Topic: AT10 Christmas Edition - December 18, 2005

[StephL]

Top 60 Christmas Songs - Part 1

HOUR 1

°60. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - The Jackson 5
°59. Someday at Christmas - Stevie Wonder
°(Extra) What Christmas Means To Me - Jessica Simpson
°58. Grown Up Christmas List - Amy Grant; co-written by David Foster
°57. Step Into Christmas - Elton John
°56. Santa Baby - Madonna; biggest hit of Eartha Kitt's career
°(Extra) Ave Maria - Barry Manilow
°55. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - John Cougar Mellencamp; original by Jimmy Boyd sold nearly 2mil.
°54. Peace On Earth / Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby & David Bowie; recorded for Crosby's TV special in
1970.
°53. Snoopy's Christmas - Royal Guardsmen
°52. Joy to the World - The Supremes; song first appeared in 1839.
°51. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - Bruce Springsteen
°50. Silent Night - Stevie Nicks
°(Extra) Silver and Gold - Vanessa Williams; written for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special.

HOUR 2

°49. Last Christmas - Wham!
°48. The Chipmunk Song - Alvin & the Chipmunks
°47. Here Comes Santa Claus - Gene Autry; inspired when kids were chanting for Santa Claus as he rode in
the "Santa Clause Lane Parade".
°46. Silver Bells - Gloria Estefan; originally called "Twinkle Bells" and was written for the movie "The Lemon
Drop Kid".
°(Extra) Christmas Time - Backstreet Boys
°45. Please Come Home for Christmas - Eagles; made popular by Charles Brown.
°44. Little Saint Nick - Beach Boys
°43. All I Want For Christmas - Mariah Carey
°(Extra) Where Are You Christmas? - Faith Hill; from the film "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".
°42. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley; once gave a hitchhiker $50 at Christmas.
°41. Frosty The Snowman - Ronettes
°(Extra) O Holy Night - Josh Groban
°(Extra) The Night Before Christmas - Carly Simon

HOUR 3

°40. Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney
°39. You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft; Dr Seuss once said, "I like nonsense. It wakes
up the brain cells"
°38. We Need a Little Christmas - Percy Faith Orchestra; from "Mame".
°(Extra) The Christmas Shoes - Newsong
°37. Caroling, Caroling - Nat King Cole
°36. Christmas Time Is Here - Vince Guaraldi Trio
°(Extra) The Christmas Song - Michael Buble
°35. Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid
°34. Christmas Time Is Here( Instrumental) - Vince Guaraldi Trio
°33. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - The Pretenders; original by Judy Garland from "Meet Me in St.
Louis".
°(Extra) The First Noel - Karla Bonoff
°32. Christmas Canon - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
°31. Deck the Halls - Mannheim Steamroller

[Hervard]

This is the same Christmas special as last year (so I'm glad I didn't miss out on anything new!). However, I did not write down the extras on the same sheet of paper as I did the songs in the countdown, so I'm not sure if they were the same or not. I could post the rest here, but I don't want to steal any thunder from StephL, so we'll wait until next Friday for her to post songs 60 through 31.

[top40dj]

43. All I Want For Christmas - Mariah Carey

Wow so low :(

And since we are talking Xmas I'm sure they won't have the Siberian Orchestra's songs on there either :(

[johnnywest]

I'm looking forward to seeing what next week's chart will look like, hopefully a year-end Top 30 chart.

[jenglisbe]

Are these actually based on anything? These rankings are very odd.

[Hervard]

Well, since the #1 song is a classic, Premiere gives it the top spot, but other than that, this chart is compiled by Premiere listing every Christmas song played on the AC Christmas stations, cutting them into slips and drawing out 60 different songs. This explains why Bing Crosby's classic wasn't at #2. But it happened to be the fifth song they drew so that's where it ranked. This should also explain why "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey is way down at #43, "The Christmas Shoes" is only an extra (they drew several more songs out to play as extras) and two versions of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" (in the same ridiculous modern arrangement) are in the same hour, as well as both of Vince Guaraldi's versions of "Christmas Time Is Here" are two spots apart.

Methinks Casey should have stuck with Westwood One. They were a little more meticulous about compiling their special charts while Premiere seems to carelessly throw them together (although I did like their format of the random Christmas music that were featured on the first few shows of the Christmas season).

[Hervard]

I know this thread is way old, but since there are a few stations playing these old Casey Kasem shows in lieu of AT40: The 70s (like KCLH in LaCrosse, WI), I figured I'd bump this one back up. They played Part 1 this week and, of course, they'll do Part 2 next week. When they get to that one, I'll post it.

[Hervard]

OK, as promised, here's Part 2 of the 2005 Christmas special, being broadcast by AT40: The 70s affiliates that are running Christmas music for the holiday period:

Hour 4

30) Home For The Holidays - The Carpenters
29) Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano
28) Winter Wonderland - Darlene Love
27) Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
Extra: Believe - Josh Groban
26) Same Old Lang Syne - Dan Fogelberg
25) Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Frank Sinatra
24) Happy Holidays - Andy Williams
23) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - The Manheim Steamroller
22) Sleigh Ride - The Ronnettes
21) Rudolph The Red-Nose Reindeer - Gene Autry
Extra: Joy To The World (When Love Came Down) - Point Of Grace

Hour 5

20) Winter Wonderland - Kenny G
19) I'll Be Home For Christmas - Bing Crosby
18) O Tanenbaum - Vince Guraldi Trio
Extra: Up On The Housetop - Kimberley Locke
17) Jingle Bell Rock - Daryl Hall & John Oates
16) Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Nat "King" Cole
Extra: Silver And Gold - Vanessa Williams
15) Winter Wonderland - The Eurythmics
14) Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms
13) Merry Christmas Darling - The Carpenters
Extra: What Christmas Means To Me - Jessica Simpson
12) Winter Wonderland - Johnny Mathis
11) Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Extra: Carol Of The Bells - David Foster

Hour 6

10) Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson
9) It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Johnny Mathis
8) Little Drummer Boy - Harry Simeone Chorale
7) The First Noel - Karla Bonoff
6) Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
Extra: Because It's Christmas - Barry Manilow
5) White Christmas - Bing Crosby
4) O Holy Night - Celine Dion
3) It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Andy Williams
Extra: The Christmas Shoes - Newsong
2) Do You Hear What I Hear - Whitney Houston
1) The Christmas Song - Nat "King" Cole

(My station didn't play the optional extras - add them if you wish).