CHRISTMAS SONGS: Is it the ballad in which the singer longs for
a Christmas where “the tree tops glisten”? Or the song about the
reindeer who used his nose as a GPS system for Santa’s sleigh?

Those guesses are in response to the query – What is the
most-performed holiday song in the first five years of the 21st
Century?

The answer is neither of the above. The winner is “Winter
Wonderland.”

The list of the 25 most frequently performed holiday songs in
the past half-decade was recently released by the American Society
of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Rounding out the top five are “The Christmas Song,” “Have
Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”
and “White Christmas.”

By the way, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” comes in at No. 10,
eased out by “The Little Drummer Boy,” “Sleigh Ride,” “Jingle Bell
Rock” and “Let it Snow!”

ASCAP also notes some interesting facts about these songs.
“Winter Wonderland,” written in 1934, shares the distinction of
being the oldest song on the list with “Santa Claus is Coming to
Town.”

The “newest” song, although 23 years old, is “Do They Know it’s
Christmas (No. 24).

Although “White Christmas” was not the most-performed song in
the past five years, it does hold the record for being the
most-recorded holiday song ever, with over 500 versions recorded in
dozens of languages.

“Sleigh Ride” (No. 8) is the only holiday song on the list
originally written as an instrumental piece for a symphony
orchestra.

Here’s a little quiz. Of the songs on the list, four of them
were first introduced in either a movie or on TV. We’ll give you
the movies, and you name the song (answers are below):

1. This 1942 movie where this song was introduced was “Holiday
Inn,” starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.

2. Judy Garland sang this timeless classic in the 1944 movie
“Meet me in St. Louis.”

3. Bob Hope and co-star Marilyn Maxwell sang this song in the
1951 movie “The Lemon-Drop Kid.”

4. This catchy seasonal tune was introduced in the 1962 TV
special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” (Hint: It wasn’t the
title song either.)

Answers: 1. “White Christmas”; 2. “Have Yourself a Merry Little
Christmas”; 3. “Silver Bells”; 4. “A Holly Jolly Christmas.”