Holiday Pops started in 1973 and was first called "A Pops Christmas Party."
Arthur Fiedler was the first conductor to lead Holiday Pops.
Three different holiday narrations have been read at Holiday Pops: "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clarke Moore, selections from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss, and the letter from the editor of the New York Sun, Francis P. Church, popularly known as "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
Over fifty narrators have participated over the years in Holiday Pops.
Eleven different choirs and choruses have performed at Holiday Pops since 1973.
Sixteen different conductors have celebrated the season leading the Pops Orchestra.
Holiday Pops concerts on New Year's Eve started in 1974.
The first television taping of Holiday Pops was in 1985.
The first Holiday Pops performance of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, Conductor, was in 1973.
