Today’s Big Story

The Sound of the Season

Christmas music is suddenly more popular than ever

Are you tired of Christmas music already? You could be streaming it, hearing it in stores or on the radio … around this time, it seems to be permeating any and everywhere. But more and more don’t seem to mind. Listeners are embracing Christmas music earlier than ever—and playing more of it. On Dec. 1, 2019, 14 holiday songs were in the top 50 on Spotify in the U.S. This Dec. 1? The tally was already at 30.

By last week, 20 of the top 25 tracks were Christmas-themed. The only non-holiday songs able to withstand the deluge are those inescapable juggernauts like Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” and “Golden” from the hit movie “KPop Demon Hunters.”

The Wall Street Journal spoke with Matt Bailey, founder of the music analytics company Hit Momentum, who suggested that during periods of stress, listeners are more likely to return to familiar comforts. “The traditions of the holiday season, especially the music, provide us an emotional anchor as we face rising costs, a shaky job market, political strife at home and war abroad,” Bailey said. He pointed out that Christmas streaming spiked early during the pandemic in 2020 as well.

The ubiquity of holiday songs also represents a rare monocultural music moment—even though listeners are spread across multiple streaming services and social-media platforms, many of them are mainlining the same tunes. For Talia Kraines, an editorial lead at Spotify whose purview includes North American Christmas playlists, holiday music serves to “make people feel part of a collective and make them feel good.”

The usual suspects led the holiday charge on this year’s chart. Of course, there’s Mariah Carey’s stampeding anthem “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Brenda Lee’s country-tinged confection “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” and Wham!’s wistful gem “Last Christmas.” What makes the ideal holiday tune? Berklee School of Music forensic musicologist Joe Bennett cold CBS News that Carey’s modern classic is remarkable because it hits most of the Christmas-themed tropes: "We get Christmas presents, and the tree, and Santa Claus, and the snow. That lyric is so well-loved as a holiday celebration song, 'cause it's literally got it all.”

Terrorist Attack Targets Jews in Sydney

Two gunmen opened fire at dozens of people celebrating at Austrailia’s iconic Bondi Beach

At least 15 people were killed on Sunday and dozens more were injured after two gunmen opened fire at a crowd celebrating the first day of the Hanukkah holiday on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. The gunmen were father and son, the police said, and the older man died during the attack. A bystander who was caught on camera tackling one of the armed attackers is among those currently hospitalized.

Australia’s domestic intelligence agency said one of the suspects was known to the agency, but hadn’t been considered an immediate threat. Police didn’t say what ideology motivated the men. But the attack was the country’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, with victims ranging in age from 10 to 87. Mass shootings have been exceptionally rare in Australia since semiautomatic weapons were banned in response to the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. But this could lead to even stricter gun laws.

Did you know that Australia has the highest number of Holocaust survivors per capita outside Israel? But for many Australian Jews, who had warned about increasing antisemitic incidents since the most recent Hamas-Israel war, the attack further eroded their sense of safety in a country that was previously viewed as a haven.

A Wild NFL Weekend

Patrick Mahomes tears ACL as Chiefs are eliminated

Did you watch some football this weekend? It was an eventful few days: Most notably, the current iteration of the Chiefs’ dynasty met its end Sunday with Patrick Mahomes writhing on the ground and holding his shredded left knee—an unthinkable scene at the end of an unthinkable season. After three consecutive Super Bowl appearances and seven straight AFC championship games, Kansas City is officially eliminated from the postseason.

But the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos both punched their tickets to the Super Bowl 60 tournament. Neither team has yet to win its division but both are in position to win their respective conference’s No. 1 seed. According to Bleacher Report, the Miami Dolphins are a long shot to make the postseason but their impact could be felt tonight if they can manage to upset the Pittsburgh Steelers. That would open the door for the Ravens to take the lead in the AFC North and battle back from an improbably bad start to the season.

And amid deadline-day blockbusters that moved Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner, the Jaguars’ trade for veteran wide receiver Jakobi Meyers was pretty much overlooked. Six weeks later, it may have made a larger impact on the 2025 season than any other in-season deal. Jacksonville was 5-3 when it shipped fourth- and sixth-round picks to the Las Vegas Raiders for Meyers. On Sunday, the Jaguars improved to 10-4 overall (and 5-1 since the trade) with a 48-21 victory over the New York Jets. The team now faces a stiff test next week against the Broncos in Denver but then finishes with the slumping Indianapolis Colts and abysmal Tennessee Titans. It would be an upset if the Jaguars don’t enter the playoffs as the AFC’s third seed.

‘Slop’ Is Officially 2025’s Word of the Year

An unappetizing symbol of a messy 12 months

There have been a few announcements already of words that encapsulate 2025, but it appears that “slop” is the top dog, so to speak. The word’s proliferation online, in part thanks to the widespread availability of generative artificial intelligence, landed it Merriam-Webster’s 2025 word of the year.

The Conversation points out that it’s also Macquarie Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2025. “Slop” also won the people’s choice vote. The Economist picked it as well. And why not? This year began with Arwa Mahdawi’s Guardian column in January, warning the internet is “rapidly being overtaken by AI slop”—and sharing bizarre examples found on Facebook, like AI-generated images of Jesus made out of shrimps.

“It’s such an illustrative word,” said Greg Barlow, Merriam-Webster’s president, in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press ahead of today’s announcement. “It’s part of a transformative technology, AI, and it’s something that people have found fascinating, annoying and a little bit ridiculous.”

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