Dan + Shay Bring a Little Country to the 2024 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony

The last few months seemed like a whirlwind for the duo of Dan + Shay. Not only did the country singers perform during the Thanksgiving Day parade but they also released a double Christmas album titled It’s Officially Christmas. Appearing to kick off the Christmas season, Dan + Shay showed no signs of slowing down for the holidays as they also performed during the 2024 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. 

Back in October, Dan + Shay decided to skip Halloween and Thanksgiving as they headed straight for Christmas with their latest album. And nothing is more Christmas than watching the Rockefeller Center light up the Norway spruce that stands over 70 feet tall. While the night featured performances by Kelly Clarkson, the historic Rockettes, and even Jennifer Hudson, fans couldn’t get enough of Dan + Shay performing “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.”

During their performance, social media lit up with compliments and praise for the duo that included, “I always love your songs Dan and Shay! I loveeeee you. You’re the best duo ever!” One person insisted, “Christmas isn’t Christmas without Dan and Shay. Love you guys! Merry Christmas!” 

[RELATED: “It’s Officially Christmas” Now That Dan + Shay Have Gifted Us With Their Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Performance]

Dan + Shay Reveal Their Favorite Christmas Songs

While gaining praise from fans, Dan + Shay offered their thoughts on the Christmas season and some of their favorite songs. Speaking with Country 103.7, Dan Smyers revealed his love for Mariah Carey. “My favorite Christmas song, I might scare a couple of people away because it’s not a traditional Christmas song…but it’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ by Mariah Carey.”

Wanting to add more to his reasoning behind loving the song, Dan continued, “That song is awesome, every time you put it on at a party and all your friends are drinking eggnog…’All I Want For Christmas Is You’…every guy does their best to get up and hit those high falsetto notes, and that song is just the jam. Every time, even if you play it in July, if you play it in September, that’s the best Christmas song I can remember, and it gets people fired up and in the spirit every single time you hear it.”

As for Shay, he pointed to a classic Christmas hit. “My favorite Christmas movie growing up, I didn’t have satellite or anything, we had a regular antenna. I don’t know if people remember antennas anymore, but you used to just have an antenna when we lived out in the country. We would always turn it on channel 5. I think it was CBS, and there’s always Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer playing, and it was a Claymation movie. We watched it every Christmas. There was like five movies, but that was my favorite, the one with Rudolph…it was great.”

(Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)