holiday
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‘Tis the season to listen to Christmas songs on repeat. Like many other artists across genres, Latin acts have been releasing bilingual (Spanish and English) holiday songs — whether original or covers — to get in the spirit navideño. There are of course the go-to classics like José Feliciano‘s “Feliz Navidad,” which celebrated its 50th anniversary […]
On Monday (Dec. 4), Brenda Lee made history when her classic holiday chestnut, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time — 65 years after the song’s release.
Lee, whose indomitable spirit and powerful voice, even as a child, earned her the nickname “Little Miss Dynamite,” recorded “Rockin’” when she was just 13. Now, at age 78, she’s watching as the song, promoted by major label UMG Nashville, has reached the pinnacle of Billboard’s all-genre chart. In the process, the song has become only the third holiday song to reach No. 1 ever on the Hot 100.
“I like that God has given me that favor that I can stand aside and look and know that it wasn’t just me; that it’s a conglomerate of a lot of people that made the song what it is,” Lee tells Billboard, seated in the downtown offices of label UMG Nashville, just after UMG Nashville chair/CEO Cindy Mabe revealed the news of the song’s new peak.
“I’m happy for everybody here that’s worked so hard to make this happen because in today’s world, everything moves so fast and furious. But I’m telling you this: My label has come to bat,” Lee said.
Produced by Owen Bradley, “Rockin’” was initially released in 1958, though the song’s initial chart impact was modest. Lee earned her first two No. 1 Hot 100 hits in 1960, with “I’m Sorry” and “I Want to Be Wanted.” Bolstered by those successes, “Rockin’” reached an original peak of No. 14 in December 1960. Between December 2019 and last year, the song would spend nine weeks at No. 2 on the Hot 100, behind only Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Lee recorded “Rockin’” in the heart of Nashville’s Music Row, at Bradley’s Quonset Hut, her mature-beyond-her-years voice paired with the song’s rockabilly holiday feel, creating what would become her signature song.
“The producer cut the air way down in the studio,” Lee recalled. “He had a big Christmas tree and everyone was there — the Anita Kerr Singers and the A-team [of revered Nashville studio musicians], as we called them. It was like a little touch of magic kind of sprinkled in, and it turned out to be magic. It really did.”
Johnny Marks, the songwriter behind other holiday classics including “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” also wrote “Rockin’,” with Lee in mind for the song.
“He was such a gentle soul,” Lee recalls of the late songwriter, who died in 1985. “He was Jewish and didn’t even believe in Christmas, and all that would come out of him was Christmas music. He told me he was laying on the beach in New York and I guess he took a nap or something and when he woke up, he saw the pine trees were kind of swaying. I said, ‘You got pine trees on the beach in New York?’ He said, ‘Yeah and I thought the pine trees are rocking and he went home and came up with ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.’
“I talked to him almost every week, and he was so funny. His first line would be, ‘Brenda, just thought I’d call. There’s not a lot of us old-timers left,’ and I’d think, how old does he think I am?” she said with a giggle. “But he was so precious and so sweet, and just a good guy.”
In 1990, “Rockin’” became a favorite holiday song for a new generation when it was featured in the Macaulay Culkin film Home Alone.
“That’s the catalyst that pushed it over that hill, as we’ll call it. It’s just been a blessing,” says Lee, who noted she watched the holiday mainstay a few nights ago.
Lee marked the 65th anniversary of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by filming the song’s first official video, featuring cameos from Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood. The festive clip features Lee lip-synching to her teenage recording of the song, alongside footage of her and Yearwood baking holiday cookies and chatting with Tucker as everyone gathered around a table to enjoy a holiday feast.
“My buds are in there,” Lee says. “We had a ball making it. We filmed it at the producer’s house, and nothing was choreographed, really. We just had fun. They were just precious to do that for me, and I think folks will love it.”
Like Lee, Tucker was herself a star by her teens, and Lee met Yearwood when she was first getting started in the industry in the 1990s.
“They both are just real,” Lee says of Tucker and Yearwood. “They’ve never lost their sense of joy, gratitude and of excitement for what they’re doing. And they help — you call ‘em and they’ll say, ‘Sure, when you want me there?’ Now, there’s probably some moments they’ve got on film that you’ll never see,” she laughs, “but we had a good time. It seemed like it just went like that. We were there for hours filming, but because we’re friends and all, it didn’t seem like a long time.”
As for her own favorite holiday hits — other than her own? “I love to hear ‘White Christmas’ and love to hear Bing Crosby sing. I also love Burl Ives’ ‘A Holly Jolly Christmas,’” Lee says.
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‘Tis the season for a retro reunion! Loni Anderson, Morgan Fairchild, Linda Gray, Donna Mills and Nicollette Sheridan star in Ladies of the ‘80s: A Divas Christmas premiering Saturday (Dec. 2) on Lieftime.
The Lifetime Original Movie follows a group of fictitious soap opera legends as they reunite for the final Christmas episode of a beloved daytime soap. But things go off the rails when “old rivalries resurface that threaten to tear the whole production apart.”
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Ultimately, the ladies put their diva differences aside for the good of the show — and to play matchmaker between old college friends.
Ladies of the ’80s: A Divas Christmas is executive produced by Larry A. Thompson and directed by Christie Will Wolf. James Berg and Stan Zimmerman penned the script; Robert G. Endara II and Ed Polgardy are producers.
Read on for more details on how to watch the Lifetime movie on Sling TV.
Holiday Binge: How to Watch Lifetime & More on Sling TV
The holidays are a great time to binge Christmas movies and more — no cable needed! Watch Ladies of the ’80s: A Divas Christmas and other must-see holiday entertainment on Sling TV.
