Top-five-ranked stations in all-Christmas mode in the 20 non-embedded markets reporting on this first day of Nielsen’s December PPMs, covering Nov. 13-Dec.10, did not disappoint.

In fact, the numbers suggest more interest in the format this year, with share delivery up an average 21% since December 2024. Not surprisingly, all-Christmas stations in the top five of their markets saw an average 59% share lift from Nielsen’s November survey.

For these 20 markets, the holly-jolly leaderboard shows stations gone all-Christmas with 14 crowns, AC with 11, three each for news/talk and soft AC, and one each for all-news, classic hits and urban AC.

At iHeartMedia’s “Lite FM” WLTW, there was another reason for all those lights: the station’s 40th win in a row — with a 34% share boost from November’s survey, as it did its usual switch from AC to all-Christmas — not to mention up 2% from last December. As a result, “Lite” takes its widest lead this year, 3.4 share points, over Audacy all-news WINS-AM-FM. MediaCo urban AC WBLS, up a point from November, moves from 10th to a tie for third with iHeart CHR sister “Z100” WHTZ.

iHeartMedia AC KOST shows double-digit share growth both year-over-year and November-to-December, with the move to all-Christmas pushing its share up 35% and 72%, respectively. It’s KOST’s first win since May, when it tied with Audacy classic hits “K-Earth 101” KRTH, which racked up seven surveys on top until now.

The move to all holiday hits makes a strong soft AC even stronger, as iHeartMedia’s “93.9 Lite FM” WLIT wins its seventh of the past nine Nielsen surveys, up 92% from November and 17% from December 2024. “Lite” has a 6.5-share-point advantage over Hubbard Radio hot AC “101.9 The Mix” WTMX, which holds onto second. Down at No. 5, Cumulus Media classic hits WLS-FM gains nine-tenths of a point as it jumps from ninth to fifth.

iHeartMedia’s “Star 102.1” KDGE is back on top for the first time since last year’s Holiday survey, as the AC-gone-all-Christmas pushes Cumulus Media sports “The Ticket” KTCK-AM-FM down to second place. “Star” is also doing better than a year ago, up 21%, while seeing a 79% lift from November. Cumulus’ stations are lined up at 2-3-4, with both its country outlets ranked third and fourth.

iHeartMedia AC “Sunny 99.1” KODA is also doing better with its all-holiday-music flip than it did a year ago, up 48% from December 2024, while getting an 89% boost from November. That puts “Sunny” 8.6 share points ahead of Urban One urban AC “Majic 102.1” KMJQ. Audacy hot AC “Mix 96.5” KHMX makes a rare top-five showing, moving from a tie for eighth to fourth, while Hope Media Group contemporary Christian KSBJ is up from a tie for 10th to fifth as it also goes all-Christmas, although its share is off 20% from last December.

The news station battle continues right through the holidays, with news/talk pubcaster KQED grabbing a 12th straight victory over Audacy all-news KCBS-AM/KFRC-FM, up by just a share point. Santacaster Bonneville AC KOIT settles for third while its share does increase 49% from November, even though it slips 3% from last December’s survey.

Cox Media Group news/talk WSB-AM/WSBB-FM makes it four consecutive wins, 1.2 points up on classic hits sister “97.1 The River” WSRV, which moves from a tie for fifth to runner-up. CMG holds onto four of Atlanta’s top five with AC “B98.5” WSB-FM and urban AC “Kiss 104.1” WALR finishing third and fourth, respectively.

Hubbard Radio all-news WTOP notches a sixth straight survey at the top, staying 1.3 ahead of American University news/talk WAMU. iHeartMedia AC WASH is up from fifth to third, as its all-Christmas flip gives it a 78% lift from November and a 19% gain year-over-year.

Santa was back in the City of Brotherly Love, as Audacy AC-gone-all-Christmas “B101” WBEB vaulted from fifth to No. 1, up an impressive 102% from the November book and 30% vs. December 2024. It takes a 3.7-share-point lead over Beasley Media Group rocker WMMR, which claimed the top spot in November.

