Is Jason Kelce the New Queen of Christmas?

I want to preface the following with an important disclaimer: Everything I know about the Kelce brothers I have learned against my will. OK. Let’s proceed!

This week, an unthinkable feat was achieved by the elder Kelce: Jason Kelce has surpassed Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas,” claiming the top spot on the iTunes 100 Holiday chart. Now, if you’re anything like me, you’re likely thinking: with what exactly? Well, a duet cover of “Maybe This Christmas” with Stevie Nicks, of course! I mean, if there’s anyone who could relegate the Queen of Christmas to number 2, it’s the Gold Dust Woman. But a retired football player? As it turns out, Jason is quite the Christmas crooner himself.

“You know, I’ve fought my whole life to be the queen of Christmas and the fact that we’re finally there…it’s just really special,” Kelce jested to Taylor Swift’s boyfriend on their podcast, New Heights, this week. “Maybe This Christmas” was released earlier this month as part of his—are you ready for it—annual Christmas album, A Philly Special Christmas Album. You read that right.

Since 2022, Kelce (and a fleet of folks who care about Philly’s children) has released a holiday album with all proceeds going to local charities, including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center. Other notable collaborators include Boys II Men, who are also credited on the record, according to its website, and Mt. Joy who can be heard on an…interesting track titled, “Santa Drives an Astrovan.”

“Reindeers smoking cigarettes on rooftops in fishnets,” the song begins. OK! That’s enough. On Thursday, Kelce and the band performed the song before his former team, the Eagles, faced off against the Washington Commanders.

“I don’t know if this is the right thing to do,” Kelce said prior to the performance on New Heights. “The Eagles are about to play the most important game of the year, they’re playing the Washington Commanders, and me and Mt. Joy are gonna go in there before the game kicks off and perform a Christmas song.” Well, by the sights and sounds of this video, it was pretty damn well-received. And hey, the Eagles won.

Fortunately for the original Queen of Christmas, the album (out on November 22) is the final installment of a trilogy so, I guess that means there’ll be no more competition after this year. Unless, that is, Kelce learns how to hit a whistle register or teams up with a different international pop star…

Carey has yet to comment on being dethroned but if she’s ever asked to, I imagine she’ll respond like this.