(CelebrityAccess) — The classic holiday hit “Baby It’s Cold Outside” was the focus of controversy over its lyrics but that hasn’t hurt sales and streaming for the song, which have both seen a bump this year.
Billboard noted that multiple versions of the song have seen substantial upticks in consumption in recent weeks. Streaming for the 1959 Dean Martin rendition of the song was up by 54 percent to 8.2 million streams in the U.S. as of the week ending on Dec. 6.
Other covers by Michael Buble and Idina Menzel (2014) also saw a 54% improvement in streams this week, while Brett Eldredge and Meghan Trainor’s 2016 cover was up by 36%.
The song also returned to the airwaves in some markets where radio stations had pulled the song in the face of the controversy.
According to Fox News, San Francisco’s 96.5 KOIT added the song back into the rotation after receiving complaints from listeners.
“KOIT’s listeners have spoken, and the overwhelming message is they do want to hear ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ on our station, as they have throughout the years,” Program Director Brian Figula told KTVU in an email. “More than seven out of every 10 listeners who responded said although some lyrics of the song may reflect a different era and a different sensibility than today, still they love the tradition and history of the song, and want to hear it as part of their holiday season.”
Cleveland pop station WDOK had a similar experience, and after pulling the song in November, they responded to comments from listeners by bringing the tune back.
The song, which was originally written in by Frank Loesser in 1944 and won an Oscar for “Best Original Song” in the 1949 film “Neptune’s Daughter.”
However, in recent years, the song’s lyrics have become a point of controversy. In the song, which features a lyrical dialogue between a woman deciding it’s time to go home and a suitor attempting to convince her to stay, leading some listeners believed the song had not aged well in the era of positive consent.
