The HyperTexts

The Best Christmas Songs of All Time: Classical, Popular, Contemporary, Rock, Country, etc.

Let me begin by stating the obvious: these are really just my personal choices for the best Christmas songs ever written, performed and recorded for posterity. But, on the other hand, if you haven't heard Enya's "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" or Charles Haugabrooks' "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" or Boney M.'s reggae version of "Mary's Boy Child" or Simon and Garfunkel's "Comfort and Joy/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" sung in rounds, how can you be sure that your personal list is complete? So perhaps you'll want to consider mine, compare notes, and perhaps update yours. 

Christmas Music Trivia: Despite all the ta-dah about the Beatles, Elvis Presley and the other gods and demigods of rock'n'roll, did you know that the best-selling single of all time remains Bing Crosby's version of "White Christmas," with over 50 million sales? And did you know that Bing's version of "Silent Night" is number three, with over 30 million sales? It seems a lot of people still love the "oldies but goodies."

My pick for the number one Christmas song of all time is Eartha Kitt's sexy, sassy "Santa Baby." But all the songs near the top of my list provide strong competition, from the atmospheric vocals of Enya, Jackie Evancho and Andrew Johnston, to the orchestral thunder of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra belting out "Carol of the Bells" and "Christmas Canon Rock." And then there are the wonderfully tender and touching performances, such as John Primm's soulful "The Least of These," Amy Grant's breathless "Breath of Heaven," Clay Aiken's wonderfully touching "Mary Did You Know?" and Roy Orbison's lovely "Pretty Paper." (Can you guess who wrote "Pretty Paper"? Betcha can't, not in a million years! But I will reveal the answer shortly, below.) There are also the wonderful Christmas hymns of yore, like "O Holy Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful," sung by such stellar performers as Mahalia Jackson, Josh Groban, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion. One of my favorites is a little-known song, The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey, sung tenderly and soulfully a cappella by my wife, Beth Burch. Before you accuse me of nepotism, please let me point out that when Johnny Carson asked Lynn Anderson (of "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden" fame) to name an up-and-coming young country singer to keep an eye on, she named Beth (then Beth Harris). You can click any of the hyperlinked song titles below to hear the songs you haven't heard before, or want to hear again.

The Ten Best Christmas Songs of All Time (Popular/Contemporary)

Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby (aka "Santa Cutie," the song has been covered by Kylie Minogue, Shakira, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, even Michael Bublé!)
Elvis Presley - Santa Claus is Back in Town (both the rockin' version and the one with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Carol of the Bells and Christmas Canon Rock (On this Very Christmas Night)
Wham! featuring George Michael - Last Christmas (George Michael donated his royalties to Ethiopian famine relief, then died on Christmas Day)
John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Happy Xmas (War is Over)
Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas (this is the original extended version with a complete list of vocalists at the bottom of this page)
Emerson, Lake and Palmer - I Believe in Father Christmas (a beautiful Christmas lament and call for peace on earth)
Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and Merry Christmas Baby
Boney M. - Mary's Boy Child (reggae version)
Bing Crosby and Human Nature - White Christmas
David Bowie and Bing Crosby - Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) and Sleigh Ride
Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Kelly Clarkson - Underneath the Tree
Billy Squier - Christmas is the Time to Say "I Love You"

Okay, I confess that's more than ten, but I'm not giving any of them up!

High Honorable Mention: All I Want for Christmas is You (Mariah Carey version), Someday at Christmas (Jackson 5 version), Pretty Paper (Roy Orbinson version), Mary Did You Know (Jordan Smith version), Santa Tell Me (Ariana Grande version), Mistletoe (Justin Bieber version), This Christmas (Christina Aguilera version), We Need a Little Christmas (Glee version)

Is this the Most Beautiful Vocal Performance of All Time, Regardless of Season or Theme?

