December 9, 2023: The Oldest Singer to Hit Number 1

Brenda Lee in 1958, and in 2023

NOTE: While these entries are dated 2022, I decided to backdate the posting dates of events from 2023 onward to the same date in 2022.

December 9, 2023: "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee hits Number 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart.

The song was recorded on October 19, 1958, when she was just 13 years old, going on 14. It wasn't the 1st rock and roll song about Christmas, having been preceded by Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" by 1 year. Elvis Presley also recorded "Blue Christmas" in 1957, but, even in his voice, it was hardly rock and roll.

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" didn't reach the charts in 1958 or 1959, but hit Number 14 in 1960. It had a few comebacks after being occasionally featured in Christmas-themed movies. But in the 2010s, Billboard changed its rules to include streaming services as "sales." The increase in streaming led to Christmas songs being "bought" more as Christmas approaches.

In its December 21, 2019 issue, Billboard listed "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey as Number 1 on its Hot 100, setting a new record for longest time from original release to chart-top: 25 years. It's gotten there again every year since. In its December 9, 2023 issue, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was listed at Number 1, temporarily breaking Mariah's Christmastime hold on the chart. Lee was 2 days short of her 79th birthday.

Billboard's Hot 100 for its December 21, 2024 issue has "All I Want for Christmas Is You" at Number 1, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" at Number 2, "Jingle Bell Rock" at Number 3, Wham!'s "Last Christmas" at Number 4, and Burl Ives' "A Holly Jolly Christmas" at Number 5. The highest-ranking non-Christmas song is at Number 6: "Die With a Smile," a duet by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars.

Brenda Mae Tarpley is born on December 11, 1944 in Atlanta. We know her as Brenda Lee. At 4-foot-9, and a star having moved to Nashville at age 14, she was once known as Little Miss Dynamite. She began writing songs with Ronnie Self, and her 1st Top 40 hit, in 1959, was "Sweet Nothin's." With a much deeper voice that one would expect from such a tiny teenage girl, it sounded a lot sexier than it should have.

Her facial expressions and dancing probably would have gotten a lot more scrutiny had she been a grown woman. But because she was so young and so small, it was considered cute, and she got away with it. Britney Spears wasn't the first Southern chick who looked way too young to be singin' the lyrics she was singin'. But at least Brenda was fully dressed, and, by the standards of the time, well-dressed.

In 1960, Lee and singer, with Self as writers, had 2 Number 1 hits: "I'm Sorry" and "I Want to Be Wanted." More big hits followed, including "Fool #1" and "Break It To Me Gently." After that, The Beatles arrived, and changed things. She hadn't gotten much taller, but was grown up, and began to turn from rock and roll to country, and became a star in that genre.

She's still at it, and she might be the shortest person in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was the 1st woman to be elected to both that and the Country Music Hall of Fame: The Country Hall in 1997, the Rock Hall in 2002.

At 79, she became the oldest singer ever to have a Number 1 hit – although Louis Armstrong was 62 when “Hello, Dolly!” hit Number 1 in 1964, and he remains the oldest to hit Number 1 with a new release.

The youngest singer ever to hit Number 1 is Stevie Wonder, who did so at age 13 in 1963, with his live recording of "Fingertips -- Part 2." He was the same age that Brenda Lee was, give or take a few months, when she recorded of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." She is just 5 1/2 years older than Stevie, despite the fact that they currently hold the opposite poles of this particular record.

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December 9, 2023 was a Saturday. There was 1 game in the NBA: The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers, 123-109 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Anthony Davis had 41 points and 20 rebounds. This was the Final of the 1st-ever NBA Cup. I have a separate entry for this event.

Baseball was in the off-season, although this was the day on which the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to the biggest contract in North American sports history to that point, $700 million over 10 years.

One game was played in college football, and it was the format's greatest rivalry: Army beat Navy, 17-11 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

To make up for how few games there were in the other sports, there were 12 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals, 4-0 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The New York Islanders beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at the UBS Arena. Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the winning goal, only 13 seconds into overtime.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Calgary Flames, 4-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Arizona Coyotes, 5-3 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Nashville Predators, 4-0 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 in a shootout at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at the United Center in Chicago. While the Blues consider the Blackhawks their arch-rivals, the Blackhawks' arch-rivals are the Detroit Red Wings.

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Dallas Stars, 6-1 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-2 at the Ball Arena in Denver.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Seattle Kraken, 4-3 at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with 1:48 left in overtime.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

* And the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Edmonton Oilers, the San Jose Sharks, the Anaheim Ducks, the Florida Panthers, the Winnipeg Jets, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild were not scheduled.

In American soccer, the MLS Cup Final was played: The Columbus Crew beat Los Angeles F.C., 2-1 at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio. And in English soccer, Arsenal F.C., the North London team I support, lost to Aston Villa, 1-0 at Villa Park in Birmingham, West Midlands.