Brenda Lee’s 1958 holiday standard “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” may have recently crowned the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in its 65-year history, but when it comes to Louisiana, a different classic from the earliest days of rock and roll has been deemed the Pelican State’s favorite Christmas tune.
Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” currently rules the bayou region, according to a new study that used Google trends to analyze the favorite Christmas song for each of the 50 states of the union.
The song was released amid a slew of rock and roll Christmas songs in 1958, written by Berry though songwriting credits eventually included Johnny Marks and Marvin Brodie as well due to their creation of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer character.
While it only reached #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 during its initial release, the chart’s change of rules to allow older songs to rechart has led to an influx of seasonal hits every December.
Under those new rules, “Run Rudolph Run” has climbed as high as #10.
It also was one of six songs to lead in at least three states.
The big winner in the survey was Mariah Carey’s 1994 hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” which ranked as the top song in 10 different states (and this week sits at #2 on the Hot 100 behind Brenda Lee).
The survey was compiled by FinanceBuzz.com.