Lizzo’s ‘Someday at Christmas’ Debuts in Top 10 on Hot R&B Songs Chart
Lizzo lights up the Hot R&B Songs chart with a holiday release, “Someday at Christmas,” that debuts at No. 9 on the list dated Dec. 10. The song is a cover of a track first recorded and released by Stevie Wonder in 1966. Lizzo’s version was released exclusively through Amazon Music and Amazon’s digital music store.
“Someday at Christmas” traces its arrival on Hot R&B Songs, which measures streaming, radio airplay and sales in its rankings, almost entirely to 5.8 million official U.S. streams earned in the week ending Dec. 1, according to Luminate. Lizzo’s cover, originally released Nov. 11, has picked up steam thanks to Amazon Music’s growing promotion of holiday music on playlists. For the other two metrics, the song had negligible download sales and its airplay registered 312,000 in audience listenership.
The holiday release gives Lizzo her fourth top 10 on the Hot R&B Songs chart. She earned her first visit to the upper tier with “Juice,” which peaked at No. 5 in 2019, and followed with the 10-week No. 1 “Good as Hell” in 2019-20 and the 13-week champ “About Damn Time” this May – September.
Elsewhere, “Someday at Christmas” opens at No. 28 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and at No. 96 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, and makes its first appearances on Billboard’s slate of holiday charts, with a No. 46 arrival on the Holiday Streaming Songs list and a No. 54 entrance on the Holiday 100. The track also generates a bit of radio airplay, starting at No. 27 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
The new rendition may also have fueled a slight bump in interest for Wonder’s original. The legend’s 1966 recording pulled 3.7 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week, up 55%, and sold 1,000 downloads in the same period. The song, though, was only Wonder’s third most popular holiday track this week, and again, features a newer artist covering his classic material. John Legend’s reworked take on Wonder’s “What Christmas Means to Me,” which features Wonder and was released in 2018, earned 5.07 million official U.S. streams, while Wonder’s 1967 original generated 5.01 million clicks.
Trevor Anderson
Billboard
