On-demand streams for holiday music in the U.S. increased 27% to 8.3 billion this year, compared with a year ago, according to L.A.-based data firm Luminate.<\/p>\n
The popularity of music streaming has helped to fuel a surge in users seeking out more holiday music, and earlier in the year.<\/p>\n
The change has been driven by technology. In the pre-streaming era, consumers would play Christmas music through CDs and records or catch tunes on the radio during the winter months. <\/p>\n
But the rise of Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services opened the floodgates by offering large libraries of songs on demand. <\/p>\n
The new platforms created and marketed holiday playlists, making it easier for consumers to discover seasonal songs and add new ones to their own song collections.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou used to have a bunch of Christmas albums around and rotate them through as you\u2019re decorating the house or wrapping the presents,\u201d said Dave Bakula, vice president of analytics and data insights at Iconic Artists Group. \u201cThe availability of all the music, all the time is such an incredible gift that streaming services have given us.\u201d<\/p>\n
For musicians and record labels, holiday music also has taken on growing importance.<\/p>\n
Vince Szydlowski, executive vice president of commerce at Universal Music Enterprises, the centralized global catalog division of Universal Music Group, said he starts planning the year\u2019s campaign for holiday music in January. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor UMG and many of the artists that you associate with holiday music, it will be the most important time of the year, without a doubt,\u201d Szydlowski said. \u201cIn some cases, especially with certain legendary artists, it could make or break their year.\u201d <\/p>\n
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Artist Brenda Lee performs at the \u201cRockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree\u201d concert at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville in 2015.<\/p>\n
(Laura Roberts \/ Invision \/ AP)<\/p>\n
One campaign Universal Music Enterprises worked on was promoting Elton John\u2019s 1973 holiday song \u201cStep Into Christmas.\u201d The song was featured in Amazon Prime Video\u2019s holiday movie \u201cOh. What. Fun,\u201d starring Michelle Pfeiffer. <\/p>\n
John posted viral social media videos with the song playing in the background that drew more than 100 million views. <\/p>\n
Those efforts helped boost the track\u2019s consumption by 44% this year compared with last year, according to Universal Music Group, citing data from Luminate. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very comprehensive campaign in which to continue to boost that track visibility among the holiday perennials,\u201d Szydlowski said.<\/p>\n
Many of the popular Christmas songs in the U.S. date back decades, making it challenging for new, original holiday songs to break through. <\/p>\n
Mariah Carey\u2019s \u201cAll I Want for Christmas Is You<\/a>\u201d has been the longest-running No. 1 song in Billboard Hot 100 history at 21 weeks, according to Billboard<\/a>. <\/p>\n The holidays are an important time for older artists like Brenda Lee, whose rendition of \u201cRockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree\u201d remains a winter hit. <\/p>\n In November 2023, Lee\u2019s version of the song topped Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 chart for the first time, 65 years after the song\u2019s debut, making Lee, then 79, the oldest woman to top the Hot 100, according to UMG. <\/p>\n Then there are artists like the late Nat King Cole, known for hits like the holiday classic \u201cThe Christmas Song,\u201d and Dean Martin, who died in 1995 and whose rendition of \u201cLet It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!\u201d is especially popular during winter months. <\/p>\n Nat King Cole in 1963. \u201cThe Christmas Song\u201d became one of his enduring hits.<\/p>\n (Capitol Records Archives)<\/p>\n Another source of appeal for Christmas music is that it\u2018s timeless.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n