Jingle Bell Rock
"Jingle Bell Rock" is an American Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. It, alongside various cover versions, have received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas season since then, and is generally considered Helms's signature song. "Jingle Bell Rock" was composed by Joseph Carleton Beal and James Ross Boothe, although both Helms and session guitarist on the song Hank Garland disputed this. Beal was a Massachusetts-born public relations professional and longtime resident of South Ocean Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Boothe was an American writer in the advertising business.
Helms recordings
"Jingle Bell Rock" has been performed by many, but Helms's first version from 1957 produced by Paul Cohen is arguably the best known. The song's title and some of its lyrics are an extension of the old Christmas standard, "Jingle Bells". It makes brief references to other popular songs of the 1950s, such as "Rock Around the Clock", and mentions going to a "Jingle hop"; otherwise it is a fairly basic swingin' pop Christmas melody. After a brief introduction, Hank Garland supplies electric lead guitar chord flourishes mainly during the fills on the recording. Backup singers were the Anita Kerr Singers.Helms's original version, on Decca 9-30513 from October 1957, was re-recorded by him on Kapp K-719 in 1965, and yet again in 1967 on Little Darlin' LD-0038. In 1970, Helms recorded an entire album titled Jingle Bell Rock on Certron C-7013, releasing the title track on Certron C-10021, with a picture sleeve. In yet another re-recording, Helms released a version on Ashley AS-4200. He again recorded the song for Gusto Records, it was subsequently released on their "Power Pak" label. In 1983, Helms released his last recording of "Jingle Bell Rock" on Black Rose 82713.
D-TV set this version to the Disney shorts, Once Upon a Wintertime from Melody Time and On Ice.
Personnel
- Bobby Helms – vocals, guitar
- Henry Ade – steel guitar
- Hank Garland – guitar
- Anita Kerr Singers – backing vocals
Brenda Lee recording
Cover versions
covered the song in 2022 for her Netflix film Falling for Christmas as a nod to her performance of the track in 2004's teen comedy Mean Girls.The Vivienne and Tia Kofi covered the song in 2021.
Authorship controversy
Helms, as well as session guitarist on the song Hank Garland, both claimed until their deaths, that it was they, not Beal and Boothe, who wrote the song. They claimed that the original song by Beal and Boothe was called Jingle Bell Hop, and that it was given to Helms by a Decca executive to record. According to Helms and Garland, that song had little to no resemblance to the current one. Helms did not like it and, as a result, they both proceeded to work on it, changing the music, lyrics and tempo, and also giving it a previously missing bridge. The new song, they claimed, was the one that is known today. However, neither of them received writing credit or subsequent writing royalties.Billy Garland, brother of Hank Garland, maintains his deceased brother's story, and has long been involved with and vocal about the issue.
Chart and sales performance
The original version of Helms charted at No. 13 on Billboards Most Played C&W by Jockeys chart, a predecessor to the Hot Country Songs chart. It also crossed to the pop charts, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart, and at No. 11 on Cashbox magazine's Top 60 on the week ending January 11, 1958.After the song was featured on the soundtrack album to the 1996 film Jingle All the Way, the original Bobby Helms version returned to the Billboard country singles charts in late 1996 and early 1997, reaching a peak of No. 60.
The Helms version entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the week ending January 9, 2016, which was the song's first entry on the chart since its last appearance on the week ending December 29, 1962. On the week ending January 7, 2017, "Jingle Bell Rock" hit at number 29. In January 2019, the song entered the Hot 100's top 10 for the first time reaching No. 8. With this feat, Helms broke the record for the longest wait to the Hot 100's top 10 as he achieved this in 60 years, four months, and two weeks after his first entry back in 1958. Helms's recording reached No. 3 on the chart dated January 4, 2020. It reached a new peak of No. 2 on the chart dated December 27, 2025.
| Year | Chart debut/re-entry date | Peak chart position | Ref. |
| 1958 | December 22 | 35 | |
| 1960 | December 12 | 36 | |
| 1961 | December 11 | 41 | |
| 1962 | December 8 | 56 | |
| 2016 | January 9 | 47 | |
| 2016 | December 24 | 29 | |
| 2018 | January 3 | 50 | |
| 2018 | December 8 | 8 | |
| 2019 | December 7 | 3 | |
| 2020 | December 5 | 3 | |
| 2021 | December 4 | 3 | |
| 2022 | November 26 | 3 | |
| 2023 | November 25 | 3 | |
| 2024 | December 7 | 3 | |
| 2025 | November 22 | 2 |
According to Nielsen SoundScan, the digital track of Helms's original Decca recording was ninth on the list of all-time List of popular Christmas singles in [the United States|best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles] in SoundScan history in 2016 with 780,000 downloads. As of December 2019, it has sold 891,000 copies in the United States. Recently, the track was performed by artists like Brenda Lee and Ariana Grande.
Bobby Helms
Weekly charts
Monthly charts
Year-end charts
| Chart | Position |
| Global 200 singles of 2021|Global 200] | 182 |
| Hungary | 91 |
| Chart | Position |
| Canada | 89 |
| Global 200 | 165 |
| Hungary | 53 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 68 |
| Chart | Position |
| Canada | 98 |
| Global 200 | 149 |
| Switzerland | 99 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 81 |