New Streaming Data Shows That Christmas Music Is Growing More Melancholic Each Year

Streaming data, recently presented by Digital Music News in partnership with Chartmetric, reveals a notable shift in holiday music, as contemporary artists increasingly embrace sadness and longing, driving a surge in playlists dedicated to melancholy Christmas moods across platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. While cheerful classics like Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' still dominate the charts, pop artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Sabrina Carpenter, and Ed Sheeran are fueling a growing body of bluer festive tracks.

The holiday genre has always held a bittersweet side; classics such as 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' and 'Blue Christmas' already evoke mellow sentiments. However, modern artists are making these feelings more explicit. Kacey Musgraves’ 2016 tear-jerker 'Christmas Makes Me Cry', for example, has seen a steady stream increase since late October, and its title serves as the tagline for Spotify’s popular ‘sad christmas’ playlist. This playlist is heavily dominated by releases from the 2020s and 2010s, tagged with moods like “lonely,” “heartbroken,” and “melancholic.”

Journalist and podcaster Alex Rawls notes that new Christmas songs are finding “far more personal ways of dealing with Christmas”, treating it less as an "elevated special moment" and more as an ordinary day on the calendar that people must deal with emotionally.

The Psychology Behind Anti-Party Playlists

The growing demand for less jolly holiday music can be seen as a reaction to the sheer ubiquity of cheerful Christmas culture. As Dr. Elizabeth Margulis, a professor at Princeton University, suggests, the "anti-festive" movement depends on the robust, shared tradition of festive music—people are working against that established baseline.

The desire for melancholy music around the holidays is also psychological. Research has shown that listeners often intentionally seek out sad music when they are feeling down. This process, according to analysis by University College London (UCL), helps listeners cope with "festive blues," loneliness, or stress. Margulis adds that sad music offers a sense of validation for what the listener is feeling, providing comfort in the idea that their experience is shared.

This emotional function explains why alternative festive playlists are thriving. Spotify's ‘sad christmas’ playlist has grown exponentially since 2021, and ‘Folksy Christmas’ has seen its follower count surge from a few thousand to over 127,000. These data points reflect the reality that the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) found: 64% of people report being affected by the holiday blues. While cheerful tracks still dominate the top-tier playlists, within the indie and alternative Christmas ecosystem, sad, moody music continues to provide a vital, relatable soundtrack.

7clouds And Christmas

For those who are into the festive mood year-round, whether jolly and relaxed, or thoughtful and melancholic, here at 7clouds you have the solution: 7clouds Christmas Music, a channel dedicated solely to Christmas music, with a new song uploaded every single day. From established classics from artists like Wham!, Michael Bublé and Céline Dion, to underground covers, and rising comtemporaru trailblazers, we're sure there's something for everyone in here. Pay 7clouds Christmas Music a visit and get in tune for the festivities to come.