Chart Beat
Koe Wetzel and Jessie Murph’s “High Road” travels a spot to No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated Dec. 28). In the Dec. 13-19 tracking week, the duet increased by 20% to 33.6 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.
“High Road” is the first Country Airplay entry for the 32-year-old Wetzel from Pittsburgh, Texas, as well as for Huntsville, Ala., native Murph.
Wetzel notches the first No. 1 for a freshman Country Airplay entry since Marshmello led with his Kane Brown collab “Miles on It” in November. (Brown banked his 12th leader with the song.) DJ/producer Marshmello previously tallied four No. 1s on Dance/Mix Show Airplay, among leaders on other charts.
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As for the 20-year-old Murph, she becomes the first woman to top Country Airplay as a lead artist with a rookie entry since April 2020, when Gabby Barrett’s “I Hope” dominated for two frames.
Murph is only the second female artist to rule Country Airplay in 2024, with both having led this month, after Ella Langley’s “You Look Like You Loved Me,” with Riley Green, spent a week on top two weeks earlier.
“This year’s been absolutely insane,” Wetzel tells Billboard. “For Murph and I to get our first No. 1 at country radio on top of everything else feels unreal. I poured my heart into this, and seeing it connect the way it has … man, I don’t even have the words. Huge love to Jessie for making ‘High Road’ what it is.”
Murph and Wetzel co-wrote “High Road” with Amy Allen, Carrie K, Josh Serrato, Gabe Simon and Laura Veltz. It’s from Wetzel’s album 9 Lives, which became his fourth top 10 on Top Country Albums when it opened at its No. 5 best in August. It’s also on Murph’s That Ain’t No Man That’s the Devil, which arrived at its No. 24 high on the all-genre Billboard 200 in September.
2 ‘Guy’s for the Top 10
Post Malone’s “Guy for That,” featuring Luke Combs, hits the Country Airplay top 10 (11-10; 16.3 million, up 11%).
Post Malone adds his third top 10 on the chart, following two straight leaders: “Pour Me a Drink,” featuring Blake Shelton (three weeks, October) and “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen (four, beginning in June).
Combs rings up his 22nd Country Airplay top 10. His “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” became his 19th chart-topper in September.
“Guy for That” is the third single from Post Malone’s introductory LP in the genre, F-1 Trillion, which entered at No. 1 on the Aug. 31-dated Top Country Albums tally and the Billboard 200 with 250,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States.
After being featured in the fourth season of CBS series Ghosts, 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” is No. 1 on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart, powered by Tunefind, for November 2024.
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Rankings for the Top TV Songs chart are based on song and show data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of November 2024.
“What’s Up?” reigns after a synch in the fourth episode of season four of Ghosts, premiering Nov. 7. It’s Ghosts’ only appearance on the 10-position November 2024 tally, and it comes via 8.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 2,000 downloads in November, according to Luminate.
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The 4 Non Blondes classic peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1993, the Linda Perry-fronted band’s only U.S. hit on that chart.
A quintet of songs from Netflix’s Arcane dots Top TV Songs, paced by Stromae and Pomme’s “Ma Meillure Ennemie,” which ranks at No. 2 thanks to 14.4 million streams and 1,000 downloads, all coming in the final week of the year after its episode’s Nov. 23 premiere.
Arcane debuted its second and final season three years after the runaway-hit original; it was premiered in three three-episode blocks, beginning on Nov. 9 and ending with the final three episodes on Nov. 23.
“Ma Meillure Ennemie” became the first song from both artists to reach the Hot 100, debuting at No. 95 on the Dec. 7 tally and reaching a peak of No. 69 the following week.
Woodkid’s “To Ashes and Blood” (No. 7; 8.4 million streams, 1,000 downloads), Twenty One Pilots’ “The Line” (No. 9; 7.1 million streams, 1,000 downloads) and Marcus King’s “Sucker” (No. 10; 6.2 million streams, 1,000 downloads) join Stromae and Pomme on the November 2024 Top TV Songs chart.
See the full top 10, also featuring music from The Irrational, Special Ops: Lioness, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Fire Country and St. Denis Medical, below.
Rank, Song, Artist, Show (Network)1. “What’s Up?,” 4 Non Blondes, Ghosts (CBS)2. “Ma Meilleure Ennemie,” Stromae & Pomme, Arcane (Netflix)3. “I’m Good (Blue),” David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, The Irrational (NBC)4. “Summer Breeze,” Seals & Crofts, Special Ops: Lioness (Paramount+)5. “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl,” Chappell Roan, The Sex Lives of College Girls (MAX)6. “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Fire Country (CBS)7. “To Ashes and Blood,” Woodkid, Arcane (Netflix)8. “Intergalactic,” Beastie Boys, St. Denis Medical (NBC)9. “The Line,” Twenty One Pilots, Arcane (Netflix)10. “Sucker,” Marcus King, Arcane (Netflix)
The latest iteration of Billboard’s Top Movie Songs chart, powered by Tunefind (a Songtradr company), for November 2024 gets into the holiday spirit thanks to the Christmas flick Red One, with Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” reigning at No. 1.
