Criticism Falls Flat as Jimmy Fallon’s Christmas Album Brings Cheer and Has Massive Impact On His Spotify Monthly Listeners

Since he started hosting The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon has become something of a constant presence, for better and for worse. Love or hate him, you can’t really escape Jimmy Fallon – not even on the Universal Studios Tour.

This holiday season, he’s attracted even more attention – and not all of it positive. His decision to wear sunglasses at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade led some to speculate he showed up drunk, getting the rumor mill ready for the holidays.

On top of that, Fallon recently released a Christmas album that features some impressive star power, with big names like Ariana Grande, The Jonas Brothers, Meghan Trainor, and more. In fact, only a handful of songs from the studio album don’t have a featured famous somebody singing alongside the TV show host.

However, Jimmy Fallon’s TV holiday special featuring songs from the Holiday Seasoning album wasn’t very well received. Despite the presence of guests like Justin Timberlake and Dolly Parton, fans didn’t really appreciate how Fallon was present for every single song, leading many to say the special was a total flop. Apparently, if you bring massive stars on your TV show, people expect to see at least a couple of solos between cheesy skits.

The reception to the special was so bad, Jimmy Fallon took time during The Tonight Show to find and point out a few not-so-negative reviews. While it may be a bit, it’s clear that Fallon has been paying attention to how fans react to his bits… whether or not he takes the notes about what some consider to be childish humor.

While people were vocal about the TV special being a bust, the same can’t be said for the album itself. Surprisingly enough, Holiday Seasoning has taken the Spotify charts by storm, proving that even if no one wanted to see it live, Jimmy Fallon fans do still enjoy the songs. While some may consider them unfunny, others have Fallon topping their Spotify Wrapped lists this year.

In fact, it appears that the album’s release nearly doubled Fallon’s Spotify listeners – and that’s just one streaming platform. Songs from the album are taking over people’s holiday playlists, and this proves that despite recent criticism about Fallon’s relentless self promotion, some people are still interested in what he’s got to say—or in this case, sing. As one fan puts it “He definitely deserves a Grammy for this,” while another says they’ve been listening to his songs every day.

A few songs from the album look to be responsible for a good percentage of those new streams. Ariana Grande makes an appearance in the album’s most popular song, “It Was A… (Masked Christmas),” so it seems folks aren’t quite over hearing her voice in all those Wicked recaps. His duet with Meghan Trainor, “Wrap Me Up” is second on the list, whereas the Jonas Brothers and Justin Timberlake have a solid but less impressive showing.

With opinions about the comedian and TV host being so mixed, it’s likely we’ll continue to see Jimmy Fallon popping up in our social media feeds and beyond for years to come.