Enya - O Come, O Come Emmanuel

While bigger doesn't always mean better, this production involving more than a thousand people is not only impressive, but damn good:

The Piano Guys, Peter Hollens, David Archuleta and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Angels We Have Heard On High/Gloria in Excelsis Deo

The Best Christmas Songs You Probably Never Heard


John Primm - The Least of These

Unfortunately, there have been copyright issues with the song on YouTube. Grinches are trying to keep us from one of the best Christmas songs of all time, and perhaps the one with the best message! If the link above doesn't work, please try doing a Google search for:

John Primm The Least of These

The song will vastly reward you for any time you invest in finding it. "The Least of These" tells the story of a homeless boy looking for a little charity on Christmas Eve. The first stanza begins: "In the fading light of a Christmas night / A storefront sings Noel / Snow falls on the corner light / As Santa rings his bell." As the homeless boy's story unfolds, we come to a stunning revelation: "Lord Jesus was a homeless boy / Born to make us free / And he said as you've done to the LEAST OF THESE / You have done to Me." But you really have to hear John Primm deliver the words in that big, rich, soulful, wonderfully tender voice of his. Truly one of the miracles of the Christmas season.

Others ...

Alison Krauss with Yo-Yo Ma - The Wexford Carol
Queen - Thank God it's Christmas
Simon and Garfunkel - Comfort and Joy/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (sung in rounds)
Charles Haugabrooks - Sweet Little Jesus Boy
Andrew Johnston - Pie Jesu
Ed Ames - The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey
Amy Grant - Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)
Dan Fogelberg - Same Old Lang Syne
Death Cab for Cutie - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)
Roger Miller - Old Toy Trains
Pentatonix - White Winter Hymnal
Cast of Glee - Extraordinary Merry Christmas

My Top Ten Christmas Singers

Dean Martin (#10), The Carpenters (#9), Burl Ives (#8), Amy Grant and Vince Gill (#7), Elvis Presley (#6), Frank Sinatra (#5), Darlene Love and the Ronettes (#4), Andy Williams (#3), Nat King Cole (#2), Bing Crosby (#1)

Honorable Mention: Ed Ames, Mariah Carey, Perry Como, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Pentatonix, Luther Vandross

The Best Christmas Songs of All Time (Traditional)

David Bowie and Bing Crosby - Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth
Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Andrea Bocelli and Mary J. Blige - What Child Is This?
Josh Groban - O Holy Night
Celine Dion - O Holy Night
Martina McBride - O Holy Night
Martina McBride - Do You Hear What I Hear
Whitney Houston - Do You Hear What I Hear
Natalie Cole with Andrea Bocelli accompanied by David Foster on piano - The Christmas Song
CeeLo Green - Mary Did You Know?
Pentatonix - Mary Did You Know?
Clay Aiken - Mary Did You Know?
Josh Groban - Angels We Have Heard on High
Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
Andrea Bocelli - Gloria in Excelsis Deo
Andrea Bocelli - Adeste Fideles / Gloria / O Holy Night
Bing Crosby - Do You Hear What I Hear (the remastered 2006 version)
Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Luther Vandross - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Manheim Steamroller - Handel's Messiah Hallelujah Chorus
Aaron Neville - Let It Snow!, Let It Snow!, Let It Snow!
Charles Haugabrooks - Sweet Little Jesus Boy
Beach Boys - We Three Kings
Simon and Garfunkel - Comfort and Joy/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (sung in rounds)
Art Garfunkel - O Come All Ye Faithful
Jackie Evancho - Ave Maria
Celine Dion - Ave Maria (English lyrics)
Andrea Bocelli - Ave Maria with David Foster on piano
Jackie Evancho - Silent Night
Andrew Johnston - Pie Jesu
Michael McDonald - Go Tell It on the Mountain
Vince Gill - Do You Hear What I Hear
Glenn Miller - Jingle Bells
Pentatonix - The First Noel
The New London Chorale - Unto Us a Child is Born
Celine Dion - Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)
Harry Simeone Chorale - Little Drummer Boy
Loreena McKennitt - Good King Wenceslas
Alison Krauss with Yo-Yo Ma - The Wexford Carol

The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey

I may be accused of nepotism, but I love the way my wife performs this song, with tremendous tenderness and compassion. Beth also delivers a touching message about discrimination and bullying. Our son was bullied in elementary school, to the extent that he had to change schools, so we do understand the problem and sympathize with the victims of bullying. But as Beth points out, we can "take the power back" from the bullies. And as Eleanor Roosevelt once pointed out, no one can make you feel bad about yourself without your consent!