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Rankings for the Top Movie Songs chart are based on song and film data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of November 2024. The ranking includes newly released films from the preceding three months.
“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is part of a holiday-themed soundtrack from Red One, which stars Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans and Lucy Liu, plus J.K. Simmons as Santa Claus. Concurrent with usual gains sustained by holiday music each November, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” rules the chart via 80.4 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 4,000 downloads in November 2024, according to Luminate.
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Red One, released Nov. 15, boasts three songs on the 10-position chart in all. Dean Martin’s rendition of “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” ranks at No. 3 (48.1 million streams, 2,000 downloads), and Mariah Carey’s version of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” appears at No. 6 (11.3 million streams, 1,000 downloads).
Another movie released in November snags three spots on the chart, too: music from the theatrical adaptation of Wicked, which came out on Nov. 22. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s rendition of “Defying Gravity” leads the trio at No. 2, tallying 23.1 million streams and 11,000 downloads in November (despite being available for just two weeks of the tracking month). Grande’s “Popular” (No. 4; 20.8 million streams, 5,000 downloads) and the cast version of “No One Mourns the Wicked” (No. 5; 12.6 million streams, 1,000 downloads) also appear.
Music from Venom: The Last Dance, which topped the October 2024 chart via Maroon 5’s “Memories,” round out the top 10 as the Oct. 25 film continued its theatrical release.
See the full top 10 below.
Rank, Song, Artist, Film1. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” Brenda Lee, Red One2. “Defying Gravity,” Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande, Wicked3. “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!,” Dean Martin, Red One4. “Popular,” Ariana Grande, Wicked5. “No One Mourns the Wicked,” Ariana Grande feat. Andy Nyman, Courtney Mae-Briggs, Jeff Goldblum, Sharon D. Clarke & Jenna Boyd, Wicked6. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” Mariah Carey, Red One7. “Dancing Queen,” ABBA, Venom: The Last Dance8. “Don’t Stop Me Now,” Queen, Venom: The Last Dance9. “Memories,” Maroon 5, Venom: The Last Dance10. “Space Oddity,” David Bowie, Venom: The Last Dance
It’s as predictable as the crazed sprint to the mall for that last clutch of gifts on Dec. 23. The annual Billboard chart showdown between the two undisputed queens of Christmas music: Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee.
There a dozens of holiday classics, new and old, to choose from at this time of year, from Wham!’s “Last Christmas” to Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas.” But when it comes to the top spot, there are really only two songs that keep jostling for the No. 1 slot on the Hot 100 at this most festive time of year: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
Since you’ll be hearing a lot of those songs in the next week, let’s look at how we got to this annual tradition.
Lee released her song in 1958 when she was just 14 years old, with the track debuting on the Hot 100 singles chart on Dec. 12, 1960, originally peaking at No. 14 two weeks later, only to re-enter the Hot 100 after several decades during the 2013-2014 holiday season. “Rockin’” didn’t make it into the top 10 until 2018-2019 frame, then spent nine weeks at No. 2 on the singles tally in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 .
What kept the 80-year-old singer out of the top spot? Carey, of course.
“All I Want” — which appeared on Carey’s debut Christmas album, 1994’s Merry Christmas — first hit the Billboard charts in 1994, but didn’t crack the top 10 on the Hot 100 until December 2017. It finally reached the No. 1 spot in 2019 and has absolutely dominated every holiday season since.
Well, except for 2023, when Lee’s “Rockin’” finally shot to No. 1 on the Hot 100, spending three weeks at the apex of the chart, while Carey’s song led for two weeks that year, marking just the third holiday song ever to reach the top of the chart; the other one is “The Chipmunk Song” by the Chipmunks with David Seville, which spent four weeks at No. 1 in December 1958.
So in an era when dozens of new Christmas albums and songs flood the zone in search of classic standing, what explains the strength of Carey and Lee’s anthems? The rise of streaming and curated holiday playlists, as well as strong radio airplay and sales has helped both tracks become annual staples. It also helps that both singers have leaned into the virality of their hits, with Carey filming her popular “it’s time” teaser clips every year and Lee filming a music video for hers last year as well as joining TikTok to promote it.
No matter which one is your favorite, enjoy the season and keep rockin’ around the Christmas tree!
