Forget Gorillaz, The Archies, or any other act that's crossed over from the cartoon world to the charts. The first, most prolific, and certainly the squeakiest two-dimensional hitmakers remain Alvin and the Chipmunks.
The cutesy critters have released a remarkable 38 studio albums since creator Ross Bagdasarian realized that manipulating a tape recorder to play at various speeds can produce novelty music magic. More than a dozen have made the Billboard 200, four of which went top 10.
While Alvin, Simon, and Theodore are now more renowned for giving the pop hits of the day the helium-like treatment, their crowning glory is, in fact, an original composition, and one which celebrates its 65th anniversary this December: "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)."
From GRAMMY wins and chart records to Hollywood soundtracks and contemporary cover versions, here's a look why "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" remains one of the most beloved festive singalongs.
It Spawned The Entire Chipmunks Franchise
Following the chart-topping success of his 1958 novelty hit "Witch Doctor" — which featured the then-uncredited Chipmunks on its memorable "ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah" hook — Bagdasarian was asked by Liberty Records for a follow-up. Instead of continuing to use the rather mundane pseudonym of David Seville, the songwriter decided that not one but three cartoon chipmunks should take the credit.
Mischievously named after label execs Al Bennett, Si Waronker, and Ted Keep, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were first depicted on the artwork for "The Chipmunk Song." And within three years, they were gracing their own comic book, animated TV series and numerous full-length LPs.
The lovable rodents experienced a resurgence in popularity thanks to NBC's 1980s revival, and then again in the 2000s with the series of live-action movies. And their holiday tune has never been too far from their chubby cheeks.
It's A Multiple GRAMMY Winner
When guessing which act dominated the inaugural GRAMMYs of 1958, you'd probably plump for Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, or any number of swing, jazz, and blues legends that emerged during the post-war era. But you'd be wrong: the biggest winners on the night were three squeaky-voiced members of the Sciuridae family.
Yes, "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" picked up three awards — Best Recording for Children, Best Comedy Performance, and Best Engineered Record, Non-Classical — at the prestigious event. And Alvin and the Chipmunks also joined Ol' Blue Eyes in the Record Of The Year category, although both lost out to Dominico Modugno's Eurovision entry "Volare."
It Held A Chart Record For 61 Years
"The Chipmunk Song" became the first-ever Christmas tune to top the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, enjoying a four-week stint there across the 1958 holiday season. Remarkably, everything from Wham's "Last Christmas" and the Ronettes' "Sleigh Ride" to Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" and Andy Williams' "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" failed to repeat this feat over the next 61 years.
It was only when Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" finally hit the No. 1 spot in 2019, a full quarter-century after its release, that The Chipmunks got some company in this exclusive club. Carey has, of course, since made a habit of reaching pole position every Christmas, meaning she's surpassed the rodents' total by eight weeks (and counting). And 65 years after, Brenda Lee released her own holiday classic, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" has now broken all kinds of chart records to join the list, too.
It's Had A Remarkable Shelf Life
"The Chipmunk Song" could never be described as a passing fad. It returned to the Hot 100 throughout the early 1960s before becoming a staple of Billboard's Christmas Records chart (which has since become the Holiday 100, where the song peaked at No. 26 in 2015). And in December 2007, it enjoyed a revival thanks to the box office success of Alvin and the Chipmunks' first live-action adventure. Indeed, a new remix produced specially for the movie entered the Hot 100 (though it only peaked at No. 66).
It's A Hollywood Favorite
Along with chart success and its inevitable inclusion in Alvin and the Chipmunks' 2007 big-screen debut, "The Chipmunk Song" has received several onscreen shouts in both movies and television.
The holiday hit has appeared in films as diverse as, 1993 family comedy Look Who's Talking, 1997 gangster thriller Donnie Brasco, and 2017 high-octane actioner The Fate of the Furious, but was perhaps most memorably used in the sun-kissed opening credits of Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical Almost Famous. It's also regularly graced the small screen including a 1998 festive "The King of Queens" episode which centered around leading man Doug's love of the song, and his father-in-law's pure hatred of it.
It Was A Sales Juggernaut
The teenage audience on American Bandstand might not have been a fan — "The Chipmunk Song" holds the unfortunate distinction of being the lowest-scored track in Rate-A-Record history — yet it seems like the rest of America couldn't get their hands on a copy quick enough. The novelty hit sold an astonishing 4.5 million copies in its first seven weeks, which remained a record until The Beatles' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" sold five million within the same time frame six years later.
It's also done big numbers in the digital age, amassing more than 665,000 paid downloads and over 112 million U.S. streams to date. In fact, according to Billboard, the two-minute ditty accumulates $300,000 every year for its publisher. It therefore sits comfortably inside the Top 20 best-selling Christmas songs of all time, but has some way to go to surpass the reported 50 million physical sales and more than 1.8 billion streams achieved by Bing Crosby's "White Christmas."
It Boasts An Impressive Musical Pedigree
Hailed as the vocal answer to session musician collective The Wrecking Crew, The Ron Hicklin Singers provided backup for artists as esteemed as Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Cash, and Frank Sinatra. But did you know their frontman also lent his tones, albeit in unrecognizable form, to a trio of fictional chipmunks?
Yes, although he wasn't credited on "Christmas Don't Be Late," Hicklin and several other "ghost singers" worked painstakingly on the track, as he later told The Hollywood Reporter: "We'd sing in slow motion for everything. It was one of the hardest things we had to do. What was a four-bar phrase for The Beatles became an eight-bar phrase. You'd run out of breath. The sheer work of doing it was remarkable."
It Even Impressed The Beatles
In 1964, The Chipmunks capitalized on the rise of Beatlemania with a tribute album covering the likes of "Love Me Do," "Please Please Me," and "I Want To Hold Your Hand." You might think the Fab Four would take umbrage at hearing their perfectly crafted pop songs performed by a bunch of high-pitched cartoon rodents — but actually, The Chipmunks Sings The Beatles Hits had the full blessing of Liverpool's finest. According to Ross Bagdasarian Jr., John Lennon and co. were so impressed by his father's GRAMMY-winning engineering on "The Chipmunk Song" they gave him the freedom to do what he liked with their early hits.
It Saved Liberty Records
In a roundabout way, the likes of Bobby Vee, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, and Willie Nelson all have "The Chipmunk Song" to thank for their early careers. Indeed, even with the success of "Witch Doctor," Liberty Records was in danger of going bankrupt as 1958 drew to a close.
However, thanks to the multi-million sales of "Christmas Don't Be Late," the company was given a financial reprieve. They went on to give several chart-topping acts their big break and remained a thriving label until they were bought out by United Artists in 1971. And all this from a song that Liberty boss Al Bennett reportedly initially turned down!
It's Now A Festive Standard
Smooth saxophonist Kenny G and Latin pop vocalist Jaci Valesquez have both added their own touches to "Christmas Don't Be Late" on duets with the high-pitched trio. But the track has also been covered by artists without any specific chipmunk affiliation.
Norah Jones served up a typically classy jazz rendition on her 2021 LP I Dream of Christmas. Bryson Tiller and Pentatonix gave it a vocal workout on the former's A Different Christmas album that same year, while on 2016's A Very Kacey Christmas, Kacey Musgraves turned the novelty tune into a charming country waltz. Tegan and Sara, Goo Goo Dolls, and Tamar Braxton are just a handful of other contemporary artists who have put their spin on "The Chipmunk Song" — a further testament to its acclaim as one of the all-time Christmas classics.
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