======================================================================
=            It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas             =
======================================================================

                             Introduction                             
======================================================================
"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" is a Christmas song
written in 1951 by Meredith Willson. The song was originally titled
"It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas". The song has been recorded by
many artists, but was a hit for Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters
with Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra on September 18, 1951, and
released on RCA Victor as 47-4314 (45 rpm) and 20-4314 (78 rpm). Bing
Crosby recorded a version on October 1, 1951, which was also widely
played.


 Background and writing 
========================
A popular belief in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, holds that Willson wrote
the song while staying in Yarmouth's Grand Hotel. The song refers to a
"tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well..."; the park being
Frost Park, directly across the road from the Grand Hotel, which still
operates in a newer building on the same site as the old hotel.
It also makes mention of the five and ten which was a store operating
in Yarmouth at the time.

It is also possible that the "Grand Hotel" Willson mentions in the
song was inspired by the Historic Park Inn Hotel in his hometown of
Mason City, Iowa. The Park Inn Hotel is the last remaining hotel in
the world designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and is situated in
downtown Mason City overlooking Central Park.


                          In popular culture                          
======================================================================
Meredith Willson incorporated the song into his 1963 Broadway musical
'Here's Love', where it is sung in counterpoint to the newly composed
song "Pine Cones and Holly Berries".

Johnny Mathis recorded the song for his 1986 album 'Christmas Eve with
Johnny Mathis'; this version gained popularity after its inclusion in
the film 'Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'. Gradually, Mathis's
recording began to receive wide radio airplay, and in later years this
version became a Top 10 Christmas hit.


                          Perry Como version                          
======================================================================
Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters with Mitchell Ayres & His
Orchestra released their cover of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like
Christmas" on September 18, 1951. Their edition became one of the most
successful versions of the song, which is still widely played today,
with over 382 million streams on Spotify as of May 1, 2024. The song
was used in the 2004 film 'The Polar Express'.


 Weekly charts 
===============
Chart (2008-2024)	 Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	32




France (SNEP)	124



Iceland (Tónlistinn)	7

Italy (FIMI)	93
Latvia (LAIPA)	20
Lithuania (AGATA)	37

Poland (Polish Streaming Top 100)	63


Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)	45



US Holiday 100 ('Billboard')	8
US 'Rolling Stone' Top 100	5

Chart (2011-2024)	 Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	3




Croatia ('Billboard')	14
Croatia (HRT)	18

Denmark (Tracklisten)	7

France (SNEP)	8


Greece International (IFPI)	6


Iceland (Tónlistinn)	12

Italy (FIMI)	3
Japan Hot Overseas ('Billboard Japan')	16
Latvia (LAIPA)	3
Lithuania (AGATA)	5
Luxembourg ('Billboard')	4


Norway (VG-lista)	2
Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100)	36
Poland (Polish Streaming Top 100)	10

Romania ('Billboard')	22

Singapore (RIAS)	9


South Africa (RISA)	23
South Korea (Circle)	128
Spain (PROMUSICAE)	27


United Arab Emirates (IFPI)	9




US Holiday 100 ('Billboard')	8
US 'Rolling Stone' Top 100	19
Vietnam (Vietnam Hot 100)	90


                        Michael Bublé version                         
======================================================================
Canadian singer Michael Bublé's version was first released on October
24, 2011, as the first track of Bublé's 'Christmas' album. However, it
was then released as the album's second single on November 18, 2012,
achieving greater success. In the UK, the song peaked at number 6 in
2022.


 Year-end charts 
=================
Chart (2020)	 Position
Hungary (Single Top 40)	100
Hungary (Stream Top 40)	71
Chart (2021)	 Position
Hungary (Single Top 40)	70
Hungary (Stream Top 40)	83
Chart (2022)	 Position
Global 200 ('Billboard')	199
Hungary (Single Top 40)	70
Hungary (Stream Top 40)	85
Chart (2023)	 Position
Hungary (Single Top 40)	50


                        Meghan Trainor version                        
======================================================================
In 2020, Meghan Trainor recorded a version of the song for her album
'A Very Trainor Christmas'. This version peaked at number 27 on the
Holiday Digital Songs chart.


 License 
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_Beginning_to_Look_a_Lot_Like_Christmas