For most of us Christmas wouldn't truly be Christmas until we heard Nat King Cole sing 'The Christmas Song'. It's one of the great classic of the Christmas season and has been around, well, it seems like forever (and for many of us it has!). I'm sure every Holiday season the song zooms back up the music chart and sits atop it proudly, like the star on top of your tree.

Except, that wasn't the case at all.

As it turns out, it took Nat more than a half century to have a Top 40 hit with that seasonal standard! Oh, and for the first time in more than 50 years, Brenda Lee returned to the Top 40 as well with her legendary 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree'.

(AP) - It took more than 50 years for Nat "King" Cole to have a top-40 hit with "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)."

Cole recorded four versions of the songs from 1946 to 1961, and it hit number 65 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1962. It never hit the top 40 until this week, when it checks in at number 38. The highest it ever got before this year was number 45 two years ago.

Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" is also a top-40 hit this year, for the first time since 1961.

The Associated Press Contributed To This Story

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