On December 26, 1960, Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" reached its highest rank on the Billboard chart. The song was originally recorded in 1958 in Nashville by a thirteen year old Lee and was released that year and again in 1959, but failed to chart. Boots Randolph and Floyd Cramer played on the record. The song has become a Christmas classic and has been covered by artists from Bill Haley to The Partridge Family to Alabama to Green Day.
While "Rockin' Around" peaked at #14, Elvis Presley's "Are You Lonesome Tonight" was at the top spot for its fifth consecutive week. Bert Kaempfert's "Wonderland By Night," which was then #2, would replace the Elvis record in a couple of weeks. Also in the top twenty that week was another song destined for #1, The Shirelle's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow." The popularity of instrumentals at the time is demonstrated by the presence of five in the top twenty: "Wonderland by Night" (twice), "Last Date," "Exocus," and "Perfidia."
Also reaching their highest chart position that week was "Many Tears Ago,""Perfidia," and "You're Sixteen." Kathy Young's "A Thousand Stars" had peaked at #3 the previous week -- it would be her only top forty record. Dion's "Lonely Teenager" had also peaked the previous week at #11. Ferrante & Teicher's "Exodus" would eventually reach #2; Johnny Tillotson's "Poetry in Motion" had been #2 in November. |
