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Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music. An increase of Christmas records began charting Billboard in 1957. The popular music surveys charted 9 Christmas singles, including the debut of the Bobby Helms' standard "Jingle Bell Rock" (Top 100 Sides #6). Gene Autry's newly recorded version of his 1949 original "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" made the Top 100 Sides at No. 70. The Best Selling Pop LP's had 11 seasonal albums chart including the debut of Elvis' Christmas Album that topped the survey for 3 weeks. Bing Crosby's all-time best-selling single "White Christmas" returned to the Top 40 again in 1957 at No. 34. It has charted Billboard's surveys almost annually since it first spent 11 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on their Best Selling Retail Records chart beginning Oct. 31, 1942 It reached the top spot again in 1945 for two more weeks and made its 14th #1 week on December 28, 1946. Crosby's "Silent Night" (Top 100 Sides #54) and "Silver Bells" (Top 100 Sides #78) also made the Top 100 Sides in 1957. All 3 of these titles are included on his Merry Christmas which returned to No. 1 in January 1958 after charting Billboard's album surveys since its debut in 1945. Top charting Christmas singles 1940-1957 The "Billboard Music Popularity Chart" began weekly publication in their July 27, 1940 issue, with lists covering jukebox play, radio play, record sales and sheet music sales. The following are the most popular Christmas holiday singles that charted prior to 1958 according to those surveys. Deejay's Favorite Christmas Disks On November 24, 1958, the magazine published Deejay's Favorite Christmas Disks. Described as the records played most frequently by disk jockeys each Christmas season, according to a survey made by The Billboard, the section consisted of 3 top 10 lists charting the top Holiday Singles, LP Albums and for the only time on Billboard's Christmas/Holiday surveys, EP Albums. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" was the No. 1 single, Percy Faith's 1954 Music of Christmas was the No. 1 LP and Pat Boone's 1957 Merry Christmas was the No. 1 EP. A Holiday survey would not be published again until the annual Christmas Records section is launched in 1963. Seven holiday singles charted the first year of Billboard's Hot 100 in 1958 including the debut of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" (Hot 100 #1 for 4 weeks) and Harry Simeone's "Little Drummer Boy" (Hot 100 #13). Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" returned to the charts at No. 35. Eight holiday albums charted on Billboard's Best-Selling LP's survey in 1958 including the debut of Johnny Mathis' Merry Christmas that peaked at No. 3 on December 27. Mitch Miller & The Gang's first holiday album Christmas Sing Along with Mitch peaked at No. 1 on January 8, 1959. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" made its first Hot 100 appearance in 1959 at No. 59. Perry Como debuted his second Christmas album Season's Greetings from Perry Como on The Billboard's TOP LP'S on January 8, 1960, peaking at No. 22. The 1960 Hot 100 had 10 holiday singles including the debut of an annual charting of Brenda Lee's standard "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (Hot 100 #14) and the return of Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)" (Deejay's Favorite Christmas Disks #2, Hot 100 #80). Bing Crosby's "Silent Night" (Deejay's Favorite Christmas Disks #8, Hot 100 #54) also returned in 1960 and the flip side "Adeste Fidelis" (Hot 100 #45) also from his 1945 Merry Christmas album made its first charting. Bobby Helms returned to the Hot 100 at No. 36 in 1960 with the start of an annual charting of "Jingle Bell Rock". Harry Simeone's "Little Drummer Boy" and "The Chipmunk Song" re-charted the Hot 100 every year after their initial release just as Christmas Sing Along with Mitch and Johnny Mathis' Merry Christmas album had on Billboard's Best-Selling LPs chart. The Chipmunks with David Seville followed up in 1960 with a cover of "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" that peaked at No. 21 on the Hot 100. Bobby Rydell & Chubby Checker's cover of "Jingle Bell Rock" peaked at No. 21 and "Baby's First Christmas" by Connie Francis peaked at No. 26 in 1961, both re-charting the following year. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" returned to the Hot 100 in 1961 at No. 12 and in 1962 at No. 38. Billboard's TOP LP's charted 21 holiday albums in 1962. Mitch Miller's Gang peaked at No. 1 again with their latest Christmas album Holiday Sing Along with Mitch. Bing Crosby returned with Merry Christmas (Deejay's Favorite Christmas Disks #3, Top Mono LP's #46) and debuted his latest I Wish You a Merry Christmas (Top Mono LP's #50). The 1962 Hot 100 had 12 seasonal singles including new releases like The 4 Seasons cover of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (Hot 100 #23) and re-charting holiday standards like Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" (Hot 100 #65). Billboard debuted their first annual Christmas Records charts the following year. Best Bets for Christmas Beginning with the issue dated November 30, 1963, Billboard magazine no longer charted Christmas albums or singles on its existing music charts. For the next 10 years, these titles could only be found in their new annual best-selling Christmas Records section (retitled Billboard Top Christmas Sellers in 1965 and then Billboard Best Bets for Christmas in 1966 through 1973). The 5-position survey ranking of top-selling Christmas Singles and Christmas LP's ran for 3–5 weeks each holiday season expanding in size as sales activity increased. The Andy Williams Christmas Album was the first number one album and his version of "White Christmas" from the same album was the first number one single, both peaking at No. 1 for the 5 week entirety of the section run in 1963. The chart size increased each holiday season until peaking at 38 singles and 117 LPS in 1967. Beginning in 1971, the Best Bets for Christmas only ran 2–3 weeks a year and listed significantly less titles with the singles chart only having 3 positions on December 18 of that year. Bing Crosby's Merry Christmas (LPs #2) spent 39 weeks on the LP survey from 1963 to 1973, more than any other album at the time. Harry Simeone's album The Little Drummer Boy (LPs #1) and Nat King Cole's album The Christmas Song (LPs #1) tie at second, both charting 35 weeks between 1963 and 1973. Crosby's Merry Christmas, Cole's The Christmas Song and Johnny Mathis' Merry Christmas (LPs #2) spent more than 25 weeks each in the top 10. The Andy Williams Christmas Album spent the most time on top of the chart at 9 inconsecutive weeks between 1963 and 1965. Andy Williams follow up, Merry Christmas spent 3 inconsecutive weeks at number one from 1966 to 1969. Barbra Streisand's 1967 A Christmas Album topped the second most with 6 weeks and Harry Simeone's The Little Drum.... Discover the Becky Lamb popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Becky Lamb books.