In October 1969, six months after they signed a contract with A&M Records, the Carpenters released their debut album Offering (its title was later changed to Ticket to Ride).

Within a year, they rose to prominence with their chart-topping single "(They Long to Be) Close to You", a Burt Bacharach and Hal David composition that had not been commercially successful when it was recorded by television star Richard Chamberlain in 1963.

The Carpenters garnered worldwide commercial success, scoring big hits mainly in the first half of the 1970s.

[1] In the United Kingdom, they are ranked as the seventh top-selling albums artist on the official record chart of the 1970s.

Since many radio stations in the US adopt a format change to Christmas music each December, many holiday hits have an annual spike in popularity during the last few weeks of the year and are retired once the season is over.