Watch Billboard Explains: Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee’s Battle for the Christmas Throne in the video above.
After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boom, the role record labels play, origins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groups, BBMAs, NFTs, SXSW, the magic of boy bands, American Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and more.
Sabrina Carpenter has secured her spot as the U.K.’s Christmas No. 1 Album for 2024. Her sixth album, Short n’ Sweet, first hit the summit of the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart in August, and this is the 25-year-old’s second non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the charts this year. Over the course of the year, […]
It’s official: Wham!’s “Last Christmas” is the U.K.’s Christmas No. 1 for 2024.
It makes for the second consecutive year that the pop duo – made up of Andrew Ridgeley and the late George Michael – have achieved the feat. The song, first released in 1984 and written by Michael, was beaten to the Christmas No. 1 spot at the time of release by Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and eventually took the coveted slot 39 years later in 2023.
Speaking on the achievement to the Official Charts Company, Ridgeley said, “37 years to get to No. 1, 39 years to Christmas No. 1, and then like London buses, they all come along at once! I’m especially pleased for George — he would have been utterly delighted his fabulous Christmas composition has become such a classic, almost as much a part of Christmas as mince pies, turkey and pigs in blankets.”
The achievement places Wham! in a rare group of artists to have had multiple Christmas No. 1s on the Official Singles Chart. With its second title, the duo joins Queen (2), Spice Girls (3), The Beatles (4) and the current record-holders, LadBaby (5). The latter, the moniker for YouTube influencer Mark Hoyle, holds the record for number of Christmas chart-toppers with five different songs hitting No. 1 between 2018 and 2022.
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“Last Christmas” is also experiencing success on the Billboard Hot 100, currently placing at No. 3, a new peak for the single. Speaking to Billboard‘s Pop Shop podcast, Ridgeley reflected on how the success both in the U.K. and abroad felt.
“Well, extremely satisfying. You know, Yog [Michael’s nickname], we placed a great deal of importance on being a success in the States. It was, for any artist, of that era … you were nowhere unless you were a big deal in the States. You could be a big noise in the U.K., but the States was the golden prize, really. We were fortunate enough … and one or two of our contemporaries, we had great success in the States.”
Elsewhere, Wham! faced stiff competition over the course of the week. Gracie Abrams finished at No. 2 with her single “That’s So True,” which has enjoyed a five weeks at the top spot already in 2024, while Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” finished at No. 3. Carey’s 1994 song took the honor of Christmas No. 1 back in 2020, more than 26 years after its original release.
Tom Grennan, meanwhile, put up a strong battle to finish at No. 4 with “It Can’t Be Christmas,” his exclusive for Amazon Music U.K., which is also his highest charting solo song on the Official Singles Chart.
See the full Official Singles Chart here.
A familiar group of faces tops Billboard’s monthly touring report for November: For the third time in 2024, and fifth overall, Coldplay is No. 1 on Top Tours. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the British quartet grossed $71.1 million and sold 609,000 tickets over nine shows in November.
Claiming its fifth monthly victory dating back to the chart’s launch in February 2019, Coldplay sits only behind Bad Bunny and Elton John, who have seven titles apiece. Beyoncé and Trans-Siberian Orchestra have each ruled four times, with the latter currently in the middle of its annual holiday tour.
Coldplay’s November run swept through Oceania, with two shows in Melbourne, Australia; four in Sydney; and three in Auckland, New Zealand. The four dates at Sydney’s Accor Stadium grossed a mammoth $37.4 million, earning the No. 1 position on Top Boxscores. The Auckland run ($19.3 million) follows at No. 2. The Melbourne shows grossed $14.4 million on Nov. 1-2, but were a continuation of a four-night engagement that began in late October. Had all those shows fallen in November, the band’s $28.8 million gross would have given Coldplay a clean sweep of the top three.
The most recent leg of the Music of the Spheres World Tour is, of course, the continuation of a three-year trans-continental trek. Dating back to its March 2022 kickoff in San Jose, Costa Rica, it has earned more than $1.1 billion and sold 10.3 million tickets. That’s a bigger attendance figure for any tour in music history.
It’s been a hard-earned all-time record, with Coldplay meeting demand across the world. The tour has featured sold-out stadium shows in five continents, with 48 more shows scheduled for 2025 in Asia, Europe and North America. Watch the video below to see the band’s road to 10 million tickets, one international city at a time.
Of the tour’s three-year totals, $400.9 million and 3 million tickets came from the 2024 tracking period (Oct. 1, 2023-Sept. 30, 2024), nabbing Coldplay the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s year-end Top Tours and Top Ticket Sales charts. It’s the second consecutive year for Chris Martin & Co. atop the latter list.
