The Most Annoying Christmas Song of All Time? (The Data Has Spoken)

Thanks to newly parsed data from Google Trends, we dive in to America’s ultimate seasonal controversy. Is “All I Want for Christmas Is You” our favorite Christmas song, or our most hated? Let’s talk about that.

The Most Popular Christmas Songs in Each State

Each year, as soon as the Halloween ghouls begin to sneak away back into the shadows and the North Pole elves start to go into burnout, we start hearing the same holiday songs playing over and over again. At the mall, on the radio, in cafés and restaurants and retail spaces, and even, in our homes.

While at some point, everybody starts to feel a bit overwhelmed by holiday music, it’s hard to tell how much we actually enjoy hearing these songs or how much they make us want to pull our hair out.

So today, we dive into data analyzed by our friends over at FinanceBuzz, who took a magnifying glass to poling information provided by Google Trends over the past five years to figure out the most popular Christmas song in each US state — as well as which songs Americans consider the most annoying.

Let’s start with which songs Americans love, state by state. (Below images courtesy of FinanceBuzz).

Here’s the full chart of results:

So, what did we learn?

First off — opinions on Christmas music are clearly regional. Here are a few amusing highlights from the list of America’s top holiday jams by state.

1. Mariah’s reign is real: “All I Want for Christmas Is You” topped the charts in nine states, more than any other song — proving that no matter how tired you are of it, a LOT of people still love that tune.
2. The classics still sometimes dominate: “Santa Baby” and “Jingle Bells” each ruled in seven states.
3. It’s not all pop and jingles: We’ve got “Run Rudolph Run” in states like Alabama and Oklahoma, “Feliz Navidad” in Florida and Texas, and “Deck the Halls” in South Dakota.
4. Rural, outdoorsy states love the snowy stuff: “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” was top of the charts in four states, including Alaska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Delaware (for some reason).
5. Rocky Mountain synchronicity: In Idaho and Utah, where the Rockies are visible for vast numbers of residents, “White Christmas” is more than just a song. It’s a wintry reality!

What else? Did anything else stand out for you in this data?

And now let’s turn to the other side of things. Which songs do Americans find most annoying to hear around the holidays?

The Most Annoying Christmas Songs According to Americans

According to a survey of more than 1,200 US adults, some songs generate joy, and others generate a palpable desire to flee to the nearest sled and take flight, or hide behind a giant inflatable yard reindeer.

Here’s the lineup of holiday grinches:

So, what can we make of this?

1. Most annoying and most beloved?: “All I Want for Christmas Is You” — yes, you got that right. The same song that’s a popular favorite in nine states is also universally detested. I wonder if that has to do with the fact that it’s simply playing everywhere, all the dang time!?!?
2. It’s the high pitched voice, isn’t it?: “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” — Alvin may be cute, but apparently the timbre of his singing and melodic shenanigans are not.
3. The Beatles, caught in the crossfire!: Two solo Beatle-men, McCartney and Lennon, have holiday songs on the list of those which Americans find intolerable. I don’t know what to make of that.
4. Turns out the classics aren’t safe, either: “Feliz Navidad” is a warm, welcome classic… until someone plays it for the 47th time that day.

🎄 So, What’s Going On Here? 🎄

The methodology is pretty straightforward and nerdy-good: FinanceBuzz pulled Google Trends search interest data for the top 25 Billboard Holiday songs and matched them to each state’s highest relative search volume. Then, in a separate poll, they asked 1,250 Americans to rank their most irritating yuletide jams.

What does this mean for your holiday playlist? Honestly… it means your Aunt Barb might be out here blasting the same three songs every year, and that probably won’t change anytime soon, but it might just give the 60-year olds and the teenagers around the dinner table something to bond over: their shared hatred of Alvin’s chirpy voice.

Whether you’re Team Mariah or Team anything but Mariah, this data set confirms something we all already knew: Christmas music is everywhere, and everyone has an opinion about it — loudly. ⛄

Happy holidays!