A gorgeous bauble from the mid-00s wave of Scandinavian music that crossed electropop with the feyest indie. Sally falls in love on a Tuesday before Christmas, “at a gig with a band that we both liked”. But will she end up by herself “or in the perfect kiss”? 41. Solomon Burke Presents for Christmas Love them, hate them, or just acceptthem as a sort of immutable fact of life, it's officially Christmas song season in 2023. And although there’s been a fair amount of disposable novelty rubbishwritten over the years, the reality is that a lot of Christmas songs are bangers. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. After its original release on Cadet Records in 1966, Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas was out of print for years until a 1992 reissue. With pensive, meditative, precise playing, it's a must-have and features a definitive jazz hit version of "Little Drummer Boy."

This charming collection of golden classic Christmas favorites stretches from 1935 to 1954. Rhino scores big with the idea of marketing music of such quality for a lesser cost. This record features everybody and everything from the Bing himself to Gene Autry's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" to "All I Want for Christmas," a comedic, hilarious family favorite. What would Christmas be without "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," a wintry cry for a snow-white landscape, sung proudly here by Vaughn Monroe? With its goal of making Christmas memorable, this collection of songs -- from the youthful "Here Comes Santa Claus" to "White Christmas," Bing Crosby's dreamy, reflective hit -- should appeal to all ages. At least one can imagine and dream for a white Christmas with the help of Bing, though most of the world really never receives one. Featuring Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" in its prime and his early stable of artists, the Ronettes, Crystals, Darlene Love, and Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector stands as inarguably the greatest Christmas record of all time. Spector believed he could produce a record for the holidays that would capture not only the essence of the Christmas spirit, but also be a pop masterpiece that would stand against any work these artists had already done. He succeeded on every level, with all four groups/singers recording some of their most memorable performances. This is the Christmas album by which all later holiday releases had to be judged, and it has inspired a host of imitators. There are plenty of keepers from the‘40s-‘70s heyday of the Christmas record as an art form, for example, but even more cynical later generations of pop haveproduced plenty of gold. Festive cheer has found its way into pop, hip-hop, R&B, metal, punk, indie… you name it. So as a gift, we've rounded up the very bestChristmas songs going. Ho ho ho.With British arranger/conductor Robert Farnon handling the transatlantic sessions, Tony Bennett's 1968 Christmas album turned into a swinging affair, from the version of "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music (how did this song become associated with Christmas?) to seasonal standards like "White Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Bennett's warm style was especially winning on this kind of material, making an inevitable assignment a winning combination of singer and songs.

Christmas 1973 brought not just Wizzard but the most enduring of all British Christmas singles. Forty-six years later, people still bellow “It’s CHRISTMAS!” in Noddy Holder’s face, which, apparently, gets a little wearisome. The whole thing was Jim Lea’s mum’s idea – why didn’t Slade have a song they could release every year? She got her wish. 7. Donny Hathaway This Christmas I grew up exposed to multiple religions. My dad’s side of the family were foot-washing Italian Catholics, while my mom’s side were Jews from New York. In college, my mom was reborn as a Christian, and for me as a kid, Easter with Nonno Giuseppe was as big of a deal as going to seder at temple with my Popi Mel. Now on every Christmas morning, my mom and I listen to A Christmas Album by Barbra Streisand, a collection of spectacular renditions of yule-time classics by not just a Jewish woman, but one of the most notable and beloved Jews in show business. Moments like Babs’ broadway pizzaz on “Jingle Bells?” to her church choir-worthy range on “Sleep In Heavenly Peace (Silent Night)” to her impeccable singing in Latin on “Gounod’s Ave Maria,” have made A Christmas Album one of the top 10 Christmas albums of all time, selling over 5.3 million copies. And for my mom and I, the juxtaposition of faiths across each of the album’s splendid 33 minutes is a constant reminder of accepting and respecting every person’s God-given right to believe and worship whatever and however they’d like. Nothing is more fitting over the holidays than that. —Adrian Spinelli Der Bingle" in two distinctly different moods: from the solemnity of "Silent Night" and "Adeste Fidelis" (sung in Latin and English) to the playfulness ("gonna have a lotta fun") on "Jingle Bells," with the Andrews Sisters providing some smiles with their "Ji-ji-jingle" vocals. They duet on two more, including "Mele Kalikimaka." It also includes a remake of "White Christmas." Bublé's Christmas has sold a whopping 2.78 million in the UK according to Official Charts Company data, has spent over seven months in the Top 10 in total over the last seven years and is the UK's 20th biggest selling album since 2000. The record features 14 covers of Christmas classics plus two new songs - the most popular are his takes on It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas and Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). The mother of all solo instrumental albums, and with good reason. Mixing traditional carols with Pachelbel's Canon and a few originals, George Winston produces a solo piano album of unparalleled -- and undeniable -- beauty. How can music be simultaneously stirring and soothing, relaxed yet exalted? Millions have found the answer here, and an industry has spent decades trying to duplicate it.McGriff opens with a squall of organ that doesn’t lead you to believe Christmas is coming anytime soon, then takes Winter Wonderland at such a leisurely pace that it takes a moment to recognise it. (If you like this, try Jimmy Smith’s Christmas ’64 as well.) 29. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Ain’t No Chimneys in the Projects Do we need cheering up? I think we do. Thank goodness, then, for the twangy guitars of Brooklyn duo Santo & Johnny, the gaudy, overlit shop window that contrasts with the stark loneliness of the Everly Brothers. 36. Run-DMC Christmas in Hollis

