Brenda Lee’s festive Christmas song, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” has earned the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for the first time in 65 years.
According to Billboard.com, Lee was just 13 years old when she recorded the album. Had the song hit number one upon its release, she would’ve been the youngest singer to secure the top music slot, but now, at 78, she is the oldest to do so.
The new “Rockin’” success is Lee’s third number one single and the first chart-topper she has had since the 1960s.
There were 34.9 million streamers who shared her “sentimental feeling” as 20.7 million radio airplay audience members tuned in during the last week of November.
About 3,000 voices were “singing let’s be jolly” as they downloaded the song throughout the record-breaking period.
She first released her “Christmas party hop” tune in 1958. The song debuted on the Billboard charts at number 64 two years after its release and climbed up to number 14.
The song gained attention through the years and became a modern classic after being featured in the film “Home Alone” in 1990.
Since then, “Rockin'” has been covered by numerous singers, including Meghan Trainor, Toby Keith, and Miley Cyrus from her Hannah Montanna days.
As the song’s popularity grew “in the new old-fashioned way” Lee recently posted the first official music video for the tune last month with special guests Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood.
She has also joined TikTok, according to Billboard.com, and has been posting about “Rockin.’”
Lee recently said, “The song came out when I was a young teenager and now to know that it has resonated with multiple generations and continues to resonate — it is one of the best gifts I have ever received,” per Entertainment Weekly.
