"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is a Christmas song written by

Johnny Marks John David Marks (November 10, 1909 – September 3, 1985) was an American songwriter. He specialized in Christmas songs (although he himself was Jewish and did not celebrate Christmas) and wrote many holiday standards, including "Rudolph the Red- ...

and recorded by

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed onl ...

in 1958; it has since been recorded by numerous other music artists. By the song's 50th anniversary in 2008, Lee's original version had sold over 25 million copies around the world with the 4th most digital downloads sold of any Christmas single.

Original recording by Brenda Lee

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was written by

, who had previously penned "

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...

" and "

A Holly Jolly Christmas "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (also called "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas") is a Christmas song written by Johnny Marks and most famously performed by Burl Ives. The song has since become one of the top 25 most-performed "holiday" songs written by ASC ...

". In spite of her adult voice, Lee recorded the song when she was only 13 years old. In a 2019 interview with ''

The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, ...

'', Lee recalled that she had no knowledge as to why Marks wanted her specifically to sing it: "I was only 12 ic and I had not had a lot of success in records, but for some reason he heard me and wanted me to do it. And I did." "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is a rockabilly song. The recording features Hank Garland and Harold Bradley on

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, Floyd Cramer on

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, Boots Randolph on sax, Bob Moore on bass, and veteran session player

Buddy Harman Murrey Mizell "Buddy" Harman, Jr. (December 23, 1928 – August 21, 2008) was an American country music session musician. Career Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Harman played drums on over 18,000 sessions for artists such as Elvis Presley, Jerry ...

on drums. The song is written in the key of A-flat major. An instrumental version of the song appears as background music in the 1964 television special ''

'', which exclusively featured music written by Marks. It can be heard in the scene where Rudolph first arrives at the Reindeer Games and meets another reindeer named Fireball. A fully sung version of the song would later appear in Rankin/Bass's 1979 sequel ''

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July ''Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July'' (titled on-screen as ''Rudolph and Frosty: Christmas in July'', or simply ''Rudolph and Frosty'') is an American-Japanese Christmas/Independence Day television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions ...

''. The song was also used in the 1990 film '' Home Alone'' during a scene when Kevin McCallister pretends that there is a holiday party taking place in his house, and discourages the burglars from robbing it. The song was also featured in ''The Christmas Special'' episode of '' Regular Show'' in 2012. The song was also used in ''

D-TV ''D-TV'' was a series of music videos created by The Walt Disney Company and produced by Charles Braverman and edited by Ted Herrmann which premiered on May 5, 1984, by taking hit songs of the past and putting them together with various footage of ...

'' set to the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

cartoons, '' Pluto's Christmas Tree'' and ''

Mickey's Christmas Carol ''Mickey's Christmas Carol'' is a 1983 American animated family comedy-drama featurette directed and produced by Burny Mattinson. The cartoon is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'', and stars Scrooge McDuck as ...

''.

Chart performance and sales

Although Decca released the single in both 1958 and again in 1959, it did not sell well until Lee became a popular star in 1960. That

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

holiday season, Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" placed on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for the first time, eventually peaking at No. 14. It continued to sell well during subsequent holiday seasons, peaking as high as No. 3 on ''Billboard'''s Christmas Singles chart in December 1965. Lee said, "It was magic, and I think we all knew it. It took a few years to take off, but once it did, it really did." Lee's 1958 recording still receives a great deal of airplay, as radio station formats ranging from

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...

to even adult standards have played this version. It has since turned into a perennial holiday favorite, and due to rule changes in 2014 has returned annually to the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, reaching an all-time chart peak of No. 2 during the 2019 holiday season. The song reached over one million in digital downloads by 2016 according to Nielsen SoundScan, making it fifth on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in SoundScan history. It has sold 1,170,000 copies in the United States as of December 2019. On the official

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" peaked at No. 6 when it was released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1962. In 2013, due to downloads, it became one of a number of songs to re-enter the UK Singles Chart near Christmastime each holiday season. The single peaked at No. 63 on Sunday, December 15, 2013. Then in 2017, it reached No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart, its highest chart position since 1963. On the week ending January 5, 2023, the song reached No. 4, peaking two places higher than its original release 61 years prior.

