Brenda Lee makes history as oldest artist to reach #1 on Billboard Hot 100 at age 78!

Gasp

For what song?

R2, as you may have noticed, it's December. I would assume, without even bothering to check, that the song is "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree", which is perennially ranked among favorite Christmas songs.

R2 "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"

Even though that song was a hit in the early 1960s -- it peaked at #3 -- it did not truly become a holiday classic until it was featured prominently in HOME ALONE (1990), which was a blockbuster smash in theaters and on home video.

Brenda's wig is a work of art. I wish I had something similar to wear to holiday parties. Dionne Warwick needs to get the name of her wig-maker.

Brenda did a new music video for the song this year. The old gal can still rock 'round that tree! Tanya Tucker even makes a special appearance in it.

Same hairdo all these years later

MTV needs to make a new Cribs at Mariah's. We need to see the meltdown of her holiday empire.

Congratulations, Brenda Lee.

Later we’ll have some fuckin’ pie, and we’ll do some caroling.

I want a Brenda Lee Christmas tree wig topper.

Li'l Miss Dynamite still has it....her songs like "I'm Sorry", "Sweet Nothin's", "All Alone Am I" and "Dum Dum" were only a few of her top ten hits.

She is the first woman to be inducted into BOTH the Country Music & Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.

She came to Indy to do a show about four years ago.....and sold so many tickets, she had to do FOUR shows at the local symphony hall......LOTS of seats, honey....and all of them SOLD!

....and she recorded on DECCA with fellow artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.

That video made me laugh, but in a good way.

That wig is 🔥. And the song is a bop.

Of course in the video Trisha Yearwood is eating.

Mariah's reign as the queen of christmas is over

r13, I adored all those songs as a kid and still listen to them frequently on my Brenda Lee's Greatest Hits CD.

Now.is the.for my annual holiday recounting of waiting on Brenda Lee in a hotel coffee shop. She was in town performing during the annual rodeo. She had the tallest orange beehive and longest red nails. She was a teeny tiny thing. She ordered Fried chicken and tea (iced tea). She left me $5.00!!

God help me, I enjoyed that video! It was fun! She doesn't take herself too seriously. Momma loved her in her day.

Let's raise a cup of eggnog to Darlene Love, too, when toasting Christmas royalty; her annual visits to The Late Show (Letterman) to welcome in the holiday singing "Baby Please Come Home" made the season bright!

Wikipedia says she was in the military.

r11, Hahahahahaha!

Seriously. FUNNY

If Tammy Faye and Jerri Blank had a love child ...

... and if that child was born when Tammy Faye was 2 years old .....

You can bet she'll be flashing her cooch all over town tonight!

Bitch!

Brenda was thirteen when she recorded that song.

Good on Brenda Lee

BFD. She hit #1 when it doesn't mean anything anymore.

My mom hated Brenda Lee and nearly knocked her out when Brenda, in stilettos, stepped on her foot. My mom was 5’7” and said Brenda used to wear huge wigs and stilettos to look taller and “the little shit was still shorter than me”. She also said she had a messed up face.

My mom called me from ShopRite one time growling because of the music over the PA. It was Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree by “Brenda Fuckin’ Lee”

I love the song now because it reminds me of my mom and her deep seated hatred for Brenda.

Every shop and diner where I am is playing Christmas music on a loop right now. The songs are mostly annoying but it's great to hear those old-time singers again: Brenda Lee, Andy Williams. Perry Como, Judy, Burl Ives, Nat king Cole, Bing Crosby...

But I cringe when I hear the yodeling and caterwauling today's (mostly black() singers do with those songs. Sliding up and down on the scales, the tunes become unrecognizable. It's like nails-on-a-blackboard to my ears.

I wonder if she and Connie Francis got/get along?

Coming on Strong

Love this. RATCT is one of my top two favorite holiday songs, the other being Jingle Bell Rock - I love campy/50s holiday music.

She stole my red gown!!!!

[quote]... and if that child was born when Tammy Faye was 2 years old .....

Praise the Lord!

Ok - so has anyone every wondered why she sings "deck the halls with boughs of Hol-ol-ol-lee"?

It took me over 40 years to recognize that was a reference to Buddy Holly and how he sang.

Some of you may have put that together far before I did - but I bet many of you didn't know this either!

R34 Connie and Brenda always got along, still do!

The song was written by Johnny Marks, who also wrote the Christmas classics "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (based on a story used by Montgomery Ward in their holiday promotions) and "Holly Jolly Christmas."

It's taken this long for an old song to do this well? My God, she's more of a coaster than Elton John. It least she hasn't had to resort to singing it in Khmer and Swahili like Connie Francis.

Brenda Lee started performing when she was 8 years old. I read that her father died when she was 9 so she was out here trying to help support her family. She has been working for 70 years. That's pretty fucking amazing for a singer.

[quote] [R2], as you may have noticed, it's December. I would assume, without even bothering to check, that the song is "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree", which is perennially ranked among favorite Christmas songs.

Not all of us are 80 or older, so it wasn't so obvious.

