The Best Christmas Songs
Every Christmas song in the catalogue, from Bing Crosby to the ones you hear in the supermarket from October. The question is the same as always: how many beers before it sounds good? Some of these are genuinely lovely. Others are why mulled wine was invented.
None of these has enough ratings to be ranked yet. A song needs at least 10 before it gets a place, so the order below fills in as people rate them.
Waiting for ratings
Oldest first. Rate one and it moves closer to a place on the chart.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Judy Garland · 1944
The first draft was so bleak that Garland refused to sing it, and got a rewrite.
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White Christmas
Bing Crosby · 1947
The best-selling single of all time. The version you know is a 1947 re-recording: the original master wore out.
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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Gene Autry · 1949
Rudolph began life in a 1939 department-store giveaway booklet. Autry nearly passed on the song.
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Santa Baby
Eartha Kitt · 1953
A Christmas shopping list, purred. Every cover since has been trying to sound like this one.
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Blue Christmas
Elvis Presley · 1957
Elvis singing about a sad Christmas, which somehow makes everyone cheerful.
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Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Brenda Lee · 1958
Recorded when she was thirteen. Reached number one in the US sixty-five years later.
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The Chipmunk Song
The Chipmunks · 1958
Sped-up tape and three rodents, one of whom wants a hula hoop. Peak eleven-beer territory.
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Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Dean Martin · 1959
Also written in a July heatwave, in 1945. Christmas songwriting is apparently a summer job.
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The Christmas Song
Nat King Cole · 1961
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, written on a hot July day to think cooler thoughts.
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It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Andy Williams · 1963
Promises scary ghost stories, a Christmas tradition nobody has kept up since Dickens.
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Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Darlene Love · 1963
The wall of sound, pointed at December. Possibly the best vocal on this whole list.
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A Holly Jolly Christmas
Burl Ives · 1964
Sung by a snowman in the original TV special, which explains the relentless cheer.
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Christmas Time Is Here
Vince Guaraldi Trio · 1965
From A Charlie Brown Christmas. The children's choir is a little off-key, and that is the whole charm.
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Someday at Christmas
Stevie Wonder · 1966
A sixteen-year-old singing about a world without war. It is still waiting.
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Feliz Navidad
José Feliciano · 1970
Two lines, one in Spanish and one in English, repeated until the whole room joins in.
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Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
The Jackson 5 · 1970
Young Michael, already entirely in charge of the song.
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This Christmas
Donny Hathaway · 1970
The warmest soul Christmas song ever recorded. Zero beers required.
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Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
John Lennon & Yoko Ono · 1971
A protest song you can hum while wrapping presents.
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I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
Wizzard · 1973
Roy Wood wants Christmas every day. Most retail staff would like a word.
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Merry Xmas Everybody
Slade · 1973
Noddy Holder yelling IT'S CHRISTMAS has been the official start of December for fifty years.
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Step into Christmas
Elton John · 1973
Elton doing a Phil Spector wall-of-sound tribute, and clearly having a great time.
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Lonely This Christmas
Mud · 1974
An Elvis impression so committed that it circles back round to sincere.
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I Believe in Father Christmas
Greg Lake · 1975
Played as a cheerful carol. It is actually about losing faith in the whole thing.
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Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord
Boney M. · 1978
A Harry Belafonte hymn turned into disco. Britain made it the Christmas number one anyway.
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Wonderful Christmastime
Paul McCartney · 1979
A synth loop and one line, repeated. It still pays out every December.
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Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
Elmo & Patsy · 1979
A novelty song about a hit-and-run. Eleven beers, minimum.
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Stop the Cavalry
Jona Lewie · 1980
An anti-war song that became a Christmas hit because of one line about wanting to be home.
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Christmas Wrapping
The Waitresses · 1981
A New Wave romantic comedy in four minutes, resolved at an all-night grocery store.
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Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
Bruce Springsteen · 1981
Recorded live in 1975. Clarence Clemons does the best Santa laugh in rock.
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Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy
Bing Crosby & David Bowie · 1982
Bowie disliked Little Drummer Boy, so the writers gave him a new counter-melody to sing over it instead.
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Last Christmas
Wham! · 1984
Took thirty-six years to reach number one in the UK. Patience is a Christmas virtue.
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Do They Know It's Christmas?
Band Aid · 1984
Recorded in a single day, and it shows in the best possible way.
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Thank God It's Christmas
Queen · 1984
Queen's only Christmas song. Freddie makes even this sound like an event.
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Merry Christmas Everyone
Shakin' Stevens · 1985
The most Christmas-jumper song ever made. Resistance is futile by beer three.
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Driving Home for Christmas
Chris Rea · 1986
Written while stuck in traffic on the way home. Still the soundtrack to every motorway in December.
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Fairytale of New York
The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl · 1987
Arguably the greatest Christmas song ever written, and it never got to number one.
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Christmas in Hollis
Run-DMC · 1987
Finds Santa's wallet in the park and hands it back. Wholesome and completely relentless.
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Mistletoe and Wine
Cliff Richard · 1988
Sir Cliff at his most Sir Cliff. The UK Christmas number one of 1988.
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All I Want for Christmas Is You
Mariah Carey · 1994
Took twenty-five years to reach number one in the US. It will outlive us all.
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Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24
Trans-Siberian Orchestra · 1996
Carol of the Bells, played as though Christmas owed it money.
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8 Days of Christmas
Destiny's Child · 2001
The Twelve Days of Christmas, cut to eight and made considerably more demanding.
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Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)
The Darkness · 2003
Falsetto, sleigh bells and a title that is exactly the joke you think it is.
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Don't Shoot Me Santa
The Killers · 2007
Brandon Flowers pleading for his life with a man in a red suit. Festive.
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It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Michael Bublé · 2011
The reason Michael Bublé thaws out every November.
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Underneath the Tree
Kelly Clarkson · 2013
A new Christmas song that genuinely sounds like the old ones, which almost never works.
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Christmas Tree Farm
Taylor Swift · 2019
About the Pennsylvania Christmas tree farm she actually grew up on.
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Merry Christmas
Ed Sheeran & Elton John · 2021
Two very famous men trying to write a new Christmas standard. The jury is still out.
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