Blog: Holiday Music

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December 15, 2010

Holiday Music

Year after year, we are consistently blown away by the popularity of Holiday music on Pandora. This year we thought it would be fun to survey some of our users to get their perspective on Holiday music and we found that just as we suspected, they certainly do have a sense of humor!

Check out the questions and results, below. We are sure you will be feeling full of good cheer (and maybe even "Eggnoggy") by the time you're finished reading...

Happy Holidays and Happy Listening!

The Pandora Crew

Where do you most like hearing holiday music?

At home in front of a fire - 53%
In the car - 17%
In the mall - 14%
Outside, Christmas tree shopping - 12%
While shopping for gifts online - 4%

What holiday song are you most likely to sing along to?

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas - 39%
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - 25%
Silver Bells - 20%
Hells Bells by AC/DC - 11%
Frosty the Snowman - 5%

Overall, holiday music makes you feel:

Full of Good Cheer - 38%
Cozy - 24%
Merry - 17%
Eggnoggy - 14%
Jolly - 7%

What song is most likely to make you book tickets home for Christmas?

I'll Be Home for Christmas - 65%
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - 22%
Orinoco Flow (Enya) - 8%
Wonderful Christmastime - 5%

What song would you most like to hear while being kissed under Mistletoe?

All I Want for Christmas is You - 45%
Santa Baby - 35%
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - 11%
A Holly Jolly Christmas - 9%

What song would send you running out of the mall store the quickest?


All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth - 42%
Anything sung by a Chipmunk - 40%
Anything sung by a Muppet - 18%

Posted by Deb at December 15, 2010 9:02 AM

Comments

I have been listening to the Pandora Holiday stream at work and it really makes the day go by faster! I even finally signed up for Pandora One so that I can listen "Commercial Free."

Thanks Pandora

Posted by: SonDan at December 15, 2010 9:57 AM

Holiday music? To which holiday are you referring? You should refer to it by name.

Posted by: Dale Phillips at December 15, 2010 3:43 PM

I love the variety that the Christmas music station offers. The satellite radio stations get a bit predictable and stale, but not Pandora! Where else can you hear Frank Sinatra followed by the Muppets? Love it!!!!

Posted by: Elisa Stone at December 16, 2010 2:10 PM


All I want for Christmas is a version of Pandora on Android that doesn't ask for my contact and calendar data. Is that too much to ask for?

Posted by: Blah at December 17, 2010 6:41 PM

From the Wall Street Journal:


"Both the Android and iPhone versions of Pandora, a popular music app, sent age, gender, location and phone identifiers to various ad networks."


I've just cancelled by patricipation with this business.

Posted by: Michael McNulty at December 18, 2010 3:06 PM

I moved to Ukraine). So I can't use Pandora(.

Posted by: Eric Hernandez at December 18, 2010 3:48 PM

I had an idea, i couldn't find any other area to post this!

You all should come up with a "pandora Alarm clock" like.. I could set the time on the online pandora, and it would trigger my station to go off on full volume to wake me up!

Posted by: Stefan at December 18, 2010 10:04 PM

Its the best music ever

Posted by: Jerome at December 18, 2010 10:50 PM

Hi there -
Just figured out that Pandora isn't just an i-pod app, but that I can get it on my laptop as well - Yeehaw! What joy is mine.
Ya'll are right up there on my list of favorite things.
P.S. anything sung by a chipmunk makes me want to run too :-)
Merry Christmas Folks!!!

Posted by: Ann at December 19, 2010 10:56 AM

Pandora rocks like crazy. Thank u for some great tunes. Hit up my email if a parttime job comes to cleveland. Peace out!

Posted by: mike rodriguez at December 19, 2010 4:48 PM

hi wat up

Posted by: sarah at December 19, 2010 5:50 PM

hi tim
hurrah for you and your crew
i can return to the wild and wonderful daze
of the 60-70's all the memories coming back
fillmore auditorium be in's in the park
crushes on musicians
sadness over untimely deaths
dance around the house
i am 73 yrs young
thanks for all your work
tho i sense you like to play too
from out in the high desert
in southeast new mexico
happy hollydaze

Posted by: joyce eaglelight at December 20, 2010 8:12 AM

Thanks guys! Appreciate the theft!

http://lifehacker.com/5715188/these-apps-are-rampantly-stealing-your-info-without-permission

Posted by: bob o bob at December 20, 2010 9:19 AM

So when people come to listen to their holiday favorites is that when you take their personal information and sell it to the highest bidder?

