In MMD 200121 Alison Biden expresses both surprise at the infrequency
of "Silent Night" pinned on cylinder boxes and, given it's current
status, suggests how it's rise in popularity must have been slow.

What needs to be considered here (apart from Christmas novelties she
mentions):  All Christmas carols are a rare occurrence on cylinder
boxes for the simple reason musical boxes were expensive pieces of
equipment back in the day.  Therefore a Christmas hymn, especially
so one as sacred as "Silent Night", would have rendered the box quite
uninviting for approximately 364 days of the year, thus dictating such
a piece commercially unviable.  The odd example noted was, in all
probability, a special order.

One cannot simply chart the rise to popularity of "Silent Night" on
the basis of a handful of musical boxes as suggested, indeed if we
look at this link, we see evidence of just how fast and how early it's
popularity spread:

http://www.stjohnskenton.org/hymn-spotlight-silent-night/ 

The situation changed overnight with the advent of the disc musical
box, where it quickly became a firm favourite -- seemingly stamped
in great numbers for just about every disc player we encounter today.

Mark Singleton (UK)