Spotify’s 2021 Holiday Music Listening Trends – Straight Up, With a Twist

The holiday season is here – and listeners are taking to Spotify to stream their favourite, festive holiday tunes. But when does the “holiday season” really start? According to Spotify, the biggest day of Christmas music streaming in the UK – outside the month of December of course – happened on Sunday Nov 28th this year.

While the undeniable queen of Christmas, Mariah Carey, recently reached 1 billion streams for “All I Want for Christmas Is You” on Spotify, she also took the top spot in the UK for the most-streamed Christmas song on Spotify in the first week of December this year, followed by Wham!’s “Last Christmas.”

Soundtracking Christmas with Spotify

• Based on data from November 1 through December 9, 2021, the most-streamed Christmas songs on Spotify are:

UK:

1. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey
2. “Last Christmas” by Wham!
3. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé
4. “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee
5. “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens
6. “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande
7. “Do They Know It’s Christmas? – 1984 Version” by Band Aid
8. “Step Into Christmas” by Elton John
9. “Driving Home for Christmas – 2019 Remaster” by Chris Rea
10. “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms

Global: 

1. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey
2. “Last Christmas” by Wham!
3. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé
4. “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms
5. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee
6. “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande
7. “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams
8. “Snowman” by Sia
9. “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber
10. “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson

• Based on data from November 1 through December 9, 2021, looking at some of the newer holiday hits, the most-streamed Christmas songs on Spotify released within the past 5 years include:

1. “Snowman” by Sia
2. “White Christmas” by Amy Grant
3. “Santa’s Coming for Us” by Sia
4. “Hallelujah” by Pentatonix
5. “Merry Christmas” by Ed Sheeran, Elton John

• Most-Streamed Christmas Songs of All Time on Spotify, Globally:

1. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey
2. “Last Christmas” by Wham!
3. “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande
4. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé
5. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee

To learn more about how users are streaming Christmas music this year, check out Spotify’s For The Record. Plus, if you are looking for more ways to get into the festive spirit, then check out this year’s Spotify Singles: Holiday Collection.