- Source
- Google search interest, US state level, default 5-year window (Oct 2021–Oct 2026).
- Queries
- 12 queries of 5 songs each, every one anchored on "all i want for christmas is you".
- Over-index
- = (song ÷ Mariah in the state) ÷ (song ÷ Mariah nationally).
Mariah Carey is the No. 1 Christmas search everywhere, so we looked past her. We took five years of Google search state data (2021–2026) for 47 holiday songs and measured how much each state over-indexes on each song compared with the national average. Each song's interest was measured relative to Mariah's in the same query. The map splits along cultural lines:
Key tables
Songs that win the most states (#1 over-index)
| Song | States won |
|---|---|
| Mary, Did You Know? | 9 (AL, AR, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA) |
| Dominick the Donkey | 6 (CT, IL, ME, NH, NJ, PA) |
| Nuttin' for Christmas | 6 (ID, MO, MT, NE, OH, WV) |
| Fairytale of New York | 5 incl. DC (DC, MA, NY, OR, VT) |
| Run Rudolph Run | 4 (AZ, IN, KY, OK) |
| It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year | 3 (CO, DE, KS) |
| Step Into Christmas | 3 (IA, MI, WI) |
| Mistletoe (Justin Bieber) | 2 (HI, UT) |
| Feliz Navidad | 2 (FL, TX) |
| Santa Tell Me (Ariana Grande) | 2 (CA, NM) |
| Little Drummer Boy | 2 (ND, SD) |
| Others (1 each) | AK Sleigh Ride · MD Snowman (Sia) · RI Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) · WA Let It Snow · NV Jingle Bell Rock · MN White Christmas · WY Blue Christmas |
Biggest over-indexes in the dataset
- Vermont: "Fairytale of New York", 3.05x the national rate
- Idaho: "Nuttin' for Christmas", 2.92x
- Maine: "Dominick the Donkey", 2.88x
- New Hampshire: "Dominick the Donkey", 2.6x
- DC: "Fairytale of New York", 2.57x
- Wyoming: "Blue Christmas", 2.52x
- Mississippi: "Mary, Did You Know?", 2.42x
- Utah: "Mistletoe", 2.4x
- New Mexico: "Santa Tell Me", 2.27x (with "Feliz Navidad" at 2.13x)
What it means
Holiday playlists recycle the same songs every year. The most-searched pick is rarely the most personal one, and a personalized song built around one person's name and story is the version nobody else has. If you have a hook of your own, an AI song generator can turn it into a full track with vocals in a few minutes.
Method
- Source: Google search interest, US state level, default 5-year window (Oct 2021–Oct 2026).
- Queries: 12 queries of 5 songs each, every one anchored on "all i want for christmas is you".
- Over-index = (song ÷ Mariah in the state) ÷ (song ÷ Mariah nationally).
- Filters:
- Excluded ambiguous titles: Silent Night, Jingle Bells, Winter Wonderland, Frosty, Christmas Tree Farm, Santa Baby, Deck the Halls.
- Excluded any state where the song's index was below 3.
Cite and download
Free to use and cite with a link back to this page.
aisong.lol Research. (2026). Each state's most over-searched Christmas song (map). aisong.lol. https://aisong.lol/research/each-states-most-over-searched-christmas-song-map
Use this data. Every table in this study as one spreadsheet-ready file.
↓ Download the data (CSV)
