Ariana Grande's "Santa Tell Me" hits the Hot 100's top 10 for the first time a decade after it was ... [+]
2024 has been a huge year for Ariana Grande, and a very busy time for the singer. She released a new solo album, starred in one of the biggest films of the year—which was also accompanied by a hugely “Popular” album as well—and she collected new Grammy nominations and a handful of smash hits. The year is almost through, but the superstar apparently isn’t done adding to what has already been a landmark run.
Grande collects a new top 10 hit on the Hot 100 this week. The musical icon adds to her growing list of wins on Billboard’s most competitive songs tally, not with a brand new tune, but with a track she released years ago, one which becomes more and more popular as time goes by—something that’s very strange in the pop world.
“Santa Tell Me” slides, not down the chimney, but into the Hot 100’s uppermost reaches for the first time. This week, the tune soars from No. 14 to No. 9, reaching a new peak and finally entering the top 10.
Grande collects her twenty-third top 10 smash as “Santa Tell Me” improves its standing. The cut needed 28 weeks—spread out across several years—to reach the region, but it’s actually much older than just the number of frames it’s now spent on the Hot 100.
“Santa Tell Me” was released in 2014, so it took a decade for the tune to become a proper smash on the Hot 100, the list of the most-consumed songs in the U.S. The cut was at first a standalone single, but it was later added to the tracklist of several of the singer’s holiday projects, including Christmas Kisses and Christmas & Chill.
As it climbs to the loftiest space on the Hot 100, “Santa Tell Me” also lands in a newly-established high on another Billboard tally. Grande’s cheery cut jumps from No. 11 to No. 6 on the Streaming Songs chart, which is a loftier position than the tune has ever approached before. Streams factor into where a title lands on the Hot 100, and it seems that plays on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and other popular options are largely responsible for the success of the single.
Grande’s name is all over the Billboard charts this week. In addition to “Santa Tell Me,” which is her biggest hit at the moment, several of the tunes she recorded for the movie Wicked are still holding on. In fact, two of them, “Popular” and “Defying Gravity” with Cynthia Erivo, both reach new peaks on the pop radio rankings.