Beth Burch - The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey

The Best Christmas Songs by Category

The best humorous Christmas songs: Santa Baby, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, All I Want for Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, anything by the Chipmunks!
The best sexy & sassy Christmas songs: Santa Baby, Baby It's Cold Outside, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Jingle Bell Rock (Mean Girls version)
The best Christmas songs to cuddle by: White Christmas, Baby It's Cold Outside, All I Want for Christmas (Is You), Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
The best upbeat Christmas songs: Santa Claus is Back in Town, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride, Let It Snow, Deck the Halls, Little St. Nick
The best rockin' Christmas songs: Christmas Canon Rock (On this Very Christmas Night), Jingle Bell Rock, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Merry Christmas Baby
The most beautiful Christmas songs: O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Ave Maria, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Pie Jesu, The Wexford Carol, Handel's Hallelujah Chorus
The best Christmas hymns: Silent Night, O Holy Night, Sweet Little Jesus Boy, Ave Maria, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Go Tell It on the Mountain, Angels We have Heard on High
The best traditional Christmas carols: Little Drummer Boy, Do You Hear What I Hear, We Three Kings, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, O Come All Ye Faithful
The best sad Christmas songs: Last Christmas, White Christmas, Blue Christmas, Do They Know It's Christmas, If We Make it Through December, Where Are You Christmas?
The best Christmas lullabies: Away in a Manger, Silent Night, Mary Did You Know, The First Noel, The Little Drummer Boy, Old Toy Trains, Christmas Like a Lullaby
The best Christmas opera/oratorio: Handel's Messiah, composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, esp. the Hallelujah Chorus
The best Christmas instrumentals: Lindsey Stirling violin solo What Child Is This, London Philharmonic Handel's Messiah, The Piano Guys Carol of the Bells
The best TV and movie Christmas songs: Believe (Josh Groban in Polar Express), Christmas Time Is Here (A Charlie Brown Christmas), 'Tis the Season to Be Jolly (The Muppet Christmas Carol), What's This (The Nightmare Before Christmas), Somewhere in My Memory (Home Alone), Noel (The Bishop's Wife), Snow (White Christmas), Christmas Is All Around (Love Actually), Auld Lang Syne (It's a Wonderful Life), White Christmas (White Christmas/Holiday Inn), Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Meet Me in St. Louis), River (Robert Downey Jr. on Ally McBeal), All I Want for Christmas (Love Actually), Baby It's Cold Outside (Neptune's Daughter/Elf)
The best anti-war Christmas songs: Happy Xmas (War is Over), Do You Hear What I Hear (written as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis)
The best "spirit of the season" Christmas songs: Do They Know It's Christmas, Happy Xmas (War is Over), (Something About) Christmas Time, Someday at Christmas, Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat.
Please put a penny in the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

This is my favorite Christmas lyric, because it really captures the true spirit of the Christmas season. The small poem above is a traditional nursery rhyme often sung in rounds during the Christmas season. There are many variations of the lyrics due to the antiquity of the rhyme. A "ha'penny" is an English half-penny coin, so someone without a ha'penny is flat broke. The rhyme was adapted into the Bing Crosby song Christmas is A-Comin' when Frank Luther added verses such as the fine opening lines: "When I'm feeling blue, when I'm feeling low, / I start to think about the happiest man I know." Despite its inauspicious beginning as a nursery rhyme, "Christmas is Coming" has been performed in one version or another by major artists like Bing Crosby, Harry Belafonte, Lorne Greene, Pat Boone, The Kingston Trio, The Manhattan Transfer ... even in a calypso version by John Denver and the Muppets! But perhaps more importantly it has been sung by millions of unknown carolers around the world as a call for compassion, generosity and "peace on earth, goodwill toward men" during the Christmas season. When I hear carolers singing the song, I always think of Tiny Tim exclaiming "God bless us, every one!"