Love Brenda. My older cousins had her records and used to play them when I was a kid. I associate her with all that pre-Beatles rock era.

And she looks like Mae West now.

Actually the song has entered the Billboard top 10 for years now during the month of December.

Last year it hit #2

WEEK OF DECEMBER 31, 2022

I love this song but its crazy she’s 12/13 years old singing this. She sounds 40.

MY version is MUCH better than this old sea hag’s mess. There is only ONE Brenda in Hollywood who can be a triple threat of singer-actress-potato salad expert.

Also. I can hit higher whistle notes through my Dollar Tree veneers than this cunt and her Martha Rae dentures

This was my late grandmother's favorite Christmas song. Whenever I hear it I'm transported back to a simpler time, like when my grandma would dance with me and sing it in my ear.

Who doesn't like Brenda Lee?

I wish people would drive Augie Rios’ song to number one. Someone here please get on that.

That fat drunken fuck Mooriah Carey needs to take several seats.

I wish Brenda & Dolly would do a duet.

Or at least tour in a production of The Sunshine Boys.

Brenda could make a Christmas movie and be an Elf. She could be Will Ferrell's long lost mother.....

[quote]I wish Brenda & Dolly would do a duet.

They've performed a number of times together on TV.

It's amazing that Brenda, Dolly and Tanya Tucker are all still alive. In comparison, Madonna is the only A-list pop singer from the '80s still alive.

R57, you’re just trying to summon JanBot!

Smells Like Teenspirit, R2.

Every time I hear this song, it sounds like she's singing, "Later, we'll have some fuckin' pie..."

I can't unhear it.

Damn, I just caught her performing on NBC, and I had to check her age.

I would have guessed 95, not 78.

Debbie Harry is 78! Cher is 77.

Brenda looks and acts like she's on life support.

Awesome! You go, Brenda. Rock on, girl.

R62 don't forget about me!

I love her song "I Want to Be Wanted"

She sings it with so much feeling, even though she was only a teen at the time

I hope she celebrated with a slice of that "Fucking Pie."

It's so funny that she's going to block Mariah's "All I Want for Christmas is You" from going #1 this year. Mariah's song is so tired and overplayed at this point.

R7 Couldn't they have put her in a dress that wasn't so long and and flowing and cascading to the floor? It makes her look like a tiny little midget.

And I won't even talk about the wig.

Mariah sent her flowers & lovely note even though RATCT rigged playlists to drop Mariah so they could score the 65th anniversary no.1. Billboard commented on the unorthodox tactics Brenda's record label used to score the top spot.

Good for Brenda but that Santa dress in the new video makes her look like a gnome!

R39 I never caught the Buddy allusion either, I thought she was just making the line fit!

I agree about the fuckin' pie

Brenda always had pocket lez vibes.

Good for her, but I hate that song and she reminds me of that dwarf in "Don't Look Now."

I love her Sister, Sara Lee r50.

RATCT was also 69 cents on iTunes, so yeah, it was gonna go #1.

Brenda's currently at 10 and Mariah 11 on the iTunes chart.....the rest of the top 40-50 is various versions of stank ass bitch Nicki Minaj songs.

Mariah released a new video for AIWFCIY (the festive lambs version), so maybe her streaming numbers will increase enough to hit #1.

[quote]Mariah released a new video for AIWFCIY (the festive lambs version)

Mariah needs to give this shit a rest now, but everyone knows she’ll milk that cow for as long as she can. She’s lazy as fuck but she happened to discover this “release the same Christmas song every December” strategy that just prints money.

Since she co-wrote the song, she gets royalties as the writer, unlike Brenda.

R77 who? Mariah?

Mariah did do a classy thing. A rarity for her, but still.....

[quote]Brenda always had pocket lez vibes.

Her contemporary Leslie Gore, r70, turned out to be one.

^Lesley, my bad. Or Lezly

She was thirteen and they didn't have autotune, and she sounds perfectly on pitch to me, that's pretty good to me.

Mariah is s class act

R83 = drunken Mariah

Brenda is slipping

Fuckin pie.

My mom loved that song, and would be over the moon about this.

OMG enough already.

11 y/o Brenda...

R61, thanks for the laugh

She holds off Mariah for a second week at #1.

I wish Last Christmas would hit #1 at some point. At #4 this week which is its peak.

Well, good for her. I can't stand "Rockin' around The Christmas tree". It's overplayed and too sweet.

Sweet is not what I want from Little Miss Dynamite.

This is the Brenda I love.

Brenda 1965 in career decline, doing a great rendition of "Yesterday's Gone".

She sounds modern here. Sort of like Loretta Lynn or Dolly Parton. Different from other pop singers in '65.

R22, Darlene moved over to The View after Letterman ended. You can see her this Friday singing the annual ditty. She's always booked the last day before they go on holiday hiatus.

Mariah will return to #1 next week after playlisting returned to normal

Meh....

Thanks for the Christmas gift, R94! Setting my DVR even as I type.

Merry Christmas.

I have one more gift for you. This is last year's performance.