The holiday season brings joy, magic, beautiful decorations and a soundtrack of carols and standards that we revisit year after year. Sure, these tracks may get us in a festive mood, but for retail workers listening to them on what can feel like a truly endless loop they could also lead to madness.
New research from customer feedback company HappyOrNot reveals that not all holiday hits are created equal for store associates. The company shortlisted the 10 most-streamed songs from Billboard and asked 215,000 members of the Retail Worker Confessions Facebook community to share which songs they love (and hate) to hear while they’re working. Perhaps surprisingly, Mariah Carey’s ubiquitous All I Want for Christmas Is You ranked as associates’ most-hated song.
The top 10 songs, in order of number of streams are:
1. All I Want for Christmas Is You, Mariah Carey
2. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Brenda Lee
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3. Jingle Bell Rock, Bobby Helms
4. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You), Nat King Cole
5. A Holly Jolly Christmas, Burl Ives
6. Feliz Navidad, Jose Feliciano
7. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Andy Williams
8. Last Christmas, Wham!
9. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Dean Martin
10. White Christmas, Bing Crosby
When American retail staff were asked to name their favorite festive hit to hear in the background when working, Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms and Feliz Navidad shared the top spot, with 20% of associates voting for them. Next, associates ranked The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) by Nat King Cole (with 15% of votes) and White Christmas by Bing Crosby, which both garnered 10% of the votes.
When American retail staff were asked to name their least favorite festive music to hear in the background, Mariah Carey’s 1994 hit All I Want for Christmas is You ranked number one with 30% of the votes. Following Mariah on the list of most-hated Christmas earworms was Dean Martin’s 1959 version of Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, which tallied 15% of the votes.