Posted by: Ryan at December 20, 2010 6:35 PM

I experience your music for the very first time, and I truly enjoyed the music.

Posted by: Victor Ellis at December 20, 2010 7:22 PM

Thanks to Pandora for the large variety of Christmas music. I spent 20 minutes listening to another Internet Radio and quickly returned to Pandora where I'm able to see information validating my memory about a song. I'm also pleased to be able to fit the genre of Holiday music to my mood. Amazing!!

Posted by: Joan at December 20, 2010 11:42 PM

I think there should be a new song... "What's Oprah Giving Away for Christmas This Year"

I'd like some teeth please!

Posted by: Elizabeth Munroz at December 21, 2010 1:10 AM

great music, thanks.

Posted by: joe at December 21, 2010 1:38 AM

Christmas remains a problem for Pandora.
I brought this up last year and continue to be frustrated by this (although it is a little better this year):

I am having trouble creating Christmas music channels that distinguish between the classic standards and more modern songs.

I have one channel created based on Nat King Cole's Christmas Song and a second created based on Jingle Bell Rock. I thumb down new songs on the Nat channel and thumb down oldies on the rock channel but both continue to mix these types of songs.

Is this a flaw of the recommendation engine? What's the secret?

Posted by: James Staten at December 21, 2010 5:35 PM

Hi,

Really nice survey! I'm from Finland so few songs missing from the list but i agree with many of those especially Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is my favorite. Merry Christmas and happy new year to all of you!

Posted by: Hakukoneoptimointi at December 22, 2010 4:08 AM

Where can I submit Pandora mobile suggestions?

Posted by: Alex Kaufman at December 23, 2010 10:44 PM

I just rediscovered pandora because of the holiday music! Thank you very much and we will be listening all weekend.

Posted by: Miggs at December 24, 2010 5:36 AM

yay!

Posted by: april at December 24, 2010 4:09 PM

Tim, You probably see a comment like this all the time(hopefully) so I thought I would add to it! A friend of mine sent the web site to me after playing Pandora all night at his house for a holiday party and I loved it. The subject came up after I asked him who came up with the great mix of holiday songs and he said Pandora did it. With so many ideas never being realized in an economy like we have today I'm happy to say that yours is doing great by me. I will be sharing the site whenever the subject comes up.

Well Done!

Posted by: Steve Wright at December 27, 2010 3:15 PM

Why are you not playing what I asked for on my main channel? You keep adding all this horrible music that I hate, with hardly anything good anymore.

Posted by: LisaT at January 1, 2011 9:25 PM

Never mind on my last comment. All of a sudden you're playing great music. Sorry!

Posted by: LisaT at January 1, 2011 9:34 PM

Is there some way to disable holiday music on your personal station? Since September I have thumbs down'd every single holiday song, and yet still maybe 25% of the music I get on January 2nd is still Christmas music!?

I have gone to other music services (which all suck compared to pandora) because I just can't stand the horrible christmas music for (so far) 1/3 of of the year. 4 months is enough, please please have mercy on us and give us a way to turn off the christmas music!!!

Posted by: Peter at January 2, 2011 11:24 AM

Today I have discovered Pandora.com! Ta-duh! I have surely arrived, for you have taken down my year of birth and you are providing me with the prettiest of the music from those years even the 50's and 60's. You all certainly have an ear for "the" most beautiful music. I'm very happy at today's discovery, and I will tell others about it (in case they don't already know).--Don't forget to find Willa Mae Dorsey's gospel music as well as other greats like Mahalia Jackson and etc., etc. Us oldies are still out here, and we DO appreciate old southern gospel and etc., etc. gospel.--And thank you very, very much for your uniqueness and kindness. You are appreciated. I had been wishing for one of those Sirious radios, and this does the trick for us.

Blessings,

Shirley

Posted by: Shirley Brown at January 5, 2011 6:49 PM

I hate that continuous clicking the website makes from the advertisments or something. it is really annoying and if pandora wants people to pay for a subscription they have to get that in order. even when u like a song or dislike a song it sometimes delays and then makes 5 click sounds afterwards. other than that great music, but website maintenance is very important.

