Tradition
Tradition
The 20 most-played Christmas songs (2000-2009 radio airplay) by decade of popular release [A bar chart labeled on the X-axis with the decades "1900s" through "2000s" labeled. Each bar has, as one unit, a labeled song. "1900s", "1910s", "1920s", "1980s", "1990s", and "2000s" are empty. "1930s" has "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". "1940s" has "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Winter Wonderland", "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire", "Let it Snow", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "I'll be Home for Christmas", and "White Christmas". "1950s" has "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "Jingle Bell Rock", "Blue Christmas", "Little Drummer Boy", "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", "Silver Bells", "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", "Sleigh Ride", and "Frosty the Snowman" "1960s" has "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" "1970s" has "Feliz Navidad"] Every year, American culture embarks on a massive project to carefully recreate the Christmases of Baby Boomers' childhoods.

This comic uses the source of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers to say that the 20 most played Christmas songs in the US between 2000 and 2009 were all released between the 1930s and 1970s. It conspicuously excludes a number of more modern songs that seem ubiquitous, but this is because those songs do not appear on the ASCAP list.
"Popular release" in this context means release to the general public, not the version of the song which is most popular.
The Baby Boomers were born in a period of time after the second World War after the troops came home and, thankful for their lives, went on to produce lots of children.
The data appears to come from an ASCAP survey conducted in 2009 .
The title text points out that many "traditions" actually have no historical precedent, they're just routines that have been spread by lots of people. The Baby Boomers, since they made up a huge fraction of the US population, were able to accidentally ground many "traditions" that their parents made up in American society just by consensus among themselves.
The 20 most-played Christmas songs (2000-2009 radio airplay) by decade of popular release [A bar chart labeled on the X-axis with the decades "1900s" through "2000s" labeled. Each bar has, as one unit, a labeled song. "1900s", "1910s", "1920s", "1980s", "1990s", and "2000s" are empty. "1930s" has "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". "1940s" has "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Winter Wonderland", "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire", "Let it Snow", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "I'll be Home for Christmas", and "White Christmas". "1950s" has "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "Jingle Bell Rock", "Blue Christmas", "Little Drummer Boy", "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", "Silver Bells", "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", "Sleigh Ride", and "Frosty the Snowman" "1960s" has "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" "1970s" has "Feliz Navidad"] Every year, American culture embarks on a massive project to carefully recreate the Christmases of Baby Boomers' childhoods.
