It’s Time to Celebrate the Holidays
December 1, 2020
This year has brought about immense challenges. And Spotify’s data suggets that listeners are seeking comfort from holiday music earlier than they did in previous years. Typically, festive playlists become more popular during the month of December; but the company says that it’s seeing its most popular Christmas playlists such as Christmas Hits, streamed at a higher rate in September and October compared to previous years.
Listeners have already streamed more than 6.5 billion minutes of Christmas tracks this year, and it shows: Many believe that the Christmas spirit, is the best remedy to a tumultuous year. A new episode of the podcast, Spotify: For the Record, digs into which songs listeners are craving this season. One is “Last Christmas,” originally released by Wham! in 1984 and covered by another 1,200-plus artists, to date.
Apart from analyzing the data, Spotify offers a few insights on notable artists and their holiday hits, including Dolly Parton, who recently released her first Christmas album in 30 years. In addition to that, Spotify has artists from legendary country star joining us to chat about the inspiration behind A Holly Dolly Christmas and what it was like to duet with Michael Bublé in the song “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas.”
Spotify has interviewed singer and songwriter Jose Mari Chan (known in the Philippines as “The Father of Christmas Music”), who shares the inspiration behind his iconic holiday tunes, which have been a staple of festive celebration in his country. In other news, Spotify asserted it will end with the Black Pumas. The Texan soul band is one of 12 artists who released a remake of holiday songs (plus one original track!) for this year’s Spotify Singles: Holiday Collection.
For the third year, Spotify has collaborated with musicians around the world to spread the holiday cheer with covers and original songs.
This year’s artists include Camilo, Julien Baker, Jazmine Sullivan, Sasha Sloan, Ruston Kelly, VÉRITÉ, Dashboard Confessional, Ryan Hurd, Patrick Droney, Betty Who, and Vistas.
It’s the season to be jolly, and Spotify is ready to get you in the holiday spirit. Check out their latest edition of Spotify: For the Record podcast and Holiday Music: It’s Already Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas.