Posted by: Mike at January 8, 2011 1:11 PM

this is the second time i have downloaded Pandora . it works fine and has a great selection of music . BUT it keeps turning itself off after a couple of hours . i use it for relaxation and sleeping it is much more useful when it is on as opposed to it being off . Still love the channel selection its the best . keep up the good work someday i will get the full paid version if there is one and its not to expensive . thanks for the music.

Posted by: james anderson at January 10, 2011 5:50 PM

It is the greatest site for music. Just it is perfect. Thanks and keep it as it is now.

Posted by: IVAN M MOJICA at January 12, 2011 7:16 AM

Listening to Pandora gives you the ability to listen to more "underground" artists that I typically would not know. As such, both the artists and myself can grow.

Posted by: Justin at January 14, 2011 7:48 AM

Trying to set up a tribute station for female music artists only. How long is it gonna take for this station to realize I am only allowing female artists and stop playing every sappy, girly rock ballad, etc. ever written and sung?

Posted by: Lisa Ellis at January 14, 2011 10:45 PM

Thank you for a great service. I love Pandora - got my folks turned onto it too and they listen non stop. In fact I just got my parents the paid membership for Christmas. And it's a good thing I did - the first time they heard that "No strings attached" ad they would have signed off for life. Wow!! Could they scream "SEX" more often?? Could it be more inappropriate for the workplace, the car with my kids, home in the evening, or anywhere else I listen to Pandora?

Auslogics Disk Defrag

Posted by: mars at January 16, 2011 12:08 AM

Hey, Tim

I wanna congratulate you on your awesome site. I'm a South Texas American who went to Yale and appreciate that you have everything I listen to from classical to Tejano, Rock to Jazz.
Keep up the great work. Thanks for all you do!

Posted by: Alfred at January 19, 2011 6:32 AM

"Year after year, we are consistently blown away by the popularity of Holiday music on Pandora."

What a depressing sentence.

Posted by: George at January 24, 2011 12:29 PM

I would appreciate it if I could specify "No Live Tracks". Thx

Posted by: Paul Force at January 29, 2011 10:20 AM

It's February 1st...why are you still playing Christmas music??

Posted by: happyone at February 1, 2011 8:09 AM

i appreciate pandora because there is my favourite song it late good bye
Mortice Locks

Posted by: diazhaye079 at February 12, 2011 10:12 AM

Has Pandora ever considered expanding your business listening experience to include "Positive Mental Attitude" speakers such as Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, etc. for your business listeners?

Posted by: Owen K. Frank at February 16, 2011 10:52 AM

It's not april first yet...

Why am I getting christmas songs in my 'based on pink floyd' station? Why is giving each of them the thumbs down not a good enough indicator to the system that I don't want to listen to christmas songs.

Not only do I not want to listen to them during December, I don't want to listen to them during february.

Fix this first, Then you'll get my 33 bucks.

Posted by: Alan at February 23, 2011 1:56 AM

Never mind on my last comment. All of a sudden you're playing great music. Sorry!

Posted by: halı yıkama at March 4, 2011 1:50 PM

I have been listening to "All I want for Christmas is you" almost everyday. It was like I memorized the whole song already, eventhough it's not Christmas. Who would have thought it's gonna be on top of the most favorited songs here. Thanks for the music.

Posted by: film de mariage at March 5, 2011 6:00 AM

I love this program !..I was at a local eating place here in my home town in South Carolina and they always play the best oldies/Beach type music/songs..I asked what station it was and the waitress told me to go to pandora radio.com..I spent a good part of my morning choosing a few different settings..Good Music !!! Thank you

Posted by: RD at March 5, 2011 3:37 PM

I love this application and the opportunity to listen the music provided by Pandora. Love it!!! Good for the young entrepreneur who thought of this. I may be 66 years old but love the new technology. I am listening music in my I Pad. Keep it up!!!

Posted by: Olga at March 11, 2011 2:49 PM

Thank you Tim for your kind and great generosity. I am a happier person now. from Ana in Miami.

Posted by: Ana Cortes at March 11, 2011 11:46 PM

the site is slow loading up. also a little hard to navigate. shortcuts and links should be easier.