Probably not one to play when you’re unwrapping the presents. A character study that begins grimly, then offers hope, as the narrator says things are getting better – before ripping the rug away without ceremony. Do you want to know the truth of it, she asks: “Charley, hey, I’ll be eligible for parole come Valentine’s day.” 5. Marvin Gaye Purple Snowflakes Two of the greatest British folk voices combine for a drinking song that, if we’re honest, is unlikely to be ringing out in pubs this Christmas. The asceticism of the British folk tradition can be a useful astringent amid the sleigh bells and tinsel. 34. Tracey Thorn Snow in SunCompleting the mini-run of joyless Christmases, here’s the most joyless of all – when the only way to pay for Christmas is to rob and deal and kill. The climactic “jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way” is not intended as cause for celebration. 20. Lindstrøm Little Drummer Boy Originally issued on Dolton, this instrumental classic was reissued briefly in 1990 on CD by EMI. The Ventures have a blast with unique covers of secular Christmas songs: each instrumental borrows riffs from popular mid-'60s hits, incorporating them into their twangy guitar yule melodies. "Sleigh Ride" uses the Ventures' own hit "Walk, Don't Run," while other selections borrow from hits of other artists. It's a gas to hear "Frosty the Snowman" set to the Champs' "Tequila." Roy Wood’s enduring contribution to the season owed a huge debt to Phil Spector – there’s almost certainly a kitchen sink section at work somewhere in the mix – but it transcends imitation by its sheer verve. It was recorded in summer, with the studio air conditioning turned down to make everyone feel wintry. Attention to detail, right there. 8. Slade Merry Xmas Everybody Gorgeous and stern, and undoubtedly the best adaptation by an Americana band of any poem written by Henry VIII. The horns bloom, like the flowers of the song, turning something indisputably English into a desert lament. 30. Jimmy McGriff Winter Wonderland

Before she treaded ever so slightly into secular pop fare, Amy Grant was a giant in Christian music—and she’s still seen as such. There’s one branch of Christian music in particular that she does better than just about any pop star—Christmas music. A Christmas Album is unapologetically spiritual and sonically quite bold, full of sweeping orchestral arrangements, weird synthy pathways and twangy, down-home touchy-feelies (It’s impossible not to yearn for home when you hear “Tennessee Christmas,” whether you hail from the South or not) alike. I can’t readily supply another Christmas album that sounds like this one. The horns on jaunty instrumental number “Praise the King” sound like an actual choir of angels, and I’m convinced the spirited “Love Has Come” will thaw even the iciest hearts. If you need an album to play for the Scrooge in your life, you can’t go wrong with Amy Grant’s hearty Christmas masterpiece. —Ellen JohnsonHere's AllMusic's countdown of the 30 most essential Christmas albums, from Ray Charles to Bing Crosby to James Brown and even Charlie Brown. Unwrap these albums early and get ready for the Yuletide season. Who knew the most famous Christmas hit of all could be so emotionally wrought? Where Bing Crosby sounded as if he was fondly pondering his Christmas, Otis sounds like he’s breaking into a sweat trying to will it into existence through sheer force of desire. 13. The Pretenders 2000 Miles