Kevin Bacon Is a Billboard-Charting Hitmaker Thanks to ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Holiday Song
Written by djfrosty on December 7, 2022
Kevin Bacon scores his first career entry on a Billboard songs chart as “Here It Is Christmastime,” from The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, debuts at No. 7 on Holiday Digital Song Sales, No. 10 on Rock Digital Song Sales and No. 27 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart (all dated Dec. 10).
The song, on which he’s co-billed with the Old 97’s, debuts with 2,000 downloads sold in the Nov. 25-Dec. 1 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The Guardians special, in which Bacon plays a fictionalized version of himself, premiered on Disney+ Nov. 25.
While Bacon makes his first solo appearance on a songs ranking this week, this isn’t his first-ever appearance on any Billboard chart. He charted for the first time in 2014 with his band The Bacon Brothers — his folk-rock group with his brother, Michael. The group’s album 36 Cents reached No. 19 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart and No. 42 on Heatseekers Albums.
As for the Old 97’s, the Rhett Miller-fronted group has scored success on Billboard’s charts since 1999. The band has sent seven albums onto the Billboard 200, climbing as high as No. 30 with Most Messed Up in 2014. The act has also logged three top 10s on Adult Alternative Airplay: “Murder (Or a Heart Attack)” (No. 6 peak in 1999), “Nineteen” (No. 9, 1999) and “King of All the World” (No. 8, 2001).
Old 97’s also debut one additional song from the Guardians special: “I Don’t Know What Christmas Is” opens at No. 4 on Holiday Digital Song Sales, No. 5 on Rock Digital Song Sales and No. 15 on Digital Song Sales.
The Guardians franchise has generated prior action on Billboard charts, thanks to its array of classic hits from the 1960s and ’70s. The soundtrack to the first film, Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2014, while the sequel’s soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2, reached No. 4 in 2017. The first film’s soundtrack has also spent 141 weeks in the top 10 of the Vinyl Albums chart (including one at No. 1), the second-longest run after The Beatles’ Abbey Road (263).