Jackson 5, “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” (Motown 1174)Ģ.Ĝarpenters, “Merry Christmas Darling” (A&M 1236)ģ.Ĝharles Brown, “Please Come Home For Christmas”ĥ.ěobby Helms ħ.
It was actually the first week a chart was published, but Billboard didn't start publishing a Christmas singles chart until later than in the past years we've examined. The chart that we have was probably not the final chart, but the one from the previous week. The December 26 issue, which I would expect to be the final issue with a Christmas chart, is not available in Google Books. The December 19 issue is in the archives and has a Christmas singles chart. Billboard had apparently decided to hold off for a few weeks on publishing the singles chart (it's possible that this trend may have started in 1969). The December 5 and December 12 issues had Christmas album charts, but no Christmas singles chart.
Google Books has three of them, but only one has a Christmas singles chart. In 1970, there were four issues of Billboard with December cover dates. Everything is a carryover from past years. There does not appear to be a single new song on the chart. Contrast this to past years, where the final Christmas chart would typically have at least 25 positions, if not more (some years were well into the 30s). There are two things about this chart that strike me as interesting: James Brown, “Santa Claus Goes Straight To the Ghetto”ġ0.Ĝharles Brown, “Merry Christmas Baby”ġ2.ěrenda Lee, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” Harry Simeone Chorale, “Little Drummer Boy”ĥ.Ĝharles Brown, “Please Come Home For Christmas”ĩ. I would expect this to be the final Christmas chart of the year, but I don't know that for certain, and don't how many weeks they ran in total.ġ.ěobby Helms Ĥ. Only one of the four is currently available in Google Books, which is the December 27 issue. In 1969, there were four issues of Billboard with December cover dates. I guess you just had to flip through the magazine until you found it. For the last two or three years, Billboard wasn't even bothering to list the Christmas charts in each issue's table of contents anymore. The charts seem to have had fewer positions, and were published for fewer weeks each year (though both of these things could vary considerably from year to year). But there is at least one chart available for each year, so one can get at least a snapshot of a week or two, if not a complete picture.įrom what I've found, the Christmas charts seem to have declined in importance during this period. Unfortuntately, Google Books' coverage of Billboard's Christmastime issues from 1969-73 (after which the Christmas charts were discontinued for a number of years) isn't as good. I had previously posted info on the Billboard Christmas singles charts from 1963-68, sourced from Google Books.
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