Billboard Chart Thoughts: January 3, 2026
Holiday hits dominate the upper quarter of the Hot 100 as secular songs mount their comebacks
Big News and Big Moves:
In the final chart week of the 2025 holiday season, Mariah Carey fends off all other challengers, as “All I Want for Christmas Is You” leads the Hot 100 dated January 3, 2026.
The classic logs a record-extending 22nd week atop Billboard’s flagship chart, fronting a Hot 100 consisting of Yuletide hits in positions 1 through 24. This rewrites the record set last year in the week encompassing Christmas, when the top 16 songs were all seasonal tracks.
“All I Want” also claims top airplay gainer honors on the Hot 100, and jumps 15-6 on Radio Songs, outpacing its previous #7 peak.
Brenda Lee lifts 3-2, returning to the runner-up spot with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” swapping spots with Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” which reached a new peak of #2 last week, 67 years after its December 1958 debut. Lee also moves into the top 10 of Radio Songs for the first time, as her standard flies 26-9 on the airplay chart.
Wham!’s “Last Christmas” keeps at #4, but claims the greatest gains in streaming this week, as Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me” also stays put at #5, unable to climb higher than its peak position reached last holiday season.
Nat “King” Cole’s “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)” also holds at #6, a new high achieved just last week for the holiday classic.
Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” inches 8-7 to hit its highest rank ever. Martin’s version of the song was originally released in 1959 but didn’t hit the Hot 100 until the 2018 holiday season. Now it’s a perennial top 10.
“Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson dips 7-8 after reaching a new highpoint last week. However, her 2021 duet with Grande, “Santa, Can’t You Hear Me,” re-peaks this week, surging 38-31.
“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams stays at #9, while The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” (one of my personal favorites) jingles 12-10. The latter reached its #8 high in the 2023 season.
José Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad,” which reached a #6 peak in the 2020 season, moves 14-11 on the Hot 100 but lifts to the top 10 of Radio Songs for the first time ever, dashing 22-8.
Among other holiday hits making news this week:
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love jumps 17-14 to mark a new high and Darlene’s career peak on the Hot 100. Her version of “Winter Wonderland” also reaches a new peak of #40 this week.
“Santa Baby,” officially credited to Eartha Kitt with Henri Rene and His Orchestra, hits a new high, moving 24-19.
Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “Christmastime Is Here” vaults 36-23 this week, the new peak position for the classic from A Charlie Brown Christmas. The group’s “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” remains their highest-charting hit, as it rose a rung higher, to #22, in February 1963.
Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” climbs 32-26 for a new high, while the Jonas Brothers are up 29-27 with “Like It’s Christmas,” another new highpoint for their original song, first released in 2019.
Notable New #1s:
Olivia Dean wraps a phenomenal breakthrough year by topping the first 2026-dated Pop Airplay chart as “Man I Need” bumps 3-1. Dean achieves her first #1 on a Billboard radio ranking in the same week that follow-up US single “So Easy (To Fall in Love” debuts at #40 on the same chart. At publication time, “Man I Need” is sitting atop the daily US Spotify chart, and “So Easy” is not far behind at #6.
HUNTR/X could find themselves back atop the Hot 100 next week if their radio dominance is any indication. “Golden” by the K-Pop Demon Hunters heroines finally crowns Radio Songs this week, becoming the first K-pop hit to lead the all-genre airplay ranking. The trio boasts the highest non-holiday ranking on the Hot 100 at #25, signaling it still has some juice in the tank in its fight to fend off “Ophelia.”
Gunna’s “wgft” featuring Burna Boy lifts 2-1 on Rhythmic Airplay, taking over from Mariah the Scientist and Kali Uchis’ “Is It a Crime.” It’s Gunna’s fourth #1 on the tally and first since “Fukumean” led for two weeks in July 2023. UK rapper Burna Boy scores his first leader on the airplay ranking after previously stalling out in the runner-up position twice, with “Last Last” in 2022 and “Sittin’ on Top of the World” in 2023.
Looking Ahead:
Next week will boast one of the more interesting top 10s of the year, as all the holiday hits vacate the Hot 100. How high will Olivia Dean soar? Will Taylor and/or HUNTR/X accumulate additional weeks in the Hot 100’s penthouse? Plus, we could see new career Hot 100 highs in the first chart week of 2026 for artists who enjoyed huge 2025s, including Sombr, Kehlani, Raye, and Katseye. Happy New Year!