Posted by: Joan at March 12, 2011 5:12 PM

Hi Tim. Thanks for the letter after downloading Pandora for my Ipod Touch. Where was the letter when i downloaded for my Blackberry and my Droid 2? Are you related to Steve jobs :) Seriously, I love Pandora. No need to burn CDs and I can stop trying to sync my iTunes libraries(impossible). Thanks for a great service!

Posted by: alan at March 24, 2011 5:24 PM

I love Pandora One Radio so far. I have it for almost two years. But I do have a complaint. When I set my favorite station, let's say, easy listening and lie down to enjoy the music, the music drifts off to Christmas music until I press forward button. When I set to classic rock, the music drifts off to Michael Jackson. When I st to disco or dance music, the music drifts off to R&B. I have separate stations for all this music when I want to listen to it, but not when I set it on a specific station. And, the "Are you still listening" button is nerve wrecking. Of course, I'm still enjoying the music, or I would turn it off.

Posted by: Rich at March 26, 2011 6:25 AM

If we're talking about bad songs than JB. He suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks my library teacher made me listen 2 never say never i say 2 baby acorns acorns acorns ohhhhhh i always nibble on uuuuuu.

Posted by: bob at March 30, 2011 5:00 PM

Where can I find what the cost of Pandora
annual, monthly?

Posted by: joemerk at March 30, 2011 9:59 PM

pandora , this is the best , i was in jamaica and could not listen to pandora , had to listen to aol , better than nothing but does not compare to pandora great job , respect , david

Posted by: david loiselle at April 1, 2011 2:21 AM

I amazingly love my pandora! Anytime and anywhere I have music in my Ipod!!!!! Yahhhhhhhhooooo!

Posted by: Danica at April 5, 2011 11:03 AM

that sound so cool about enrique iglesia and justin bieber

Posted by: DANIEL at April 7, 2011 8:17 PM

Thank you all who are working so hard at the Pandora project! I love you guys so much! I never thought that I would be able to listen to the music I want at whatever time of day and place. I love not knowing what song will play next, that is what is 2nd most exciting about this. THANK YOU SOOO MUCH! I dont know what I would do without you awesome people!!!

Posted by: Denisa at May 1, 2011 7:17 PM

nusic has always kept me up when times are tough...just lost my mother in jan... and losing my best friend now to her poor choices...pandora you have never let me down...im out of work...orphan..ed at the age of 44...down to earth...straight shooter ..no-bullshit...old school..tell it like it is...not many of us still around....my way of saying thanks ..for just doing what you all do....i really thank you guys....keep up the good work....im faily financially sound ...but if you guys need a hand where ever it is you all are..what state i mean...hit me up...im good at supervising...lol.....and telling it like it is....haters beware...lol...8282891335...call.me...im always chillin doing nothing ...

Posted by: steven karambelas at May 1, 2011 7:26 PM

Hi Tim!
I absolutely love listening to the wonderful Pandora radio! Thanks for filling us in on all the details on the holiday music. I'd really like to hear: "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth". Its a wonderful holiday song. :)
Warm regards,
Jason

Posted by: Jason the six pack tips guy at May 5, 2011 1:18 AM

how do u post comments on other ppls profiles???????????

Posted by: kincaid1995 at May 5, 2011 7:13 AM

i love the songs i get to select on here

Posted by: barry38372 at May 5, 2011 6:59 PM

ive been having prolbrems with my account it keeps messing up and wont play music and i love pandora can u please fie it ty

Posted by: risa sanders at May 9, 2011 6:06 PM

Hi praise the lord, this pandora radio station is a blessing to me and others like who love the lord with all their heart, again I would like to commend you all who have their part in the pandora,may God continue to bless you all in Jesus name Amen.

Posted by: Patricia at May 11, 2011 10:05 PM

What is going on with Pandora? The last few times I have listened, there have been major delays in the music, never happened before. I love Pandora, don't go wrong on me!!!!

Posted by: Kim at May 13, 2011 7:02 PM

Love it and Thank You You made it right could not help it ozark mountian daredevils

Posted by: john thomas at May 13, 2011 9:10 PM

it's really great music. makes my day ! thanx.

Posted by: kevin at May 15, 2011 12:55 AM

Great information!

Posted by: Jose Alba at May 16, 2011 8:41 AM

This is a great idea, I love listening to Pandora, but you guys should add some more youtube-based artists (Charlie McDonnell, Eddplant, Ministry of Magic...)

