Brenda Lee reaches another landmark as the legend notches her first chart-topper on Billboard’s Top Country Albums survey (dated Jan. 4, 2025).
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree: The Decca Christmas Recordings ascends a spot to No. 1 following a 40% burst to 53,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. Dec. 20-26, according to Luminate.
Lee, who is 80 years young and a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame (inducted in 1997) and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2002), earns her first Top Country Albums No. 1 among six top 10s. The release is also her first leader on any Billboard album survey.
The set features 18 songs, including Lee’s 1958 multigenerational title-smash, which led the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks last holiday season, and such Yuletide favorites as “Blue Christmas,” “I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus” and “White Christmas.”
The LP, which first hit the Top Country Albums top 10 in 2019, follows Lee’s prior top 10s: Brenda, (No. 7 peak, 1973); The Brenda Lee Story (No. 6, 1973); New Sunrise (No. 3, 1974); …The Winning Hand, with Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton (No. 4, 1983); and The Best of Brenda Lee: 20th Century Masters, The Christmas Collection (No. 6, 2019).
On the all-genre Billboard 200, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree: The Decca Christmas Recordings jingles 19-15, surpassing its prior No. 17 high – and marking a new best rank for Lee over her 61-plus-year span of appearing on the chart. She previously hit the top 40 with Too Many Rivers (No. 36, 1965) and Let Me Sing (No. 39, 1964).
Shaboozey Scores Sole Longest No. 1 Run This Decade
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” logs a 28th week at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs, becoming the sole longest-leading hit of the 2020s. The track, co-written by the Virginian (born Collins Obinna Chibueze), first hit the summit in May and now passes Gabby Barrett’s debut smash “I Hope,” which governed for 27 frames beginning in July 2020.
Only two songs have led longer since Hot Country Songs became an all-encompassing genre ranking in 1958. Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant To Be” ruled for a record 50 weeks starting in December 2017, surpassing Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” (34 weeks, beginning February 2017). All four songs became hits at both country and pop radio formats, further fortifying their chart performances.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” spent a record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 between July and November.
Shaboozey’s multiformat monster totaled 59.9 million airplay audience impressions, 16 million official streams and 5,000 sold in the U.S. Dec. 20-26.