Silent Night is the Holiday Song People Most Look Forward to Each Year

"Rudolph" and "It's a Wonderful Life" are Favorite Holiday Animated Special and Movie

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Dec 22, 2010, 05:48 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, boughs of holly and sleigh bells ringing: the holiday season is upon us and everyone has favorite aspects of the season they look forward to this time of year. Almost three in five Americans (58%) say the one thing they most look forward to with the holidays is spending time with family and friends. One in ten say it is holiday dinners and parties (9%) and fewer numbers say they most look forward to finding and giving presents (6%), putting up holiday decorations (5%), watching television specials, hearing holiday songs on the radio (5%) and getting presents (3%). One in ten U.S. adults (9%) say they do not look forward to the upcoming holidays.

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These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,151 adults surveyed online between November 8 and 15, 2010 by Harris Interactive®.

Dislikes of the holiday season

While one in five people who celebrate holidays say they like everything about the holiday season (18%), the holiday season also brings things that people dislike. Over one-quarter of those who celebrate the holidays say the one thing they dislike the most about the holidays is spending too much money (27%) while 24% say it is the holiday shopping crowds. Fewer than one in ten say the one thing they dislike is putting up and then taking down holiday decorations (8%), finding and giving presents (5%), eating and drinking too much (5%), television specials and holiday songs (4%), and spending time with family and friends (2%).

Holiday songs

While they may start playing them earlier and earlier, hearing holiday songs is one of the joys of this season. The holiday song that people most look forward to hearing this time of year is Silent Night, followed by White Christmas, Oh Holy Night, Jingle Bells and Little Drummer Boy. Rounding out the top ten holiday songs people look forward to are Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, The Christmas Song, I'll be Home for Christmas, Joy to the World and Jingle Bell Rock.

But one person's favorite holiday song may leave others wishing to not hear a holiday ever again. By the end of the holiday season, the top song people wish they would never hear again is Jingle Bells. This is followed by Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and then a tie between White Christmas and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. Rounding out the top ten holiday songs people wish they could never hear again by the end of the season are The Twelve Days of Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, a tie between We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Alvin and the Chipmunks and then Silent Night. It's interesting to note that five songs are on both top ten lists, including the number one song on both lists.

Holiday specials and movies

Holiday songs aren't the only things that pop up this time of year. There are also endless replays of old animated specials as well as holiday movies. And everyone has their favorite. Three holiday animated TV special are bunched near the top – 24% of Americans choose the flying reindeer with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as their favorite, 22% say it is all about the Whos in Whoville and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and 20% like the sad little Christmas tree and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Just under one in ten say Frosty the Snowman is their favorite animated special (9%) and 4% love the bickering of Heat Miser and Cold Miser in The Year Without a Santa Claus.

When it comes to holiday movies, almost one-quarter of Americans (23%) say watching Clarence the angel earn his wings in It's a Wonderful Life is their favorite and one in five (19%) enjoy the quest for a BB gun in A Christmas Story. Just under one in five Americans say believing in Santa with Miracle on 34th Street (17%) is their favorite while 13% enjoy the Griswold family Christmas in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and 8% enjoy watching Tim Allen transform in The Santa Clause.

So What?

The holidays are often a stressful time, but they are also a time to give people a chance to get together with friends and family. Often times a favorite song or show can prompt holiday memories from long ago. Or hearing one of these favorite songs can help ease some of the hectic seasonal scheduling so many Americans have to deal with this time of year.


TABLE 1 LOOKING FORWARD TO THE HOLIDAYS "Thinking of the upcoming holiday season, what is the one thing you most look forward to?" Base: All adults

	2007	2009	2010	Generation
	2007	2009	2010	Echo Boomers (18–33)	Gen X (34–45)	Baby Boomers (46–64)	Matures (65+)
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Spending time with family and friends	66	62	58	55	55	59	66
Holiday dinners and parties	9	8	9	9	11	9	6
Finding and giving presents	6	7	6	8	8	4	3
Putting up holiday decorations	n/a	3	5	5	8	4	6
Watching television specials and hearing holiday songs on the radio	4	4	5	5	6	4	6
Getting presents	1	2	3	8	2	1	-
I do not celebrate any upcoming holidays	2	2	2	1	*	2	2
I don't look forward to the upcoming holidays	9	8	9	5	6	14	10
Not sure/Other	3	4	3	4	4	3	1

