Frank Sinatra Returns to Billboard Hot 100 After 56 Years with ‘Jingle Bells’
Frank Sinatra achieved a new music milestone, even 25 years after he passed away. The 13-time Grammy winner, who died in May 1998 at the age of 82, has made it to this year’s top 20 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 with his 1948 recording of “Jingle Bells.”
His recording moved up from No. 28 to No. 20 on the Hot 100 chart dated December 23, according to Billboard. This Christmas song is Sinatra’s fourth time making it to the Top 20 Hot 100, and it’s his first song to do so since 1967.
Between December 8 and December 14, the late singer’s song streams increased by 19%, reaching a total of 16.9 million streams in the U.S. The song has also been played on the radio for 15.3 million people and sold 1,000 downloads, according to Luminate, as reported by Billboard.
The song “Jingle Bells” was written by James Lord Pierpont in 1857. Other versions of the classic carol by artists like Kimberley Locke, the Glee Cast, Lauren Daigle, and Meghan Trainor have also appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Kimberley Locke’s version topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary Top 30 in 2006, and the Glee Cast’s rendition reached No. 10 on Billboard Holiday Digital Top 25 song sales in 2010. Daigle’s version made it to No. 3 on Billboard Christian Airplay top 50 in 2016.
Meghan Trainor’s version is currently on the Holiday 100 chart, sharing the space with Sinatra’s cover at No. 74.
Apart from “Jingle Bells,” Sinatra had three other songs on the charts: “Strangers in the Night,” which topped in 1966; “That’s Life,” reaching No. 4 in December 1966; and “Somethin’ Stupid,” a duet with his daughter Nancy, which stayed at No. 1 for four weeks starting in April 1967.
Sinatra first made his mark on the Hot 100 in October 1958. However, back in 1940, he appeared on Billboard’s first song sales chart after singing on Tommy Dorsey’s “I’ll Never Smile Again,” which reached the No. 1 spot that year.