Pearl Jam follows at No. 2 on Top Tours, with $41.8 million and 314,000 tickets sold in November. Also in Australia and New Zealand, the band’s run featured two dates each in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney, plus one in Carrara (suburb of Gold Coast).
Coldplay and Pearl Jam each played a pair of shows at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, combining for more than $30 million and the runner-up slot on Top Stadiums, only behind Sydney’s Accor Stadium. Altogether, the two bands helped fuel four spots for Oceania on the Stadiums ranking.
Three former Top Tours champions round out the top five, with Zach Bryan, P!nk and Paul McCartney at Nos. 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Bryan and P!nk both landed in the top five of the year-end Top Tours and Top Ticket Sales rankings, with their recent November totals already positioning them well for 2025’s charts.
While Oceania proved dominant as a continent, Mexico City is the most prevalent city on November’s charts, with three of the top 10 spots on Top Boxscores. Two festivals – Corona Capital and Coca Cola Flow Fest – are at Nos. 5 and 9, while McCartney is sandwiched at No. 7 with two shows at Estadio GNP Seguros. All three engagements delivered eight-figure grosses.
Las Vegas is not far behind, with three in the top 15. Billy Joel and Sting earned $11.4 million from one show at Allegiant Stadium, earning the No. 8 spot. More, two weekends of Sphere shows from the Eagles brought in a combined $18.5 million, split at Nos. 11 and 13.
Sure to crest with the December report, November set the stage for the holiday season. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is No. 10 on Top Tours, while Mariah Carey is No. 17 with the first shows of her fall tour. Further, New York’s Radio City Music Hall towers over the Top Venues (5,001-10K capacity) listing with $33.7 million — more than seven times the gross of No. 2 — with the onset of its annual Christmas spectacular.
12/20/2024
A look at chart highlights, by the numbers, from January through December.
12/20/2024
TWICE scores its sixth top 10 in a row on the Top Album Sales chart as STRATEGY debuts at No. 2 on the Dec. 21-dated list. The set sold 81,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 18, according to Luminate. Also shaking up the top 10: ROSÉ’s solo debut rosie enters at No. 3, Sabrina Carpenter’s year-old Fruitcake debt at No. 4, J. Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive reenters at No. 5 following a 10th anniversary reissue and Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack jumps 17-10.
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Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units.
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Of STRATEGY’s first-week sales of 81,000, CD sales comprise 72,000, with the remaining sales comprising vinyl and digital download albums. The album’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across more than 15 CD and vinyl editions, all inclusive of collectible paper ephemera (some randomized).
At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department nets a 10th nonconsecutive week on top, with 201,000 copies sold (down 45%), as it continues to profit from the Target-exclusive release of the CD and vinyl editions of the Anthology version of the album.
ROSÉ’s solo debut set rosie arrives at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with 70,000 copies sold. Pop group BLACKPINK, of which she is a member, has logged three top 10s, including two No. 1s: THE ALBUM in 2020 and BORN PINK in 2022. Of rosie’s first-week sales of 70,000, CD sales comprise 30,000, vinyl sales comprise 29,000 and the remaining sales are comprised of digital download album purchases and cassettes. The set’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across more than 15 physical variants of the album across CD and vinyl editions, many including collectible ephemera (some randomized).
Sabrina Carpenter’s 2023 holiday effort Fruitcake debuts at No. 4 on Top Album Sales (39,000 sold) following its wide release on CD, vinyl (in three variants) and cassette on Dec. 6. The set scores the biggest sales week for a holiday album in four years, and the largest sales week in the modern era for a holiday album on vinyl.
J. Cole’s chart-topping 2014 Forest Hills Drive returns to the top 10, reentering at No. 5 (33,000; up 2,648%), following its 10th anniversary reissue on CD, vinyl and digital download – with some versions including bonus tracks. The Wicked film soundtrack, a former No. 1, falls 2-6 with 30,000 (down 41%); Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet slips 5-7 with 28,000 (though, up 25%); Chappell Roan’s former leader The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess falls 3-8 (nearly 21,000; down 16%) and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft falls 4-9 (18,000; down 21%).
Closing out the top 10 is Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas TV soundtrack, jumping 17-10 with nearly 14,000 copies sold (up 13%). The set, which peaked at No. 2 in Dec. 2022, returns to the top 10 for the first time since the Jan. 7, 2023-dated list when it ranked at No. 8.
Wham!’s 40-year-old hit “Last Christmas” continues to find new fans, and new chart accolades, as the evergreen tune reached a new peak recently on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, rising to No. 3 on the Dec. 14-dated tally. The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast recently caught up with one-half of the English pop duo Wham! – […]