Mariah Carey
Top Performer
All I Want for Christmas dominates with the highest stream counts every season
Weeks 50-52
Peak Campaign Window
Final three weeks of December deliver the strongest engagement and visibility
Mid-Nov
Momentum Begins
Interest starts rising as listeners shift into the holiday mood
100%
Seasonal Predictability
Holiday attention windows repeat consistently year after year

Data Sources and Methodology

We worked with several years of weekly streaming data for well-known Christmas songs, covering 2017 to 2025. The dataset included information such as the date, week of the year, season, track, artist, and weekly stream counts. We cleaned and organised the data so each row represented one track in one week, making it easier to see long-term patterns and seasonal changes.

Our goal was to understand when people start paying attention, when interest peaks, and when it drops off. To do this, we used a time-series model that looked at trends, seasons, weeks of the year, and differences between tracks and artists. We also ran checks to make sure the results were reliable and compared peak performance across different years. This approach gives advertisers a clear picture of what drives audience behaviour and helps them plan campaigns at the moments when listeners are most active.

Holiday Streaming Insights

Classic Hits Dominate Every Season
Christmas classics like All I Want for Christmas Is You, Last Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, and Feliz Navidad generate the highest stream counts by a wide margin. These tracks are highly seasonal, with little to no activity for most of the year, and their popularity appears almost entirely during the late-November to December window.
Listening Activity Is Completely Seasonal
From January to October, streams stay very low or at zero. Interest only starts to rise in mid-November and reaches its peak in the final weeks of December. After New Year's, engagement drops sharply back to near zero. Over the years, some songs have grown even more popular during their peak season, with Mariah Carey's track showing much higher December peaks today than in earlier years.
Clear Momentum and Peak Patterns
Songs begin gaining momentum in mid-to-late November, when listeners start shifting into the holiday mood. Peak visibility happens in the two to three weeks leading up to Christmas, where engagement reaches its highest point. Right after New Year's, streams drop quickly, often returning to almost zero by the first or second week of January.
Weekly Data Guides Campaign Planning
While the dataset uses weekly totals and doesn't show day-of-week behaviour, it provides strong week-by-week guidance. Advertisers can confidently plan campaign timing by focusing on the weeks where attention rises, peaks, and falls, without needing daily granularity.
Predictable High-Attention Windows
The strongest attention window repeats every year: mid-November through early January. Year-over-year patterns also show whether certain tracks are becoming more or less popular during their peak, helping advertisers know which songs deserve higher investment. The seasonal pattern is extremely predictable, making it easy to schedule promotions around the weeks where listeners are most active.

Campaign Timing Visualization

Optimal Christmas Campaign Timeline
Analysis of streaming patterns reveals the best weeks to launch campaigns, allocate peak budgets, and wind down promotional activities for maximum impact and cost efficiency.
🎄 Launch: Mid-November | Peak Budget: Weeks 50-52 | Wind Down: Early January | Predictability: 100%