Christmas Surprises, Originals and Oddities

The Chimpmunks - The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)
Gayle Peevey - I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Kacey Musgraves - Christmas Don't Be Late
Boney M. - Mary's Boy Child (reggae version)
The Drifters - White Christmas (a stunningly original arrangement)
The Carpenters - Merry Christmas Darling (written by Richard Carpenter as a teenager)
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Darlene Love told Rolling Stone that it took three JewsPhil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwichto write the greatest Christmas song of all time! It’s been covered by everybody from U2 to Leighton Meester, but Love’s original version is still the best. And she's had lots of practice, since she's been performing the song since 1986.

Chuck Berry - Run Rudolph Run (featured in the movie Home Alone)
Lou Monte - Dominick The Donkey 
Michael Bublé - Santa Baby (with only slightly more masculine lyrics!)
Crazy Frog - We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Crazy Frog - Jingle Bells
John Denver and the Muppets - The Twelve Days Of Christmas
Vince Guaraldi Trio - Linus And Lucy (instrumental from A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas Time is Here (instrumental from A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Run-D.M.C - Christmas In Hollis (the first rap Christmas song?)
Kanye West - Christmas in Harlem
Weird Al Yankovic - The Night Santa Went Crazy
Thurl Ravenscroft -You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - Christmastime for the Jews

Nashville's 13 Best Christmas Songs

Bill Monroe - Christmas Time's A-Comin (1951) was a big holiday hit for the Father of Bluegrass. (Elvis Presley's first single was an up-tempo cover of Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky.")
Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock (1957); it's ironic that two of the best-known "rocking" Christmas songs were originally recorded by country artists!
Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (1958) was recorded when Little Brenda Lee was only 13 years old. (And she never got much taller, only better.)
Roy Orbison - Pretty Paper (1963), a song written by country music superstar Willie Nelson.
Elvis Presley - Blue Christmas (1964), a song the singers assumed would never get published because of all the woo-wooing in the background!
Loretta Lynn - Country Christmas (1966)
Roger Miller - Old Toy Trains (1967)
Grandpa Jones - The Christmas Guest (1969) is not technically a song, but a spoken word poem.
Merle Haggard - If We Make it Through December (1973)
John Prine - Christmas in Prison (1973)
Alabama - Christmas in Dixie (1982) contains a small fib: when the band sang "From Fort Payne, Alabama, merry Christmas tonight," they were actually in a Nashville music studio!
Amy Grant - (Have a Tender) Tennessee Christmas (1983)
Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene - Mary Did You Know? (1991) has become a much-covered classic Christmas song ... did you know that it and the other songs above all originated in Nashville?

Nashville Trivia: Although she stood only 4' 9", Brenda Lee was known as Little Miss Dynamite and remains the only female artist to chart songs in five major genres (pop, blues, rock, gospel and country). She was a musical prodigy; at age three she would stand on a counter and sing for money (her family was poor). She won a talent contest and sang on a live radio show at age six. By age ten she was a professional singer and her family's primary breadwinner. Her first appearance on TV was as a country singer, and she still lives in Nashville today. "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" remains her biggest hit. She was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997, then to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

