It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but depending on what country you live in, the holiday tunes may come sooner than you expect.
This week, Spotify released data on the Christmas music streaming habits of users worldwide. The main takeaway: Whether you love or hate holiday music, with Spotify boasting 200 million holiday playlists, it’s here to stay.
December 1 shows the first big spike in Christmas music, but as soon as Halloween is over, it’s fair game. The Philippines are the first country to embrace the holiday, blasting holiday tunes as early as September 9. Jose Mari Chan’s “Christmas in Our Hearts” is a seasonal favourite, but the country also loves Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande. (Who doesn’t?)
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It seems that other countries wait a bit longer; Estonia and Iceland are next, turning up the music in October. The holiday holdouts include Uruguay and Argentina, who don’t begin listening to Christmas music until the day of the holiday in late December. The United States crosses the “Christmas threshold” — when more than 2% of all Spotify streaming is Christmas songs — on November 12.
Christmas songs are hugely popular around the globe, with 21 million Christmas-specific playlists on Spotify. The United Kingdom listens to the most Christmas music, followed by the Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, and the United States. The most popular holiday artists globally are Michael Bublé and Bing Crosby. Mariah Carey holds the honour of the top song, though, with "All I Want For Christmas is You." Wham! is second with "Last Christmas," and Bing Crosby is third.
Below, listen to Refinery29’s playlist of the 10 most popular Christmas songs worldwide. You won’t be able to escape these tunes this holiday season, so you might as well embrace the festivities and listen to them right now!