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Song of the Day #6,382: ‘Underneath the Tree’ – Kelly Clarkson

Yesterday I gave the honor of my annual ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ rendition to Kelly Clarkson. So forgive the redundancy when I return to the gifted singer today for my final post of Christmas week.

Ariana Grande’s ‘Santa Tell Me’ is the only 21st century Christmas song to reach the top five, but there is another modern-day yuletide tune giving it a run for its money. Clarkson’s ‘Underneath the Tree,’ written by the singer with producer Gregg Kurstin and released in 2013, has become a new holiday staple, peaking at #9 on the most recent Billboard chart.

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Song of the Day #6,380: ‘Santa Tell Me’ – Ariana Grande

Almost all of the Christmas songs that return to the Billboard Top Ten are at least a few decades old. Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas is You’ was first released in 1994, Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ came out a decade earlier, and perennials like ‘Jingle Bell Rock,’ ‘The Christmas Song,’ and ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ are 60-70 years old.

One notable exception is Ariana Grande’s ‘Santa Tell Me,’ released in 2014 as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of her EP Christmas Kisses. This is the only Christmas song released in the 21st century to reach Billboard’s Top Five.

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Song of the Day #6,379: ‘River’ – LeAnn Rimes

Artists of all stripes put out new Christmas albums each year, but the country singers are particularly fond of the holiday. This year alone, Brad Paisley, Trisha Yearwood, Mickey Guyton, Hunter Hayes, and LeAnn Rimes released new holiday records.

Rimes is so enamored of Christmas music, in fact, that her newest album is titled Greatest Hits Christmas and features songs from the handful of other Christmas projects she’s released over the years (in addition to some new material).

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Song of the Day #6,378: ‘Last Christmas’ – Wham!

One by-product of Billboard including streaming in its chart calculations, in addition to sales and radio play, is the proliferation of Christmas songs in the top ten each December.

Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want is Christmas is You‘ is perhaps the most notable example, as the song reclaims the #1 spot eery year, and this year became the song with the most weeks at #1 in history (20).

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