Science explains why there hasn't been a hit Christmas song in years
WiredGetty Images / Jeff Kravitz / Contributor You know it’s Christmas when the warbling of The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s "Fairytale of New York" begins blasting from your car stereo; or when Mariah Carey’s "All I Want For Christmas is You" starts playing in every Subway and H&M across the land. According to research on regional radio stations published earlier this month by the Performing Rights Society for Music, the most recent song to break into the top 20 most-played Christmas tracks is Cliff Richard’s "Millennium Prayer," from the year 2000. Even the more obscure festive tracks – like 1982’s "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses, or 2003’s "Christmas Time by The Darkness" – date back at least a decade. “Many of us, regardless of our generation, listen to Christmas music that tends to have come through from the early seventies,” says Paul Carr, professor in popular music analysis at the University of South Wales. “Christmas pop songs are all about nostalgia – think about 'White Christmas', which is the biggest selling song of all time,” says Alexandra Lamont, senior lecturer in music psychology at Keele University.
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What makes a holiday song a lasting hit? : Consider This from NPR
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All I Want for Christmas is You: Why we haven’t had a decent festive song since Mariah Carey in 1994
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