The Rest of the Best Christmas Songs of All Time

Pentatonix - Carol of the Bells
Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas is You
Christina Aguilera - This Christmas
The Beach Boys - Little St. Nick
Amy Grant - Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)
Chris Rhea - Driving Home for Christmas
Elton John - Step Into Christmas
Dean Martin - Silver Bells
Ray Charles - Merry Christmas Baby
Judy Garland - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Ella Fitzgerald - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Sam Smith - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Michael Bublé - Winter Wonderland
The Carpenters - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
The Carpenters - I'll Be Home for Christmas
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - Sleigh Ride
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - Frosty the Snowman
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - Winter Wonderland
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - Marshmallow World
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - Christmastime for the Jews
Darlene Love and the Ronettes - All Alone on Christmas
Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me
Ariana Grande - Winter Things
Bryan Adams - (Something About) Christmas Time
Someday at Christmas - Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5
Someday at Christmas - Jackie Evancho
Michael Bublé and Anne Murray - Baby It's Cold Outside
Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé - Baby It's Cold Outside
Lady Gaga and Joseph Gordon Levitt - Baby, It's Cold Outside (with Gaga the pursuer!)
Otis Redding - Merry Christmas Baby
TLC - Sleigh Ride
Andy Williams - Sleigh Ride
The Carpenters - Sleigh Ride
The Carpenters - The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Roy Orbison - Pretty Paper
Boney M. - Jingle Bells
Ella Fitzgerald - Sleigh Ride
Michael Bublé - White Christmas
Michael Bublé - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin' Stevens
Bing Crosby - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Gene Autry - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Dean Martin - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Luther Vandross - This is Christmas
Enya - Oíche Chiúin [Silent Night in Gaelic]
Christina Aguilera and Dr. John - Merry Christmas Baby
Charles Haugabrooks - Angels We Have Heard on High
Cast of Glee - Last Christmas
Elvis Presley - Blue Christmas
Michael Bublé - Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!
Frank Sinatra - Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!
Frank Sinatra - Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child
Enya - Christmas Secrets
Jim Reeves- O Come All Ye Faithful
Josh Groban with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir - O Come All Ye Faithful
Jose Feliciano - Feliz Navidad
Dan Fogelberg - Same Old Lang Syne
Faith Hill - Where Are You Christmas?
Sarah McLachlan - River
Sarah McLachlan - Angel
Mahalia Jackson - Sweet Little Jesus Boy
Ed Ames - The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey
Sarah McLachlan - O Little Town of Bethlehem
Chris Brown - This Christmas
Christina Aguilera and Brian McKnight - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Carol of the Bells
Bruce Springsteen - Merry Christmas Baby
Eagles - Please Come Home for Christmas
Jon Bon Jovi - Please Come Home for Christmas
Death Cab for Cutie - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)
Bob Seger - Little Drummer Boy
Mahalia Jackson - Silent Night
Josh Groban - Little Drummer Boy
Sarah McLachlan - What Child Is This
Aaron Neville - Please Come Home for Christmas
Charles Haugabrooks - Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head
Sinead O'Connor - Silent Night
Perry Como - Joy to the World
Michael Bolton - Joy to the World
Whitney Houston - Joy to the World
Frank Sinatra - Mistletoe and Holly
Beyoncé - Ave Maria
The Royal Guardsmen - Snoopy's Christmas
Rhea's Obsession with Athan Maroulis - We Three Kings
Josh Groban - Thankful
Josh Groban - Believe (from Polar Express)
Josh Groban - What Child is This
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood - What Child Is This
Chris Rea - Driving Home for Christmas
Billy Corgan, Emilie Autumn and Dennis DeYoung - We Three Kings
Il Divo - O Holy Night
Enrico Caruso - Cantique de Noël (O Holy Night)
Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo - O Holy Night / Cantique De Noel
Jussi Bjorling - O Holy Night
NewSong - The Christmas Shoes
Sting - Gabriel's Message (a Basque folk song with English lyrics)
Dido - Christmas Day
Vanessa Williams - Do You Hear What I Hear
Josh Groban - It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey - Baby It's Cold Outside
Enya - White is the Winter Night
Barbra Streisand - Sleep in Heavenly Peace/Silent Night
Vanessa Williams - I Wonder as I Wander
Aretha Franklin - Winter Wonderland
John Legend - Winter Wonderland
Ed Ames - Away in a Manger
Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Mel & Kim - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Lady Gaga and Beyoncé - Christmas Tree
Boyz to Men - Silent Night
The Temptations - Silent Night
Beyoncé - Silent Night
Faith Hill - O Come all Ye Faithful
Luther Vandross - O Come All Ye Faithful
Nat King Cole - O Come All Ye Faithful
Nat King Cole - O Holy Night
Mariah Carey - O Holy Night
