For two decades, the sound of Mariah Carey’s 1994 hit “All I Want for Christmas is You,” blaring through retail stores as shoppers milled about picking up last-minute gifts, was as ubiquitous a Christmas tradition as egg nog by the fireplace—but a new song has now emerged as the king of Christmas retail.
The Shins’s “Wonderful Christmastime,” a cover of Paul McCartney’s 1980 classic, is this holiday season’s top tune, according to Paste magazine’s updated list of the year’s biggest holiday hits compiled by PlayNetwork, which collects data from 400 brands to determine which songs are played most in retail stores around Christmas.
Carey’s song had topped the list since its release in 1994, but fell to No. 2 this year.
McCartney’s own “Wonderful Christmastime” still managed to hold on in the Top 20, coming in at No. 17.
“Classics and covers tend to reign supreme,” PlayNetwork Director of Music Services Julia Cummings told the New York Daily News. “The songs themselves transcend demographics, which is why we see the same titles more than once but performed by different artists.”
The Shins’s Christmas tune was first released on a compilation of holiday songs released in 2012 called Holidays Rule.
Christina Aguilera’s “Christmas Time,” Waitresses’s “Christmas Wrapping,” and Jack Johnson’s “Someday at Christmas” round out the Top 5.
Check out the Shins’s chart-topping song above, and, in case you somehow forgot what it sounded like, Carey’s now-dethroned tune below.
Here’s the list of the Top 20 holiday songs played in retail stores, courtesy of Paste.
1) The Shins “Wonderful Christmastime”
2) Mariah Carey “All I Want For Christmas Is You”
3) Christina Aguilera “Christmas Time”
4) Waitresses “Christmas Wrapping”
5) Jack Johnson “Someday At Christmas”
6) Kelly Clarkson “Underneath The Tree”
7) Michael Buble “A Holly Jolly Christmas”
8) Bing Crosby “White Christmas”
9) Train “What Christmas Means To Me”
10) Ella Fitzgerald “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
11) Coldplay “Christmas Lights”
12) Jose Feliciano “Feliz Navidad”
13) Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings “White Christmas”
14) Vince Guaraldi Trio “Christmas Time Is Here”
15) Sam Smith “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
16) Pentatonix “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)”
17) Paul McCartney “Wonderful Christmastime”
18) She & Him “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”
19) Elvis Presley “Blue Christmas”
20) Darlene Love “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
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