ASCAP's Twelve Songs of Christmas Keep Sleigh Bells Jingling

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - December 13, 2007) - Twelve days left to Christmas may conjure for some people an image of a partridge in a pear tree. But, for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), today marks the release of the top 12 most played holiday songs of 2007, tracked by radio airplay monitoring service Mediaguide from over 2,600 radio stations nationwide. And, just in time for the blockbuster movie release, ASCAP has also tracked the very special holiday anthem attributed to chipmunks: "The Chipmunk Song: Christmas Don't Be Late."

The top 12 most-played holiday songs in the ASCAP repertoire so far this holiday season are:

    1. "Sleigh Ride" (Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish) -- played 133,264
    times
    2. "Winter Wonderland" (Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith) -- played
    126,638 times
    3. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin)
    -- played 99,687 times
    4. "Jingle Bell Rock" (Joseph Carleton Beal, James Roth Boothe) --
    played 96,162 times
    5. "White Christmas" (Irving Berlin) -- played 90,434 times
    6. "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (Edward Pola, George
    Wyle) -- played 90,030 times
    7. "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (Johnny Marks) -- played 82,308
    times
    8. "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (Johnny Marks) -- played 69,436 times
    9. "Silver Bells" (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston) -- played 68,665 times
    10. "Frosty the Snowman" (Steve Nelson, Walter E. Rollins) -- played
    68,252 times
    11. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" (Walter Kent, Kim Gannon, Buck Ram) --
    played 63,959 times
    12. "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" (Mel
    Tormé, Robert Wells) -- played 59,390 times

    Note: The above list represents an aggregation of all different artist
    versions of each cited holiday song.

Chipmunk Christmas Fever

In addition to the time-honored classics above, another quirky, but catchy song by The Chipmunks has been racking up spins, especially in anticipation of the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie opening this week. "The Chipmunk Song: Christmas Don't Be Late" has played 5,069 times so far this year. In the last week alone, "The Chipmunk Song" racked up 1,583 spins -- 300 more than the same week last year.

Although most people associate the song with the helium-like timbre of the chipmunk characters Alvin, Simon and Theodore, "The Chipmunk Song" was actually written and performed by ASCAP songwriter, pianist, actor, and record producer Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. During his professional life, he was better known by the stage name "David Seville," which he used on his recordings featuring The Chipmunks. He created and served as the voice for all three Chipmunks, and won two Grammy Awards for "The Chipmunk Song" (Best Comedy Performance and Best Recording for Children).

Members of the press who would like a custom week-to-week or local run of real-time 2007 holiday song airplay may contact Kathleen Reynolds (CooperKatz for Mediaguide) at 212-455-8062 or kreynolds@cooperkatz.com.

Mediaguide, co-owned by ASCAP, was launched in 2002 to monitor radio broadcast music in real-time and facilitate the accurate distribution of royalty payments to songwriters, composers and publishers. Its proprietary technology and network of over 2,600 radio stations currently tracks more stations and total airplay than any other monitoring service in the U.S.

About ASCAP

Established in 1914, ASCAP is the first and leading U.S. Performing Rights Organization representing the world's largest repertory totaling over 8.5 million copyrighted musical works of every style and genre from more than 300,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members. ASCAP has representation arrangements with over 90 music rights organizations such that the ASCAP repertory is represented in nearly every country around the world. ASCAP protects the rights of its members and foreign affiliates by licensing the public performances of their copyrighted works and distributing royalties based upon surveyed performances. ASCAP is the only American Performing Rights Organization owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com