On Monday, KOIT said in astatement,“After hearing from thousands of Bay Area listeners via polling, phone calls, emails and social media, KOIT concluded that the vast majority consider the song to be a valuable part of their holiday tradition, and they still want to hear it on the radio.”

When the station had heard from some listeners who were concerned about the song’s lyrics, KOIT’s program director Brian Figula decided to place it on hold last week while seeking further listener feedback.

According to CBS News, Figula said the vote was not close and that KOIT found 77 percent of listeners were opposed to banning the song.

He added: “At KOIT, we always listen carefully when our listeners take time to comment. In this case, it was very obvious what they wanted us to do.”

Over the last several years, and particularly in the era of the #MeToo movement, many have called the song “date-rapey” in reference to the lyrics “Say, what’s in this drink?” The song details a back-and-forth, traditionally between a man and a woman, where the man tries to convince a woman to stay the night despite her continued protests, saying, “The answer is no.”

Radio stations inClevelandand Denver have banned the song for the holiday season. In Canada, CBC Radio announced last week that it would join two other broadcasters in the country — Rogers Media and Bell Media — in keeping the song off their holiday playlists.

Despite the bans, several versions of the song surged in sales and streaming and continued to draw airplay on the radio in the latest tracking week, according to Nielsen Music.

Dean Martin’sversion, which was recorded in 1959, soared to its highest rank on the list in over seven years (after leading the list for a week in October 2011) and reached 7,000 sold in the week ending on Dec. 6.

Martin’s daughter, Deana, recentlyspoke out about the controversysurrounding the hit and called it “outrageous.”

“I know my dad would be going insane right now,” Martin said during an appearance onFox & Friendson Monday. “He would say, ‘What’s the matter with you? Get over it. It’s just a fun song.’ Because he was so sweet. He would never see anything bad in that. He was a great guy, fun guy, nice. And he wouldn’t want to do anything offensive; that wasn’t Dean Martin. So this has just been outrageous.”

Idina Menzel’s2014 version withMichael Bublére-entered the Holiday Digital Song Sales chart at No. 29, and sold 2,000 copies, according toBillboard. Also with 2,000 copies sold was Leon Redbone andZooey Deschanel’s2003 duet, from theElfsoundtrack, which debuted at No. 41 on the list.

OnBillboard‘sHoliday Streaming Songschart, Martin’s version of the song reached 8.2 million streams in the U.S. during the week ending Dec. 6.

Menzel and Bublé’s duet reached 4.8 million streams, andBrett Eldredge’s2016 cover, featuringMeghan Trainor, hit 3.6 million streams.

Eldredge and Trainor’s duet reached 5.7 million impressions, while Menzel and Bublé’s fell to 3.7 million impressions. Martin’s also dipped slightly to 1.1 million impressions. Combining their airplay, the three songs’ audience for the week ending Dec. 9 totaled 10.2 million, which is slightly down from 10.9 million the week before.

source: people.com