10 Best Christmas songs
Christmas could not be festive without Christmas songs, over the years we have accumulated an impressive amount of songs to create a long Christmas playlists combining new and old hits. I selected here my very favorite Christmas music, holiday songs I never get tired of listening to. The list below is not in a specific order, it is my personal choice for best Christmas songs of all time, a combination of the seasonal classics with a some new songs. You will not find here “Dear Santa”, “Rudolph the red nosed reindeer” or even “Drummer Boy”. Please don’t get alarmed if you don’t see one or more of your favorite Christmas songs that you strongly believe must be included. As we know music is a matter of taste. I included a performance reference for each song, my personal choice of a recording that made the song special to me.
Jingle bells
For a song that was not written as a Christmas song this one did extremely well becoming almost the music symbol for Christmas. Jingle Bells captures the fan, winter spirit of Christmas with rhythm that mimics the trotting horse's bells. I chose the most classic performance that captures the timeless sound, music arrangement and performance by Frank Sinatra. I have heard many Jingle Bells recordings that sound like a kids medley, but his classic performance, in my option, suits all.
2. The Christmas Song
One of my old time favorites, a jazz song written by Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. This song is sophisticated but yet easy listening. This Christmas Song was recorded many times over the years by some amazing vocalists including Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys and John Legend. I chose the very classic performance by Nat King Cole from 1961, who delivers the lyrics in a way that you can feel every word, every note. The music arrangement a Jazz ensemble and strings orchestra is just perfect. You can listen to this performance 100 times and will never get tired.
3. White Christmas
I fell in love with this Christmas song while listening to Charlie Parkers’ live performance. As much as we like this song’s lyrics, Bird’s instrumental version to White Christmas, is in fact the one which made me include this song with the 10 best Christmas songs of all time. Charlie Parker recorded this song on December 25th, 1948 live at the Royal Roost in New York with his band featuring Kenny Dorham, Al Haig, Tommy Potter and Max Roach on drums (wow!). I don’t think you can swing this song any harder than Charlie Parker does here. Bird did not forget to quote Jingle Bells during his brilliant alto sax solo. This is a Bibop Christmas all the way!
4. All I Want For Christmas Is You
Some claim that this is Mariah Carey’s best song ever, it is definitely one song that is going to outlive her musical career. “All I want for Christmas Is You” is not only written well but also features the incredible voice and vocal range of Mariah Carey. The song was released during the singer’s prime time in 1994 for her fourth studio album and first holiday album but became very popular only 25 years later as one of the best selling singles of all time and a part of the standard Christmas song list. Mariah Carey filmed two music videos for the song and blessed us with two Christmas song Youtube versions. The original video was released in 2009 and the second music video in 2019. Which one do you like better?
5. Afro Christmas
If this song doesn’t put a smile on your face and makes you get up and start dancing I don’t know what would! A real good vibe Christmas song by Afrostringz, Afrobeat style to spice things up during the holiday season. You don’t need to like Afrobeat or African music in order to love this song. A fresh addition to the 2020 Christmas songs playlist and a great performance by Afrostringz featuring Young D. and Miri Ben-Ari who also quotes Jingle bells during her violin solo. A great choice for your Christmas party.
6. This Christmas
A great Christmas song by Donny Hathaway, with soulful lyrics and melody. Since its release in 1970 it has become artists’ favorite Christmas song for a cover song and many of them have released their versions of this song, such as Gladys Knight, The Temptations, The Whispers, Destiny’s Child, Aretha Franklyn, Mary J. Blidge, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown. Although I like many of these covers (especially Ne-Yo’s) I chose This Christmas original version by Danny Hathaway.
7. Silent Night
Silent Night is a Christmas Carol, a religious folk song, which sounds indeed like a hymn. This song was composed back in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Austria. It has a simple melody and it fits perfectly the European classical composers style of the 19th century. Because of the classical spirit of the song we chose the beautiful violin performance by Miri Ben-Ari playing Silent Night with her unique style and sound.
8. Wonderful Christmas time
One of my favorite Christmas song of all time by Pau McCartney. It doesn’t have the R&B up and down voice arrangement but the genius here is in the simplicity. The song was released in 1979 but made the Billboard Hot 100 chart only on December 2018, thirty nine years later. If you are asking me, the production of this song was ahead of its time, which is why it got criticized by music critics over the years. This is one Christmas song that will always sound current, it is beyond its time and musical genre. If only they could shoot it in 4K back then.
9. Hallelujah
Another one by the duo Afrostringz, a modern approach to a Christmas song, released in 2020. Hallelujah fuses the sound of African church, Afrobeat music, gorgeous strings arrangement and a fierce violin solo by Miri Ben-Ari. The touching Christmas song lyrics of “Hallelujah” sung by Young D. combine English and also Yoruba, a language spoken in Nigeria which makes the song even more exotic.
10. Feliz Navidad
Our classic Christmas pop song written in 1970 by Puerto Rican singer and songwriterJose Feliciano. Feliz Navidad is one of the most downloaded Christmas songs in the US and Canada. It is the perfect Christmas party song with a Spanish rhythm and a driving horn section that makes the song even more festive. This Christmas song lyrics has only two lines: one in English and one in Spanish. Perhaps it is the minimalism that conveys the Christmas message and spirit so beautifully. "Feliz Navidad, Prospero Ano y Felicidad, I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart"!
