Steve Jennings/WireImageThe late Andy Williams has just scored a most wonderful chart achievement. The crooner, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 84, has landed at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his 1963 Christmas classic, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
This is Williams’ first top-10 hit since 1971’s “(Where Do I Begin) Love Story”, which means it’s been a record-setting 47 years, eight months and three months between his two visits to the upper reaches of the chart.
That span breaks the previous record of 30 years, two months and one week held by the late Dobie Gray, notched for the time between when he and Uncle Kracker hit the top 10 in 2003 with a new version of Gray’s 1973 hit “Drift Away” and when Gray’s original rendition was in the top 10.
“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is now only the sixth Christmas song ever to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. That’s because back in the day, many holiday hits weren’t eligible for that chart. Now, however, Billboard allows old songs to return to the Hot 100 if they score significant sales and streams.
Here are those six songs:
#1 peak, 12/22/1958, “The Chipmunk Song,” by David Seville & The Chipmunks
#6, 12/22/2018, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey
#7, 1/8/2000, “Auld Lang Syne,” Kenny G
#7, 1/6/1990, “This One’s for the Children,” New Kids on the Block
#9, 2/21/1981, “Same Old Lang Syne,” Dan Fogelberg
#10, 12/29/2018, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” Andy Williams
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