'Sleigh Ride' Takes Top Spot As Last Week's Most-Played Holiday Song

NEW YORK, NY (ASCAP/ Mediaguide) - Perhaps it was the snow, perhaps it's the dwindling number of shopping days left until Chrisas. Radio programmers this week, however, were enamored with "Sleigh Ride."

In the last seven days alone, "Sleigh Ride" aired on U.S. radio stations over 16,376 times - making it the most-played holiday song nationwide, according to radio airplay monitoring service Mediaguide, Inc.

Mediaguide was launched in 2002 by ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) to monitor radio broadcast music in real-time and facilitate the accurate distribution of royalty payments to music composers and publishers. Its proprietary technology and network of 2,500 radio stations currently tracks more stations and total airplay than any other monitoring service in the U.S.

Below is Mediaguide's list of the most-played holiday song titles nationwide over the past seven days (measured from Monday, Dec. 5, 2005, through Sunday Dec. 11, 2005):

1. "Sleigh Ride" - 16,376 times
2. "Winter Wonderland" - 14,378 times
3. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Chrisas" - 13,842 times
4. "The Chrisas Song" - 11,804 times
5. "White Chrisas" - 11,469 times
6. "Santa Clause Is Comin' to Town" - 11,084 times
7. "Jingle Bell Rock" - 10,835 times
8. "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - 10,194 times
9. "Rockin' Around the Chrisas Tree" - 9,430 times
10. "Silver Bells" - 9,050 times

* Note: The above list represents an aggregation of all different artist versions of each cited holiday song.
Reporters who would like to request a custom Mediaguide run of holiday song airplay on their region's radio stations can contact Kathleen Deegan (CooperKatz for Mediaguide) at 212-455-8062 or [email protected].