby |
| New York | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| North Carolina | Jingle Bells |
| North Dakota | Carol of the Bells |
| Ohio | Frosty the Snowman |
| Oklahoma | Mary, Did You Know? |
| Oregon | Winter Wonderland |
| Pennsylvania | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| Rhode Island | Frosty the Snowman |
| South Carolina | Jingle Bells |
| South Dakota | Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas |
| Tennessee | Mary, Did You Know? |
| Texas | The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) |
| Utah | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| Vermont | Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! |
| Virginia | Jingle Bells |
| Washington | White Christmas |
| West Virginia | Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer |
| Wisconsin | All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) |
| Wyoming | Feliz Navidad |
| Song | Artist | # of states that had the song |
|---|---|---|
| All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) | Mariah Carey | 11 |
| Frosty the Snowman | Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys | 6 |
| Jingle Bells | Will Lyle | 5 |
| Jingle Bell Rock | Bobby Helms | 3 |
| Mary, Did You Know? | Michael English | 3 |
| Blue Christmas | Elvis Presley | 2 |
| The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) | Robert Wells and Mel Tormé | 2 |
| White Christmas | Rosemary Clooney | 2 |
| Feliz Navidad | José Feliciano | 2 |
| Santa Baby | Eartha Kitt with Henri René | 2 |
| Winter Wonderland | Felix Bernard | 2 |
| Happy Xmas (War Is Over) | John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band | 2 |
| Last Christmas | Nat King Cole | 1 |
| Sleigh Ride | Leroy Anderson | 1 |
| It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year | Andy Williams | 1 |
| Holly Jolly Christmas | Burl Ives | 1 |
| Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree | Brenda Lee | 1 |
| Carol of the Bells | Mykola Leontovych | 1 |
| Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas | Judy Garland | 1 |
| Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! | Frank Sinatra | 1 |
| Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer | Gene Autry | 1 |
Methodology:
We looked at 23 of the most played Christmas songs on holiday radio according to iHeartMedia and Spotify. We then looked at Google search volume by state for each song.
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