NATIONWIDE RESEARCH AT A GLANCE
It’s been a year. So, we thought it would be fun to celebrate a very long 2020 with a fun Finney’s Fast Five for Christmas. Here are your listeners’ Top Five Christmas movies. As a reminder, we survey across the United States in representative sample music testing.
Rank – Title
1st – Elf
2nd (tie) – Miracle on 34th Street
2nd (tie) – Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
4th (tie) – How the Grinch Stole Christmas
4th (tie) – It’s a Wonderful Life
Buddy the Elf has been steadily moving up the past few times we’ve done our survey and he finally claims the top spot!
Three themes jump out at us as we look at the Top Five Movies:
- Buddy in Elf. The little girl Susan and Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34thStreet. All the characters in Rudolph. The Whos in The Grinch. So much Christmas lovable innocence.
- Tradition/Familiarity.These are movies your listeners want to see again and again. Kind of like how they want to hear their most popular CCM songs. And, there are familiar, quotable lines. The most recent release in the top five is 17 years old. Elf came out in 2003 and took 17 years to climb its ways to our top spot.
- Each of our top five has love as a strong theme. Buddy helping teach a cynical New York to love. Kris Kringle melting a broken mom’s heart with his love on 34thStreet. George Bailey discovering that he was in fact the richest man in town because of all his loving friends. The Grinch? Well in Whoville they say that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day. And, then the true meaning of Christmas came through and the Grinch found the strength of ten Grinches plus two!
Thought you might like to see the next five movies too. Check out no. 8 – not just one movie!
6th (tie) – A Christmas Story
6th (tie) – Home Alone
8th – Hallmark Christmas Movies
9th (tie) – Frosty the Snowman
9th (tie) – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Wishing you a blessed Christmas season. Bet you’ll watch a few of these movies, too.
Chuck Finney’s had radio playing in his head since he was just a boy. Over the course of his career, he’s worked in programming, radio research, and audience connection. Chuck’s passion for words and communication is widely recognized and he’s won several industry awards.
If you ask Chuck how he’s doing, he’ll either say “Blessed, thank you,” or “I really get to do this for a living?!” He’s the President of Finney Media, a speaker and author who loves telling stories and helping you do the same. Chuck is married and has two adult daughters. He lives with his wife, Lynda, in the Dallas area. For more information, read about Chuck at finneymedia.com.
