Johnny Marks Returns to No. 1 on Hot 100 Songwriters Chart, Thanks to Holiday Classics
Johnny Marks returns to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 Songwriters chart (dated Dec. 11) for a 10th total week on top, thanks to four of his holiday classics jingling up the latest Billboard Hot 100.
Brenda Lee’s 1958 song “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” which Marks solely wrote, ranks at No. 4, bounding back to the top 10 from No. 14. It has peaked at No. 2 each of the last two years (after first reaching a No. 14 high in 1960).
Here’s a look at all four of Marks’ credits on the latest Hot 100:
Rank, Artist Billing, Title (co-songwriters in addition to Marks)
No. 4, Brenda Lee, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
No. 7, Burl Ives, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”
No. 35, Gene Autry, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
No. 40, Chuck Berry, “Run Rudolph Run” (Marvin Brodie)
Thanks to holiday hits annually re-entering the Hot 100, Marks has ruled Hot 100 Songwriters in each of three years running, dating to the launch of Billboard‘s songwriter and producer charts in 2019. With his 10th week at No. 1, he ties Drake and Roddy Ricch for the fourth-most weeks spent at No. 1, after Olivia Rodrigo (22), Finneas (12) and Dan Nigro (11).
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Marks died in 1985 at age 75. He became the first artist to posthumously top Hot 100 Songwriters.
The late Irving Berlin re-enters the Hot 100 Songwriters chart at No. 4, thanks to his writing credits on Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” (No. 25 on the Hot 100) and Andy Williams’ “Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season” (No. 30; co-written with Kay Thompson); the late George Michael places at No. 6, thanks to Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (No. 15); Jose Feliciano re-enters at No. 9, via “Feliz Navidad” (No. 16); and the late Meredith Willson re-enters at No. 10, thanks to his writing credit on Michael Bublé’s version of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” (No. 20).
On the Hot 100 Producers chart, Greg Kurstin tallies a fourth week at No. 1 thanks to his work on four Adele tracks, including “Easy on Me,” which logs a sixth week atop the Hot 100, and Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree” (No. 27).
Late producer Owen Bradley ranks at No. 2 on Hot 100 Producers, from his production on Lee’s “Rockin’ ” and Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” (No. 5 on the Hot 100). Bradley has spent five weeks at No. 1 on the chart over the past two holidays seasons. He died in 1998 at age 82.
The weekly Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts are based on total points accrued by a songwriter and producer, respectively, for each attributed song that appears on the Hot 100; plus, genre-based songwriter and producer charts follow the same methodology based on corresponding “Hot”-named genre charts. As with Billboard‘s yearly recaps, multiple writers or producers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings).
The full Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts, in addition to the full genre rankings, can be found on Billboard.com.
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