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Only 5 Xmas Songs Were Actually On The CHUM Chart During The Holiday
How many classic Christmas tunes that we all know were actually on the pop charts during Xmas week? If the CHUM Chart is any indication, not that many. Which I found pretty surprising. If a song like “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” wasn’t in the listings near Dec. 25th, what was?
To find out, I used Doug Thompson’s great CHUM Archive to look at the charts nearest to Xmas. (From 1957-1975, there were only three times the published chart actually came out on December 25th – 1961, 1967 and 1971)
The songs that were making Yuletide waves over the years were as follows:
1958
The Chipmunk Song, by The Chipmunks with David Seville, which reached #1.
1961
Bobby Helms’ Jingle Bell Rock, a #3 hit. (Also by Chubby Checker & Bobby Rydell)
Baby’s First Christmas, which came in at #12, by Connie Francis.
1962
There were no songs on the Xmas week chart, but for the first and only time, CHUM added a separate Top 10 list of Christmas songs, not all from that year.
1963
No Xmas tunes but worth noting that The Beatles’ She Loves You is at #5 and music would never be same.
1964
Ringo Deer clocked in at #10 but since it was by CHUM’s Gary Ferrier, it may have been given some preferential treatment.
1967
The last time a Christmas song was actually on the CHUM Chart during the holiday week happened in Canada’s Centennial year. The final tune: Snoopy’s Christmas by The Royal Guardsmen. It made it to #2.
After that, no other holiday themed song appeared during the week of or before the big day. It means in the almost 20 years of the charts listed on the site, only five were specifically about Christmas. I really thought there would have been more.
Here are all the charts in question, courtesy the CHUM Archives:
- paterson1
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Re: Only 5 Xmas Songs Were Actually On The CHUM Chart During The Holiday
How about Honky The Christmas Goose by Johnny Bower that appeared on the CHUM chart December 20 1965 at #42 and the following week December 27th at #29? In one week the single sold over 40,000 copies and all proceeds went to charity.
Roger Ashby played Honky this weekend as part of his Christmas special.
- Lorne
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Re: Only 5 Xmas Songs Were Actually On The CHUM Chart During The Holiday
On the 1963 chart, Pretty Paper by Roy Orbison is at #17. Others that come to mind that made the CHUM Chart, but weren't on the ones you looked at, include The Little Drummer Boy by The Harry Simeone Chorale, My Christmas Tree by Bobby Curtola, and Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid.
- RadioActive
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Re: Only 5 Xmas Songs Were Actually On The CHUM Chart During The Holiday
The full charts stop at 1975 on the site, so I couldn't go any farther than that. I may have missed a few, a result of my increasingly poor eyesight. When did they start printing things in such small type? 
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