Brenda Lee, 80, says seeing the success of ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ 66 years after it was recorded is ‘like a dream’

Every year as the holiday season approaches, a handful of Christmas songs break into the charts.

One song that consistently tops the list is “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” sung by Brenda Lee. In 2023, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time since its release in 1958.

Lee was 13 years old when she recorded the song. The singer, now 80, told Yahoo Entertainment it was “incredible” to see how much it means to people more than half a century later.

“I love it, I really do. And I never get tired of singing it,” she said. “It didn’t matter what season it was.”

This year, the week before Christmas, the song remains at No. 2. She participated in a PBS documentary about her life titled American Masters – Brenda Lee: Rockin’ Around. It examines how poverty and early fame affected her long career.

Lee said she was “proud” to have been given this opportunity.

“As women, we don’t necessarily want to be seen in films after a certain age. … I don’t look the same as before, but I’m still short, so maybe (people) know who I am,” she said. “Good songs are good songs, and they just last. It’s wonderful, that’s it. It’s like a dream.”

Born in Georgia, Lee got her big break as a child and became her family’s primary breadwinner at the age of ten. Over the years, she scored dozens of hits on the pop and country charts. She maintained the same passion for performing, even as it became increasingly important to those around her.

“I know I sing differently for a girl, especially at this time. I was a belter,” she said. “They called me ‘the little girl with the big voice’ and I always thought, ‘What do they mean?’ Is that good or bad?’”

“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was written by Johnny Marks, who also wrote other classic Christmas songs such as “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas.”

“I asked him once – I was just young enough for my mother to make sassy comments – ‘Johnny, where do all these songs come from?’ “You don’t believe in Christmas, you’re Jewish,” Lee recalled. “He laughed out loud and said, ‘I don’t know, but every time I sit down to write, this is what comes out!’ I said, ‘Good for you!’”

Marks died in 1985, five years before “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was featured in the film Home alone. That was the second big breakthrough. Lee said she still credits Marks for the song’s success.

“I look up at the sky and say, ‘Johnny, we did it again,'” Lee said. “He was a precious, precious man.”

Since then, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” has been a staple of the holiday season. The song eventually made it to the top of the charts in 2023, the same year Lee released a music video for it featuring country singers Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood.

“The record label wanted me to do one because I never did,” she said. “I called some of my friends and said, ‘Hey, I need your help,’ and they all came!”

That year, her team also began posting videos of her on TikTok, where she built a following jokingly called “Brendanators.” She said she was happy to do it because she wanted “today’s kids to know what a well-written, well-crafted song really sounds like.”

“Not that music isn’t good today, but kids don’t know what music was like back then,” Lee said. “There were great artists back then, and many of them were my dear, dear friends. I just wanted to introduce people to this part of show business.”

“I’m so grateful that a young person still cares about this old singer,” she added.