POP/ROCK - Dec. 25, 1987

What’s the best-selling pop song of all time? “Rock Around the Clock”? Close (that’s No. 2). But--a Christmas surprise!--No. 1 is Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” recordings of which have sold more than 170 million copies (in North America alone) to date--more than six times as many as “Rock Around the Clock.” Berlin, now 99, who has written more than 1,000 songs, wrote “White Christmas” for the 1942 movie “Holiday Inn,” which starred Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Crosby sang it in the movie and recorded it as a single. It has also sold 5,868,204 copies in sheet music form.

Due to the holiday season, there will be no Billboard magazine video or album charts this week or next.