Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Paste Magazine acquires feminist media platform Jezebel after it was briefly shut down, Nikki Haley scores an endorsement from Charles Koch, and Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee are back at the top of the charts, officially kicking off the Christmas season. Have a peaceful Wednesday!
– Do you hear what I hear? It’s officially the most wonderful time of the year, when you can hear those sleigh bells jingling, see piles of toys in every store, and count on Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee’s Christmas classics to dominate the airwaves.
Though Carey’s 1994 song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and Lee’s 1958 recording of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” have long been inescapable mainstays of holiday airplay, they only began topping the Billboard Hot 100 four years ago, decades after either was released. That’s thanks to a series of rule changes Billboard made to better reflect the streaming era. Those changes have kicked off something of a new holiday tradition, with the legendary artists and their festive jingles at the center, vying for the top spot each year.
So far, Carey has been the undisputed queen of the season, with her Christmas single hitting No. 1 on the Billboard chart for the first time in 2019 and reclaiming the top spot every year since. It is currently sitting at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and will likely once again reach the summit before Christmas.
Carey has made the song’s enduring seasonal appeal into a yearly event, teasing its ascension to the tops of the charts and holiday playlists around the world. It’s the gift that keeps on giving for the star: In 2021, the song earned close to $7 million in royalties globally, with Carey getting around $1.55 million of that, according to Billboard. (Other estimates put the royalties higher.) That’s a pretty good holiday bonus.
Lee hasn’t bested Carey on the Billboard chart, which counts radio airplay, streams, and physical sales; her song hit No. 2 for the first time in 2019 and has reached that spot in each subsequent year. But it’s just as important to the hall of famer’s career. For years, she played it as the last song of every live show, no matter the season.
This year, there is something of a social media push to finally get the 78-year-old another No. 1, and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is currently sitting atop Spotify’s Top 50 in the U.S. Lee released a new holiday EP and the first ever music video for the song, which she recorded when she was just 13, earlier this month to aid the campaign. (She’s also been active on TikTok, if you want to hear about her career and some fun stories about Patsy Cline and the Beatles.)
“This song has been so special to me,” Lee said in a press release for the video. “I never thought it would be my signature song, but I love that it is because it brings so much joy.”
There are, of course, a few men who also enjoy the seasonal bump each year, including Bobby Helms with “Jingle Bell Rock,” Andy Williams with “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and the George Michael-led Wham! with “Last Christmas.” Still, Carey and Lee reign supreme.
Could it be Lee’s year to notch a holiday No. 1? She got close in 2022, according to data from Luminate. It’d be a fitting present for the song’s 65th year on the airwaves.
Alicia Adamczyk
alicia.adamczyk@fortune.com
@AliciaAdamczyk
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
– Cut, then paste. Paste Magazine announced it acquired Jezebel, the feminist media platform that was shut down earlier this month after previous parent company G/O Media failed to sell the platform. The platform’s new owner maintains that Jezebel will preserve editorial independence through the acquisition and continue to be an outlet for women’s issues and commentary. Josh Jackson, Paste Magazine’s founder and editor-in-chief, noted that the purchase “means that the critical information and content that Jezebel readers have come to rely on will live on.” New York Times
– Family affair. Rental car company Enterprise (now Enterprise Mobility) and its brands sit admired atop an industry plagued by customer dissatisfaction and financial volatility. In a new interview, CEO Chrissy Taylor, granddaughter of the company’s founder and daughter of the former CEO, told Fortune about her rise from intern to the top seat, the company’s holistic approach to employee training and customer satisfaction, and the possibility of handing the business off to her two daughters. Fortune
– Ringing endorsement. The campaign of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley got a huge boost Tuesday when the political group led by major donor Charles Koch endorsed her campaign. The backing could prove pivotal as Haley tussles with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for second place in the Republican primary and tries to catch frontrunner Donald Trump. Financial Times
– Or else. Hong Kong Judge Linda Chan is handing out stern ultimatums to bankrupt Chinese real-estate developers to recoup money for foreign creditors. Crowds of bankers file into Chan’s hearings to witness the matter-of-fact judge, a rare woman in the role, force companies to deliver restructuring plans or risk sales of their assets. Bloomberg
– Brazil breaks promises. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s decision not to appoint the first Black woman to Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday was met with anger from a community of Black women that was crucial to his 2022 election. The groups took out billboards in Times Square and New Delhi to echo their demands as the president traveled abroad, but many are convinced the president has abandoned his diversity promises. Bloomberg
ON MY RADAR
The year that couldn’t break Megan Thee Stallion The Cut
Can Dionne Warwick get an amen? Always Washington Post
Why Dolly Parton doesn’t text Vanity Fair
PARTING WORDS
“The truth is that so many of us underrepresented communities are still just fighting to be visible.”
—Actress America Ferrera on creating acting roles that validate the lived experience of women of color