A song written in 1857 by an artist born in 1915 makes its first appearance in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023.
Frank Sinatra’s version of “Jingle Bells” dashes from No. 28 to No. 20 on the Hot 100 dated Dec. 23. The song drew 16.9 million official U.S. streams (up 19%) and 15.3 million in all-format radio audience and sold 1,000 downloads Dec. 8-14, according to Luminate.
The late Chairman of the Board adds his fourth top 20 Hot 100 hit – and his first since 1967. He previously reached the region with “Strangers in the Night,” which topped the July 2, 1966, chart; “That’s Life” (No. 4 peak, December 1966) and “Somethin’ Stupid,” with daughter Nancy Sinatra (No. 1 for four weeks, beginning in April 1967).
Sinatra, who passed away in May 1998 at age 82, appears in the Hot 100’s top 20 for the first time since the chart dated June 3, 1967, when “Somethin’ Stupid” ranked at No. 16.
Sinatra initially hit the Hot 100 in October 1958, after the chart began that August, although he was on Billboard’s first song sales chart, published in July 1940 – as the vocalist at No. 1, on Tommy Dorsey’s “I’ll Never Smile Again.”
Sinatra’s version of “Jingle Bells” was originally released in 1948, and his remains the only recording of the festive favorite, written by James Lord Pierpont and published in 1857, to have hit the Hot 100.
Among the carol’s more relatively recent history, Kimberley Locke’s “Jingle Bells” sleigh-rode to No. 1 on Adult Contemporary in 2006; the Glee Cast’s cover hit No. 10 on Holiday Digital Song Sales in 2010; and Lauren Daigle’s interpretation reached No. 3 on Christian Airplay over the 2016 holidays.
Meanwhile, Meghan Trainor’s newly-released take on “Jingle Bells” rises to No. 74 on the Dec. 23 Holiday 100 chart.