christmas songs on the hot 100

People tend to forget that Billboard, at that time, was a
newspaper for the Record and Radio industries. It was not
targeted for the consumer (note the out-of-whack
subscription price & lack of availability on most
magazine racks).

Most likely the reason why the Eagles hit the Hot 100 was
the Eagles' management (possibly Irving Azoff) wanted it
to be treated as a "regular" release (it came out right
in between the 'Hotel California' and 'The Long Run'
eras).

Influential people in the industries could conceivably
contact Billboard in advance of the record's release and
discuss the action plan.

Oftentimes great Christmas singles such as "Step Into
Christmas" were issued when there were contemporaneous
"regular" singles being worked and albums active in the
marketplace.

Andy

Hykker wrote: Both of you make good points. It never occurred to me that the Eagles' management could have somehow convinced BB to treat their Christmas song differently. I'm a bit surprised that John Lennon's management didn't think of that in 1971, especially given that in the early 70s a solo release by a Beatle was a big event.

Well, the 'Imagine' LP was then-currently top 10 on the
Billboard LP chart and maybe they were thinking of
pulling a second 45 off of it (which I don't think
ultimately happened). Conjecture on my part.

And between 1963 and 1972 Billboard published their
special Christmas chart, apparently not allowing
Christmas-themed singles to chart on the Hot 100.

Andy

Paul Haney wrote: IMO, there were no "shenanigans" with the Eagles single in 1978. It was a legit Top 40 hit across all 3 major trades at the time. It was a combo of a popular band with a solid performance of a classic tune. I heard it and the flip side ("Funky New Year") plenty on the radio at the time.

Yes, no dispute it was a very legitimate hit at that
time; I heard it on Pop, AC and Rock (album) formats in
regular rotation that season. And it always received
seasonal airplay every year thereafter!

Andy