Mariah Carey - Auld Lang Syne (the New Year's Anthem) with lyrics by Scotland's greatest poet, Robert Burns
Ed Ames - O Holy Night
Faith Hill - O Holy Night
Jewel - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Luther Vandross - Every Year, Every Christmas
Jars of Clay - Little Drummer Boy
Jackson 5 - Up on the Housetop
Bette Midler - Cool Yule
Martina McBride - Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
Josh Groban - Petit Papa Noel
Bing Crosby - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Mitch Miller and the Gang - Deck the Halls
Commodores - Deck The Halls
Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock
The Vamps - Jingle Bell Rock
Randy Travis - Jingle Bell Rock
Elmo and Patsy - Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
Bruce Springsteen - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Mariah Carey - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Dean Martin - Let It Snow!, Let It Snow!, Let It Snow!
Dean Martin - (Walking in a) Winter Wonderland
Andy Williams - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Bing Crosby - Mele Kalikimaka
Bing Crosby - I'll Be Home for Christmas
Paul McCartney and Wings - (Simply Having a) Wonderful Christmastime
Johnny Mathis - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Perry Como - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Burl Ives - Have a Holly Jolly Christmas
Mel Torme - The Christmas Song
Taylor Swift - White Christmas
Taylor Swift - Santa Baby
Perry Como - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters - The Twelve Days Of Christmas
Roger Whittaker - The Twelve Days Of Christmas
Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody
Spike Jones - All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
Tammy Wynette - Joy To The World
Amy Grant and Vince Gill - (My) Grown-Up Christmas Wish
Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton - You Make It Feel Like Christmas
Pentatonix - Little Drummer Boy
Pentatonix - Hallelujah (up-tempo version)
Pentatonix - Merry Christmas Happy Holidays
Gene Autry - Frosty the Snowman
Michael Bublé - Frosty the Snowman
Gene Autry - Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)
Elvis Presley - Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)
Elvis Presley - Silver Bells
Elvis Presley - Winter Wonderland
Elvis Presley - I'll Be Home for Christmas
Elvis Presley - Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me
Bing Crosby and Carol Richards - Silver Bells
Peggy Lee - Ring Those Christmas Bells
Peggy Lee - The Christmas Waltz
Mariah Carey - When Christmas Comes
Lady Gaga - Christmas Tree
Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine
Dolly Parton - Hard Candy Christmas
Dolly Parton - Go Tell It on the Mountain
Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - Christmas Without You
Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - A Christmas to Remember
Dolly Parton - Smoky Mountain Christmas
Pretenders - 2,000 Miles (It Must Be Christmastime)
Daryl Hall and John Oates - Jingle Bell Rock
Christina Perri - Something About December
Teresa Brewer - I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus
She and Him - The Christmas Waltz
Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song (The Hanukkah Song)
Ariana Grande - Wit It This Christmas
The Balfron Christmas Stars - It's Christmas Day
Jimmy Boyd - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Mud - Lonely this Christmas
The Polar Express - Tom Hanks
The Pogues - Fairytale of New York
Carly Rae Jepsen - Last Christmas
Pentatonix - O Come, O Come Emanuel
Phil Wickham - O Come, O Come Emanuel
The Piano Guys - O Come, O Come Emanuel
Lauren Daigle - O Come, O Come Emanuel
Veggietales - O Come, O Come Emanuel
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
Beth Burch - The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey

Band Aid (the original) was created in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money (and awareness) for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia. Band Aid vocalist members in alphabetic order: Robert "Kool" Bell (Kool & the Gang), Bono (U2), Pete Briquette (The Boomtown Rats), Adam Clayton (U2), Phil Collins (Genesis), Chris Cross (Ultravox), Simon Crowe (The Boomtown Rats), Sara Dallin (Bananarama), Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama), Johnny Fingers (The Boomtown Rats), Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats), Boy George (Culture Club), Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17), Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet), John Keeble (Spandau Ballet), Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet), Martin Kemp (Spandau Ballet), Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran), George Michael (Wham!), Jon Moss (Culture Club), Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet), Rick Parfitt (Status Quo), Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran), Francis Rossi (Status Quo), Sting (The Police), Andy Taylor (Duran Duran), James "J.T." Taylor (Kool & the Gang), John Taylor (Duran Duran), Roger Taylor (Duran Duran), Dennis Thomas (Kool & the Gang), Midge Ure (Ultravox), Martyn Ware (Heaven 17), Jody Watley, Paul Weller (The Style Council), Keren Woodward (Bananarama), and last but not least Paul Young!

Related page: The Best Christmas Poems of All Time, The Most Beautiful Lines in the English Language

The HyperTexts