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100 percent due to rounding Note: * = less than 0.5% and "-" indicates no response


TABLE 2 WHAT PEOPLE DISLIKE ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS "Still thinking of the upcoming holiday season, what is the one thing you dislike most about the holidays?" Base: Celebrate Holidays

	2009	2010	Generation
	2009	2010	Echo Boomers (18–33)	Gen X (34–45)	Baby Boomers (46–64)	Matures (65+)
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Spending too much money	27	27	28	31	29	18
The holiday shopping crowds	23	24	20	27	27	19
Putting up and then taking down holiday decorations	6	8	7	8	7	14
Finding and giving presents	4	5	4	5	6	7
Eating and drinking too much	4	5	8	3	4	3
Television specials and holiday songs	5	4	7	4	2	4
Spending time with family and friends	2	2	4	2	1	1
I like everything about the holiday season	21	18	14	14	18	29
Other	8	6	7	6	5	6

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100 percent due to rounding


TABLE 3 HOLIDAY SONG PEOPLE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING "While you may enjoy many, which one holiday song do you really look forward to hearing when the holiday season comes around each year?" Unprompted responses Base: All adults

	2007	2009	2010
Silent Night	1	1	1
White Christmas	2	2	2
Oh Holy Night	3	3	3
Jingle Bells	4	4	4
Little Drummer Boy	=6	5	5
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer	n/a	n/a	6
The Christmas Song	5	6	7
I'll Be Home for Christmas	8	9	8
Joy to the World	=10	7	9
Jingle Bell Rock	n/a	n/a	10

"=" indicates a tie; n/a indicates not on list that year Dropped off the list from 2009 – Silver Bells (was no. 8) and Carol of the Bells (was no. 10)


TABLE 4 HOLIDAY SONG THAT SHOULD GO AWAY "By the end of the holiday season, which one holiday song do you wish you could never hear again?" Unprompted responses Base: All adults

	2007	2009	2010
Jingle Bells	1	1	1
Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer	2	2	2
Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer	3	3	3
White Christmas	4	4	=4
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus	7	n/a	=4
The Twelve Days of Christmas	6	6	6
Jingle Bell Rock	5	7	7
We Wish You a Merry Christmas	=9	n/a	=8
Alvin & The Chipmunks	n/a	10	=8
Silent Night	=9	8	10

"=" indicates a tie; n/a indicates not on list that year Dropped off the list from 2009 – Little Drummer Boy (was no. 5) and Here Comes Santa Claus (was no. 9)


TABLE 5 FAVORITE ANIMATED HOLIDAY TV SPECIAL "Which of these is your favorite holiday animated TV special?" Base: All Adults

	2006	2009	2010	Generation
	2006	2009	2010	Echo Boomers (18-33)	Gen X (34-45)	Baby Boomers (46-64)	Matures (65+)
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	26	23	24	18	35	28	15
How the Grinch Stole Christmas	21	22	22	30	20	21	13
A Charlie Brown Christmas	24	20	20	20	18	23	16
Frosty the Snowman	8	10	9	7	7	8	15
The Year Without a Santa Claus	3	4	4	5	6	2	1
None of these	19	22	22	21	13	18	41

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.


Table 6 Favorite Holiday MOVIE "Which of these is your favorite holiday movie?" Base: All Adults

	2006	2009	2010	Generation
	2006	2009	2010	Echo Boomers (18–33)	Gen X (34–45)	Baby Boomers (46–64)	Matures (65+)
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
It's a Wonderful Life	21	21	23	14	20	30	30
A Christmas Story	20	21	19	23	26	15	14
Miracle on 34th Street	23	17	17	9	10	23	26
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation	12	13	13	19	20	9	6
The Santa Clause	11	9	8	14	8	6	1
None of these	13	20	19	21	17	17	23

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States November 8 and 15, 2010 among 2,151 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

J39117

Q980, 985, 990, 993, 995, 997

The Harris Poll® #153, December 16, 2010

By Regina A. Corso, SVP, Harris Poll, Public Relations and Youth Research, Harris Interactive

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.