Track listing

Side A * "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (

) – 2:02 Side B * "Papa Noël" (Roy Botkin) – 2:25

Personnel

– lead vocals * Hank Garland – guitar * Harold Bradley – guitar * Floyd Cramer – piano * Bob Moore – bass *

– drums * Homer "Boots" Randolph – sax * Anita Kerr Singers – background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

, - !colspan="3", Streaming , -

Kim Wilde and Mel Smith version

A version of the song by Kim Wilde and Mel Smith (credited as "Mel & Kim" as a parody of then-popular sister act

Mel and Kim Mel and Kim (stylized as MӗL & KIM) were an English pop duo, consisting of sisters Melanie and Kim Appleby. Originally managed by Alan Whitehead, they achieved success between 1986 and 1988, before Melanie died of cancer in January 1990 at t ...

), featuring Pete Thomas, reached No. 3 on the

during the Christmas season 1987. The track was recorded to raise funds for

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

. Its accompanying video featured the two hosting a Christmas party with guests including

The Mekon The Mekon () of Mekonta is the arch-enemy of the British comic book hero Dan Dare. He first appeared on 3 November 1950 in the 30th episode of the ''Eagle'' comic strip ''Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future'', having been created by Frank Hampson. A ...

and an appearance from Smith's comedy partner

Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for h ...

, carol singers played by the band Curiosity Killed the Cat and Spitting Image puppets of Bette Midler and

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...

Charts

Certifications

Kacey Musgraves and Camila Cabello version

American country singer

Kacey Musgraves Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American country singer. She has won six Grammy Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, and three Academy of Country Music Awards. Musgraves self-released three solo albums and one as Texa ...

released a cover version of the song featuring Cuban-born American pop singer

Camila Cabello Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is a Cuban-born American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in ...

as a track on her soundtrack album '' The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show'' on November 28, 2019.

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– featured artist,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Adam Keafer – bass * Brett Resnick –

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

* Kai Welch –

moog bass The Moog Taurus is a foot-operated analog synthesizer designed and manufactured by Moog Music, originally conceived as a part of the Constellation series of synthesizers. The initial Taurus I was manufactured from 1975 to 1981; a less popular re ...

, organ * Kyle Ryan –

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

, bells,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

, mellotron, recording engineering,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

* Nat Smith – mellotron * Scott Quintana – bells, drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

* Timothy McKay – baritone saxophone * Gena Johnson – production coordinating, recording engineering * Mike Abbott – recording engineering * Leslie Ritcher – studio personnel * Chip Matthews – studio personnel * Darrell Thorp – studio personnel * David Ives – studio personnel

Charts

Justin Bieber version

Canadian singer

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

released a cover version of the song as a promotional single on November 12, 2020, exclusively on

Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights ...

. On October 29, 2021, the song was released on streaming platforms worldwide as an official single.

Background

Talking about the cover, Bieber said: "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" has always been one of my favourite songs to celebrate the holidays and I'm excited to team up with Amazon Music to share my own version, with my fans. I'm so thankful to be able to spend the season with loved ones, and to also use this opportunity to give back to LIFT, Inner-City Arts and Alexandria House: three incredible organizations that I've supported in the past. I hope my fans join me in reaching out to the communities and organizations they care about, to help spread joy to those who need it most."

Charts

Certifications

Other recordings

Many artists have recorded the song. The most prominent are: * 1998

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

, for her album '' Merry Christmas ... Have a Nice Life'' * 1999

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

, for their album '' Christmas Vol. II'' (this cover version peaked at No. 64 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.) * 2004 LeAnn Rimes, for her album ''

What a Wonderful World "What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released in 1967 as a single. It topped the pop chart in the United Kingdom, but performed poor ...

'' (this cover version peaked at No. 3 on ''Billboard''

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart, No. 48 on ''Billboard'' Country Singles chart, and No. 30 on ''Billboard'''s Holiday Songs chart.) * 2006 Miley Cyrus, for the holiday edition of the '' Hannah Montana soundtrack'' * 2021

Meghan Trainor Meghan Elizabeth Trainor (born December 22, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter and television personality. She rose to prominence after signing with Epic Records in 2014 and releasing her debut single "All About That Bass", which reached ...

, for her album ''

A Very Trainor Christmas ''A Very Trainor Christmas'' is the fourth major-label studio album, and debut Christmas album, by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor, released on October 30, 2020, by Epic Records and her own label, Honest OG Recordings. The album contains ...

References

{{Authority control 1958 singles 1987 singles Brenda Lee songs 1910 Fruitgum Company songs Alabama (American band) songs Lotta Engberg songs Toby Keith songs The Partridge Family songs LeAnn Rimes songs Jessica Simpson songs American Christmas songs Hannah Montana songs Bella Thorne songs Victoria Justice songs Comic Relief singles 1958 songs Songs written by Johnny Marks Decca Records singles Def Jam Recordings singles Rockabilly songs Kacey Musgraves songs Camila Cabello songs Justin Bieber songs Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand