The holidays are over, both on the calendar and on the pop charts, as 49 Christmas songs vacate the Billboard Hot 100 — and that's great news for an assortment of beneficiaries.
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This week, a cleansing fire sweeps through the Billboard Hot 100, as all the holiday songs get mothballed for another 10 to 11 months.
That, of course, means massive upheaval across the chart, as last fall's sturdiest hits jump dozens of spots, landing more or less where they left off before Mariah Carey and her ilk let loose their annual plague of good cheer. Remember Taylor Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia"? It's back at No. 1 for a ninth week, while HUNTR/X's "Golden" returns to No. 2. Alex Warren's "Ordinary" had slid far enough that it briefly dropped off the chart, but now it's re-entered at No. 3.
This week, a few tracks land at new peaks — Kehlani's "Folded" at No. 6, sombr's "Back to Friends" at No. 7 — but the top 10's most notable leap belongs to country singer Ella Langley, who claims her first-ever top 10 hit. "Choosin' Texas" zooms from No. 48 all the way to No. 5.
A couple of fresh faces linger tantalizingly close to the top 10, as rapper Pooh Shiesty jumps from No. 53 to No. 12 with "FDO" and singer RAYE soars from No. 56 to No. 13 with "Where Is My Husband!" But older songs are the primary beneficiary of the post-holiday purge: Of the 49 spots held by holiday songs last week, 34 of them are replaced by songs that had been on the Hot 100 before.
Amid the Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny deep cuts re-entering the chart is a track making a timely resurgence: Djo's "End of Beginning," which returns to the Hot 100 at No. 16. Djo is a band led by Joe Keery, who played Steve Harrington across five seasons of Stranger Things.
That show's final season has been rolling out for the past few weeks, with the finale dropping on Dec. 31. With the way the charts work, it's too soon to tell whether the finale's high-profile needle drops — including two classics by Prince — end up cracking the Hot 100 in the weeks to come. But Stranger Things has created viral moments for songs before, most notably with Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" in 2022.
For the moment, the biggest chart beneficiary of Stranger Things' final season is Keery, one of several actors-turned-rock-stars in the show's cast.
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Remember when Thanos snapped his fingers in one of the Avengers movies and half the population disappeared? The Billboard 200 albums chart looks a little like that, as most holiday titles have vanished — more on that in a sec — and a bunch of shell-shocked survivors sit grimly in their place.
Without a load of recent titles to fill the void — just three albums in the Billboard 200 were released within the last four weeks — the old standbys line up to paint a baseline picture of a listening public that just can't quit 1) old music; 2) Taylor Swift; or 3) Morgan Wallen. Swift has 10 of the top 200 albums, led by The Life of a Showgirl at No. 1 for a 12th nonconsecutive week. Wallen's got two albums in the top 10. And Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, which came out more than 50 years ago, is just hangin' out and bein' the 15th most popular album in the country.
Of the three recent albums that crack the chart, only one — Peso Pluma & Tito Double P's DINASTÍA — lands in the top 10, as it debuts at No. 6. (The other two are by 21 Savage and $uicideboy$.) Otherwise, the charts are serving leftovers: old hits and greatest-hits packages galore.
And, get this: While the singles chart is now bereft of holiday titles, all seven of the holiday records from last week's top 10 are still on the Billboard 200. This week's charts reflect the period from Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, but there are still enough holiday sickos to land the post popular Christmas albums on the chart, starting with Bing Crosby's Ultimate Christmas at No. 41. At the risk of kink-shaming our friends and neighbors, that's… kinda weird, right?
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In an effort to make "The Fate of Ophelia" the biggest bestseller since Dianetics, Taylor Swift sold 26,000 more physical copies of the single via her webstore, shipped them during this week's chart window, and voilà! That song gets a ninth nonconsecutive week at No. 1. That gives "The Fate of Ophelia" the longest run at No. 1 of Swift's career — surpassing "Anti-Hero" — and all it took was her pressing different physical editions like Pokémon cards and convincing fans to keep buying multiple copies. Congrats on a job well done, everyone!
Elsewhere on the Hot 100, Olivia Dean has clearly picked up significant fan support since the holiday rush started drowning out non-Christmas titles. "Man I Need," her signature hit, leaps back to its peak position at No. 4, but it's not alone; five other Dean songs dot the chart, ranging from "So Easy (To Fall in Love)" at No. 14 to "Baby Steps," which debuts at No. 99.
That's especially impressive considering that Dean's second album, The Art of Loving, came out in September, so she's not just riding a wave of fan curiosity. Something to bear in mind in the Grammys' wide-open race for best new artist: Dean has serious commercial momentum right now.
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