Audacy AC “Magic 106.7” WMJX moves back up to No. 1 with a sack filled with classic Christmas music, and with double-digit growth from November (+69%) and last December (+24%). It’s enough holiday magic to knock Beasley Media Group’s “98.5 The Sports Hub” WBZ-FM down to second place. Both sports stations are in the top five, as Audacy’s WEEI-FM moves into a tie for fifth.

It’s CMG soft AC “Easy 93.1” WFEZ’s turn at the top spot again, as it and urban AC sister “Hot 105” WHQT have been going back and forth at No. 1 since August. Two Spanish-language stations now reside in the top five, as iHeartMedia Spanish-language gold AC “Magic 93.9” WMIA-FM joins Univision Spanish AC “Amor 107.5” WAMR.

News/talk pubcaster KUOW-FM makes it 12 wins in a row, keeping a 0.3 edge over Hubbard AC “Warm 106.9” KRWM, up from ninth to second as it also rocks around the Christmas tree. “Warm” is actually hotter than it was a year ago, with share up 30%, while it gets a 126% lift Nov.-Dec. Crista Media contemporary Christian “Spirit 105.3” KCMS’s all faith-based Christmas music format keeps it fifth-ranked, up 75% year-over-year and 19% from November.

There are also double-digit share gains for iHeartMedia AC-turned-Santacaster “99.9 K-EZ” KESZ, up 14% vs. last December and 69% from the November survey. The station widens its lead over Hubbard classic rock KSLX from just 0.7 in November to a full eight share points.

iHeartMedia AC WNIC sticks at No. 1 as Santa comes to town, up from 0.6 to 4.4 share points ahead of Audacy sports “97.1 The Ticket” WXYT-FM. While WNIC’s share is up 53% Nov.-Dec., it’s off 7% vs. last December.

iHeartMedia classic hits-turned-all-Christmas “Kool 108” KQQL returns to the top for the first time since the 2024 Holiday survey – with a 96% share increase from November, and just a 1% lift year-over-year – unseating sports sister “K-FAN” KFXN after 11 straight wins. Contemporary Christian pubcaster KTIS-FM, also all-Christmas, is up 6% from December 2024 but down 17% from November.

Three of Tampa’s top five flipped to all-Christmas, led by CMG soft AC “105.5 The Dove” WDUV, up 34% from November while off 2% year-over-year. WDUV’s 1.5 share point ahead of the November champ, Radio Training Network contemporary Christian “The Joy FM” WCIE, with an all-Christmas format that sees a 54% lift from last December while down 2% from November. Fourth-ranked iHeartMedia AC “Mix 100.7” WMTX gets double-digit growth both ways, up 22% year-over-year and 28% Nov.-Dec.

It’s a 10th win for Bonneville AC KOSI, as it goes into all-Christmas-music mode, with a 17% share lift from last December and up 58% from November. KOSI’s five full share points up on Audacy classic rock “99.5 The Mountain” KQMT, which steps up from third to second.

Audacy AC KYXY makes the all-Christmas flip and jumps back to No. 1 for the first time since the Holiday 2024 book, with Santa-sized share growth either way: up 68% year-over-year and 95% from November. KYXY takes a 3.6-point lead over classic hits “Sunny 98.1” KXSN, which led for 11 straight surveys.

Meanwhile, Urban One urban AC “Magic 95.9” WWIN-FM had now been on top for 11 surveys in Baltimore, squeaking out a one-tenth-of-a-share-point win over Audacy AC “Today’s 101.9” WLIF, up from fifth as it also features all sounds of the season. WLIF also sees Santa-powered gains, up 17% from last December and 73% from November’s survey.

Audacy AC KEZK moves from fifth to up on the ratings housetop with its annual all-Christmas switch, with 39% and 105% boosts, year-over-year and Nov.-Dec. respectively. That keeps Hubbard rocker KSHE from getting a 12th straight win, as KEZK takes a 5.8-share-point lead. Gateway Creative contemporary Christian “99.1 Joy FM” KLJY, ranked fifth, also went all-Christmas, with year-over-year share up 2% while share from November fell 21%.