By Alyssa Gehris, Photography Editor
With the end of Thanksgiving festivities comes the beginning peak of holiday music filling the speakers of local stores and radio stations.
As the first week of December approaches the Billboard Top 100 lists Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You” at number 26 for Most Played of the Week.
This top hit for Carey was released Nov. 1, 1994 and still continues with its popularity in the top hits every year.
With her release being at the beginning of November some would say that the start of Christmas music should be as soon as Halloween is over.
According to Billboard Top 100, Mariah Carey’s hit spent thirty weeks at the number one spot.
People online reports that around 50 million dollars in her career were earned just from this song alone.
Carey’s song is not the only hit that experiences this repeat of popularity on an annual basis, and as this time of year approaches, there are many things to debate with the popularity of the music.
“I love Christmas music, and the people who say you can’t start listening to it on Nov. 1 are wrong,” senior James Hoon said.
The problem that comes with Christmas music early in the season actually activates stress responses along with the shopping and preparation, according to psychologists of the Cleveland Clinic. The argument against the stress responses is that those with happy childhood memories of the holiday season actually find less stress with the tunes. The New York Post argues that millennials tend to be more in favor of early Christmas music, which some find quite surprising due to a majority of the top songs being released between 1944 and 1970.
“On one hand if you start listening too early it loses its magic but on the other hand Christmas music is so good and gets you into the spirit of love and family,” junior Rebecca Wagner said.
Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist, says that playing holiday music earlier than normal reminds shoppers to buy presents which is good for retailers, but can induce stress for the shoppers as they may feel they need to buy gifts and start preparing for the holiday season.
Junior Tess Hallman said “as someone who works in retail, Christmas music is only good for two weeks and then I can’t stand it.” As Susquehanna prepares for its final exam week, junior Audrey Reynolds expresses her dislike saying “it’s too jolly and cheerful and I don’t like the classical type.”
There are plenty of contradicting opinions on the holiday music time period, but in the end, it is up to interpretation, and the top hits are already experiencing its power as December approaches.
The columns of The Quill reflect the views of individual members of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire editorial board or of the university. The content of the Forum page is the responsibility of the editor in chief and the Forum editor.
