Composers list top holiday songs

NEW YORK, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- "The Christmas Song" tops this year's list of the Top 25 most-performed holiday songs, compiled by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

The Robert Wells-Mel Tormé composition became a seasonal classic with Nat "King" Cole's 1946 recording, and has become a fixture on ASCAP's annual list.

The Donny Hathaway-Nadine McKinnor tune, "This Christmas," entered the Top 25 list this year for the first time. The song was first featured on the 1968 "Soulful Christmas" compilation album, and has since been recorded by such artists as Gladys Knight, the Temptations, Usher, Ashanti and Ruben Studdard.

Two songs on the list also made the American Film Institute's list of the 100 top movie songs -- Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (No. 5) and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," written by Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin (No. 2).

The rest of the top 10 songs on the list are: "Winter Wonderland," "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," "Little Drummer Boy" and "Jingle Bell Rock."