Right now, Sling TV is offering 50% off for your first month. That means you can join Sling for as low as $20 (reg. $40). Stream your favorite entertainment with Sling Blue or Sling Orange starting at $20 for a limited time. Or, get Sling Orange + Blue for just $27.50 (reg. $55) for the first month.
Click below to join.
Lifetime’s Ladies of the ’80s premieres at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Saturday. The film kicks off a month of new Christmas movies, which includes Mistletoe Match (Dec. 3), A Cowboy Christmas Romance (Dec. 9), and Yes Chef! Christmas (Dec. 10).
Sign up for Sling Blue or Sling Orange to watch your favorite live channels, cozy holiday movies, holiday classics and new holiday favorites for half off for the first month. Sling offers a variety of channels including Lifetime, AMC, Bravo, USA, E!, Hallmark, TLC and more.
Some of the Lifetime movies available on Sling TV include A Fiance for Christmas, A Welcome Home Christmas, Dear Christmas, Steppin’ Into the Holidays, The Flight Before Christmas and The Holiday Dating Guide.
Love Hallmark? With Sling, you can enjoy a number of Hallmark programs including Color My World with Love, The Vows We Keep, Unexpected Grace, Nikki & Nora: Sister Sleuths, When Calls the Heart, A Happy & Friends Yule Log, A Holiday in Harlem, A Rose for Christmas, Christmas in Rome, Debbie Macomber’s Mr. Miracle, Finding Father Christmas, Hallmark Drama’s Christmas Cookie Matchup, Lucky Christmas, The Holiday Stocking, Flipping for Christmas, and Welcome to Valentine.
From now until Christmas Day, visit AMC on-demand to watch movies and more on Sling TV. The lineup includes A Boy Named Christmas, The First Christmas Snow, The Holiday, The Heart of Christmas, Jack Frost, A Christmas Story 2, Annie, The American President, Love Actually, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail.
Watch the trailer for Ladies of the ’80s: A Divas Christmas below.
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After a festive performance last week at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Cher-mas continued Wednesday night (Nov. 29) with a double-header at the Christmas in Rockefeller Center tree-lighting special. Cher started with a repeat performance, hitting the Radio City Music Hall rooftop for “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” the lead single from her 2023 holiday […]
Tyler, the Creator is bringing fashion and the holiday spirit across the globe.
The superstar’s Golf Wang brand is launching 12 holiday pop-up shops on Saturday (Dec. 2) alongside their permanent locations in Los Angeles, New York City and London. The temporary holiday stores will be in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
The stores will feature portions of the FW23 collection, which in addition to apparel also includes accessories as well as a graffiti airbrush-inspired art piece that will be seen across different items like tees, fleece, jackets and accessories. The stores will also carry pieces from the essentials collection and Tyler, The Creator’s music catalog on vinyl.
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In the U.S., the pop-ups will take place in Austin, Atlanta, Bay Area, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. Internationally, the stores will be located in Amsterdam, Berlin, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Melbourne and London. The launch date for the Seoul, South Korea, location will be announced at a later date.
The Golf Holiday Shops are also partnering with American Express to offer card members onsite benefits including early access to the shop for one hour ahead of opening hours on Dec. 2 and 3, an Amex Card Member-only entry line to the shop, access to exclusive apparel, and a complimentary gift with purchase when using an Amex Card.
For more information on the Golf Holiday Shops, see the website here.
It’s almost December, so Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee are back in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and snuggled up in the top two spots of our newly returned Holiday 100 chart. But if you look beyond “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” what songs […]
‘Tis the season to get turnt — with some help from Cardi B. The “I Like It” rapper’s alcoholic whipped cream company, Whipshots, re-launched its festive peppermint flavor for the holiday season, and Cardi stuns in the campaign photos, in which she’s seen sitting amid a winter wonderland full of trees and presents in a […]
It’s not Christmastime until… Cher hits the dance floor. The timeless diva performed “DJ Play a Christmas Song” from her brand-new Christmas album at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday (Nov. 23), and she turned the parade route into a dance club, performing on a silver stage flanked by dancers dressed like discofied toy […]
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Introducing the Shop 100! With the holidays coming soon, Billboard put together a comprehensive gift guide featuring 100 shoppable and perfectly giftable items to snag this season — like our flagship Hot 100 chart, but for the hottest gifts.
Finding the perfect gift can be stressful, but our list goes a bit deeper than your average music lover’s gift guide to ensure that you make the best choice — no matter how large or small your budget might be.
According to a recent shopping poll, more than half of those surveyed plan to start holiday shopping in November or December. If you fall into that category, you’re right on time to snag Black Friday deals before and after Thanksgiving on Thursday (Nov. 23).
There’s still about a month before Christmas, and whether you’re searching for the best earbuds, best Bluetooth speakers, or the best blanket to snuggle up in while you listen to your favorite music, the Shop 100 has you covered.
In the spirit of giving, we’re offering up a variety of gift ideas for you to consider this holiday season. You’ll find a few different headphones, earbuds and Bluetooth speakers on our list, along with a viral record player that needs to be under your Christmas tree! Plus, the coolest consoles for the gamers in your life, must-read books, stylish shoes, jackets and cute collectibles. The Shop 100 features dozens of must-haves, including many of our personal favorites and items tested by our e-comm team.
From fun to flashy, budget-friendly to expensive, check below for a list of thoughtful, affordable, cozy and downright epic gifts in tech, beauty, home, fashion and more.
Happy holidays!
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‘Tis the season, and Demi Lovato is getting festive! The star is hosting a Roku special titled A Very Demi Holiday Special featuring the singer-songwriter and their star-studded lineup of celebrity friends that was announced on Monday (Nov. 20). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Paris Hilton, Trixie Mattel, […]