Posted by: sarah at May 16, 2011 6:01 PM

i love pandora music but every time i click next it pops up a commercial it gets annoying. and also . "you have reached songs you can turn" um! if its the music i want i should be able to change it.


-thanks

Posted by: meagan at May 17, 2011 7:54 AM

PANDORA KICKS TOTAL BUTT. love everything about it.

Posted by: Maggie at May 18, 2011 6:14 PM

thanks! so much for pandora music. its wonderful to hear all te old songs again. i love it. thanks again!

Posted by: margaret at May 23, 2011 9:18 AM

Pandora got very gay, why do you have to pause so long between songs now? Why do you advertise? I am not using Pandora again because you guys went corperate on us. Internet Radio should be free from audio adds, PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Shawn at May 24, 2011 5:15 PM

I've just discovered Pandora and love it! I look forward to
listening and learning more of the service's available to me.
Thank you very much

Posted by: Bruce at May 25, 2011 10:43 AM

Pandora is so cool! I cant live a day without it!

Green Smoothies

Posted by: Venice Rose at May 26, 2011 6:03 PM

Pandora is so cool! I cant live a day without it!

Posted by: Green Smoothies at May 26, 2011 6:05 PM

yo i made a pandora account and now its my main music site no matter what i dont care if people dont like it because i love it because i can make ur own station for ur own music and once ur done u can just sit back and relaxe

Posted by: Eladio at June 1, 2011 10:41 AM

Why does Pandora eventually pause when I click away while I'm working on other windows??? This new feature is annoying!!! TAKE IT OFF PANDORA!!!

I understand the limited usage per month, thank you!!!

Posted by: Hector at June 2, 2011 2:21 PM

How come that advertisements are about 10 to 20 percent louder than the music

Just like TV

Posted by: Fred Ingram at June 3, 2011 2:11 PM

Really enjoy listening to your music,keeps me in the mood when i'm home alone.thanks for providing such quality music to us music lovers.great job

Posted by: marcia at June 3, 2011 4:25 PM

Listening to Pandora's smooth jazz has allowed me to complete an enormous amount of paperwork for my job. It calms me, reducing my stress, and blood pressure levels. Thanks!

Posted by: Lisa Johnson at June 6, 2011 10:20 PM

So far, Pandora was the easist thing to get running on my new SAMSUNG bluray player. Love the music.
Phil

Posted by: desertmilkman at June 7, 2011 4:30 PM

Pandora was cool but no longer plays relevant songs based on searches or artists based on searches, plus is now extremely ad supported, so why has the quality decreased????? So sad :(
Erik

Posted by: Erik Michael Wanberg at June 8, 2011 1:59 AM

Love Pandora. -Really!!!

Posted by: mike at June 8, 2011 7:13 AM

What is up with the Cover Bands I am so disappointed.I have been a listener for a few yeas and all of a sudden I here these Cheap cover versions of MY favorite Songs. Come on Panora you got to do Better that this your fans deserve better

Posted by: otto at June 10, 2011 9:15 AM

OMG, i love pandora, ever since i got it i have been on it everyday and i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 Q's though, how do you put a profile pic on here and how do you sign up for pandora one? i really dont care about pandora one but still how?

Posted by: Kristi at June 12, 2011 9:17 AM

Will you please send me an address to send the $36.00 as I have no credit card? We love your station and so do all our friends!

Posted by: Sally Welker at June 13, 2011 12:09 PM

i think every one needs to begreatful to lisen to music,have food and have pandora b/c these artist work very very hard

Posted by: kayla at June 13, 2011 12:52 PM

Get some more macklemore please.

Posted by: Ben Field at June 13, 2011 2:49 PM

I'm not a happy camper using Pandora, 1st I chose an artist & it took me 2 his Christmas music & I couldent get away from that type of music. Tried 2 change artise & it was imposable..........Plus as I signed out & retried 2 sign in, all of a sudden, a log in mismatch..........I'm done
R

Posted by: Richard at June 15, 2011 8:33 AM

why do u have ads? i don't like ads!

Posted by: Allan Fuller at June 15, 2011 10:13 AM

Turn the ad volume down......F'n stupid. Ruins the use of headphones. Already looking for something else.

Makes me dislike Pandora and your advertizers. Eat shiiit "Tom Shane"

Posted by: r at June 15, 2011 10:28 AM