Christmas music playlists change at a glacial pace

When it comes to holiday music, people like familiar tunes. New music has a tough time breaking into the Christmas playlists at radio stations and elsewhere, unless they’re remakes.
This year, there was a change at the top of the holiday playlists used by many retail stores during the season, the Daily Mail reported.
After a 20-year run as the No. 1 song, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey was bumped to second place by “Wonderful Christmastime” by the Shins, according to PlayNetwork. The Shins track from 2012 is a remake of Paul McCarthy’s hit song from 1979.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has yet to release its annual list of the most-played holiday songs of the year. (Update: Here is ASCAP’s 2015 holiday song list.)
Last year, it skipped the annual list in favor of a list of the top 30 holiday songs of the past 100 years. “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” was No. 1 holiday song of the century, ASCAP said.
The last time ASCAP issued a top 10 most-played holiday songs of the year was in 2013. That year, “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” was No. 1. Its ranking considers all versions of a song in aggregate.
The best new holiday song I’ve heard this year is “Dear Santa” (2014) by Mr Little Jeans, aka singer-songwriter Monica Birkenes. Check it out on SoundCloud.
Another notable recent holiday song is “Santa Tell Me” (2014) by Ariana Grande.
The most buzzed-about Christmas album this year is “It’s a Holiday Soul Party” by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. Some of those tracks deserve radio airplay.
Unfortunately, that could take a while.

Photos: Mr Little Jeans, aka singer-songwriter Monica Birkenes; and the cover of “It’s a Holiday Soul Party” by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings.