The mere thought of Christmas can get your senses abuzz, and we’re not just talking about the Christmas songs in this list. It’s the taste of gingerbread. The sight of your favourite holiday film. And the songs of festive songs.
Pop music has gifted the world with its fair share of perennial Christmas songs with holiday cheer finding its way into pop, hip-hop, R&B, metal, punk, indie… you name it. And as a gift for you, we’ve assembled the top Christmas songs so incredibly catchy, you just might want to listen all year round. Good luck finding eggnog in August, though.
1. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey
It’s hard to believe, but there was a time when Mimi’s inescapable earworm was just a forgotten novelty song from yet another standard-issue pop-singer holiday album. Now, in a post-Love Actually world, hearing “All I Want For Christmas Is You” for the first time in a year is one of the most reliable signs that the holidays are here. The song came and went when released in 1995, but snowballed in cultural cachet in the aughts, slowly climbing in popularity every year before finally topping US charts in 2019 and the UK charts in 2020. From the twinkly intro to Mariah’s tour-de-force delivery, everything here is as timeless as it is flawless.
2. “Last Christmas” by Wham!
A ballad of doomed romance, “Last Christmas” features sleighbells and synths, plus some truly memorable knitwear in the video. But what really sets “Last Christmas” apart is George Michael’s heart-on-sleeve delivery: his genuine heartbreak horror (“I thought you were someone to rely on”) and whispers.
3. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love
Is this the most moving Christmas tune of all time? Probably – the combination of Darlene Love’s vocal, the gloriously tinselly production and Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry’s beautiful songwriting could make anyone, even the biggest Scrooge, melt like a snowman under a hairdryer. It’s just an absolutely perfect Christmas song.
4. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby
The power of Christmas nostalgia itself is greater than real memories. Hence, all of us can hark back with Bing on this Irving Berlin-penned ’40s number to a white Christmas just like the ones we used to know… while enjoying a very sunny festive season.
5. “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses
If you love New Wave bands like Blondie and Talking Heads, this is surely the Christmas song for you. It begins cynically with singer Patty Donahue declaring “I think I’ll miss this one this year”, before she changes her jaded mind.
6. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure’s 1984 reaction to the Ethiopian famine, with contributions from Phil Collins, Sting, Macca and Bono, was a publicity machine of epic proportions. It worked: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” stayed at the top spot for five weeks, and was the biggest UK chart success of the decade. Put that all aside, and it’s also just a great (and surprisingly unconventional) pop song.
7.”Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee
Songwriter Johnny Marks didn’t celebrate Christmas, but in the ’40s and ’50s he wrote some of the greatest Christmas songs of all time. Among them are “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “I Heard The Bells of Christmas Day” and this – an easy-on-the-ear rock ’n’ roll tune sung by a 13-year-old Brenda Lee, which really needs no introduction.
8. “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” by the Jackson 5
There are versions of this song by everyone from Bieber to Bublé, but Michael and the gang’s effort is the grooviest and the most fun. And since the song is mainly used as a bargaining tool by parents, it does make sense to have kids on the mic.
9. “Blue Christmas” by Elvis Presley
The King adds some characteristic swagger to this cover of the 1948 country original. Spawning plenty of tributes of its own, Presley sealed the deal for “Blue Christmas” – it’s now a festive staple.
