How streaming killed the Christmas charts

THE BATTLE to be top of the charts on Christmas Day has been won in recent years by the likes of Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande. But lately these singers have faced competition from an unexpected source: the 20th century. Despite the best efforts of today’s young stars, the December charts have become dominated by musicians who are well into middle age, or dead.On Christmas Day five years ago, every single in the top ten of the Hot 100, a chart of America’s most popular songs, was a new release. In 2017 Mariah Carey crept in at number nine with her massive 23-year-old hit, “All I Want for Christmas is You”. Since then the oldies have shuffled relentlessly forward (see chart). Last Christmas half of America’s top ten songs were more than half a century old. Indeed Ms Carey, then aged 51, was one of the younger artists: two of her fellow chart toppers were drawing a pension; three had joined the heavenly chorus.