List of Top Ten Christmas Songs

Have you already begun to tire of Christmas music? Some stations began to play them the weekend of Halloween! Want to have some fun with our typical Christmas songs? Each week throughout December, I will post a list of my top ten Christmas songs. Each week I will feature songs in a different category:

• Christmas classics (non-religious)
• Unique Christmas jingles (non-religious, not classics but I need to hear them each year)
• Contemporary Christian Christmas songs
• Christmas carols (hymns)

I will give you my list of songs and my preference for the performer – the version that makes the song sparkle for me, and makes the season complete. Feel free to comment, share your personal reactions to my list, and offer your suggestions of songs and performers that I have left out.

On Christmas Eve, I will have a special treat for you.

What do you say? You ready to get started? Here is my list.

1. White Christmas (1941, definitive performance – Bing Crosby)

The Christmas classic was written by Irvin Berlin, though there are arguments about when and where it was written. One day Berlin told his secretary, “I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend. Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it’s the best song anybody ever wrote.”

The first public performance of the song was by Bing Crosby, on his radio show The Kraft Music Hall on NBC on Christmas day in 1941. He once again recorded the song with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers for Decca Records in May of 1942 and was released in July as a part of six 78-rpm discs from the new Berlin musical Holiday Inn.

Originally the song did not do that well and was overshadowed by the first hit song from the movie, “Be Careful, It’s My Heart.” The song finally climbed to the top of the Your Hit Parade charts and stayed there until the new year. A few weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Crosby introduced the song on a Christmas Day broadcast for the Armed Forces Network. The recording is noted for Crosby’s whistling during the second chorus.

the spirit of the season

This version is my personal favorite. To me, I enjoy other versions of the song including covers by Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra and the Carpenters, but no one captures the spirit of Christmas for me in the same way as Bing Crosby.

Did you know that Berlin actually wrote an opening verse for the song that is dropped by most recordings? You can hear it on the song sung by Karen Carpenter, by Bette Midler, and Neil Diamond.

The sun is shining, the grass is green,

The orange and palm trees sway.

There’s never been such a day

In Beverly Hills, L.A.

But it’s December the twenty-fourth –

And I am longing to be up North –

The version heard most often on the radio today is a 1947 re-recording. Every effort was made to recreate the 1942 version, but is recognizable by the addition of flutes and celesta at the beginning of the song.

The Guinness Book of World Records published in 2009 lists the song as a 100-million seller. Crosby’s holiday album Merry Christmas was first released in 1949 and has never been out of print since.

“White Christmas” is the most-recorded Christmas song with more than 500 versions of the song appearing in several languages. Over a dozen recordings have made Billboard’s Top Twenty charts, with both Crosby and Andy Williams reaching the number one spot.

The Drifters showcased the talents of their Rhythm and Blues style in 1954 on a version that has been used on several movie soundtracks. If you haven’t heard this version, you should track it down.

2. I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1943, definitive performance Pentatonix)

It is difficult to not mention Bing Crosby on every Christmas song that he ever recorded. This 1943 tune was a heartfelt song, showcasing a moving tribute to the soldiers fighting during World War II. The song is sung as the thoughts of a soldier stationed overseas during the war. The message tells the family of his wishes, but ends with the melancholy, “if only in my dreams.”

The song was recorded by Crosby in 1943 and touched the hearts of Americans whether they were in the military or not. The GI magazine Yank often claimed the Bing Crosby did more to bolster the morale of the military than anything else.

You may not know, but in December 1965, astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell on Gemini 7 requested the song to be played for them. The melody has been recorded by the greats of Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Johnny Mathis, The Beach Boys, The Carpenters, Kelly Clarkson, Michael Buble and my personal favorite Pentatonix.

Pentatonix is an acapella group known both for their tight harmonies and their love for Christmas music. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is found on A Pentatonix Christmas released in 2016. If you have not enjoyed Christmas music by this group, you are in for a treat.

3. The Christmas Song – Chestnuts Roasting (1946, definitive performance Nat King Cole)

Though the song is as synonymous with Nat King Cole as “White Christmas” is with Bing Crosby, this tune was actually written by another man with a crooning voice, jazz singer Mel Tormé. According to the family, Tormé had gone over to the house of one of his writing partners, Bob Wells, on a blisteringly hot summer day in 1945. Wells was nowhere to be found, but a spiral notepad was sitting at the piano with words scribbled in pencil: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire / Jack Frost nipping at your nose / Yuletide carols being sung by a choir / Folks dressed up like Eskimos. Wells would later reveal that he had been doing everything he could to cool down on the hot day and thought that maybe if he wrote down a few lines describing winter he would feel better.

Forty minutes later, Tormé had completed the song that has become a classic. The Nat King Cole Trio first captured the song in the spring of 1946. Cole actually recorded the song on four different occasions. The final set recorded for Capitol Records in 1961 was the first recorded in stereo and is the version you hear most often on the radio.

The song has been covered by dozens of artists, including Tormé himself. If you haven’t heard this version, it deserves a listen to hear the composer’s rendition. Whitney Houston recorded a powerful version of the song on her 2003 holiday album.

4. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (1963, definitive performance Andy Williams)

This popular Christmas song was composed in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle. The song celebrates activities that are associated with the Christmas seasons, focusing on the gatherings that happen between family and friends. The Victorian Christmas tradition of telling “scary ghost stories” can be seen in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

The song was included on Williams’ first Christmas album, but was actually written for the second Christmas show that he did called “Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” It was so popular that Williams continued the tradition of singing it on his Christmas show or special every year. Williams said, “Then other people started doing it. And then suddenly it’s become – not suddenly, but over 30 years – it’s become a big standard. I think it’s one of the top ten Christmas songs of all time now.”

It certainly made my list.

The song has been used and covered by many over the years. Nissan Motors and Disneyland have used the song in promotional pieces, as has Coca-Cola and Staples Office Supply. Harry Connick, Jr. has a great version of the song on his album What a Night! A Christmas Album. Ellen uses the tune during the segment of the “12 Days of Giveaways.

5. Sleigh Ride (1958, definitive versions: orchestra – Boston Pops; vocal – Carpenters)

“Sleigh Ride” is a popular band and orchestra standard composed by Leroy Anderson. It was composed during a heat wave in July of 1946 and finished two years later. The orchestra version is one of the first Christmas pieces that we learned to play in high school band. The lyrics were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950. The Andrews’ Sisters recorded the first vocal version of the song.

The orchestra version of the song was first performed and recorded by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra. The Pops has also recorded the song with John Williams as their conductor and Keith Lockhart, their current conductor.

Although the song is often associated with Christmas, the lyrics actually mention no holiday. Certain renditions, like the ones by the Carpenters and Air Supply, subtly change the words “birthday party” to “Christmas party” to fit the season more.

Although I absolutely love the lyric version performed by Amy Grant (we will discuss her in more detail later), and the recordings by the Ronettes and Johnny Mathis deserve mentioning, the tip of the hat goes to the Carpenters for their vocal version. The late Karen Carpenter may have the smoothest female voice of my lifetime.

6. Silver Bells (1951, definitive performance Bob Hope)

Definitive performance by Bob Hope? Really? One of the most enduring Christmas songs was actually written for a comedic screwy comedy featuring Bob Hope. Though there are versions with much better musical expertise, this version is chosen to not only honor the movie in which the song debuted, but also to honor one of comedy’s great names, Bob Hope, who spent nearly fifty Christmas seasons overseas entertaining the Armed Forces through USO shows.

The Lemon Drop Kid is a 1951 comedy film based on a short story by Damon Runyon. The movie starred Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell. The story had been previously adapted as a 1934 film starring Lee Tracy. William Frawley – Fred Mertz on “I Love Lucy” – is featured in both movie versions of the film.

The first recorded version of the song was by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards in 1950. After this version became popular, Hope and Maxwell were called back to film a more elaborate production of the song.

The song was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, a song writing duo who also wrote Que Sara Sara, Mona Lisa, Buttons and Bows and Tammy, but are probably best known for writing the themes to the television series’ Bonanza and Mister Ed.

7. It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (1951, definitive performance Johnny Mathis)

This wonderful Christmas song was written in 1951 by flautist, author, composer, conductor and playwright Meredith Willson. Willson is best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical and movie The Music Man. He also wrote The Unsinkable Molly Brown and a musical adaptation of the film Miracle on 34^th Street.

The song has been recorded by many artists, but was a big hit for Perry Como who first recorded the song in the year of its release. Bing Crosby also recorded a widely played version the same year. My nod for the best performance goes to Johnny Mathis whose version from 1986 is my favorite.

There is a popular belief that Willson wrote the song while staying in the Grand Hotel in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The song makes a reference to a “tree in the Grand Hotel” and “one in the park as well.” The park would be Frost Park, right across the street from the hotel which also displayed a decorated tree.

It is also possible that the hotel mentioned was inspired by the Historic Park Inn Hotel in Willson’s hometown, Mason City, Iowa. This hotel is the last remaining hotel in the world that was designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

8. Rudolph & Frosty (1947, definitive performances Gene Autry)

Orvon Grover “Gene” Autry (1907-1998) was nicknamed “The Singing Cowboy” and although is known for “Back in the Saddle Again” is remembered for his Christmas signature songs. Autry appeared in 93 films and from 1950 to 1956 hosted the Gene Autry Show on television. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. The last years of his life were spent as the owner of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team.

I lumped these two Christmas character songs together, although I could have easily added three more Autry Christmas songs, “Up on the House Top,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and Autry’s own composition, “Here Comes Santa Claus.”

Autry’s versions of all of these songs are still played on radio loops today and usher in the holiday season. My favorite version of Rudolph is by Harry Connick, Jr., although I have a special place in my heart for the version by Burl Ives, as host Sam the Snowman in the 1964 Christmas animated special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The special was based on the Johnny Marks’ song which itself was based on a poem of the same name written in 1939 by Marks’ brother-in-law, Robert L. May (one letter off: my dad’s name was Robert M. May).

My favorite version of Frosty is also from a television special, sung by Jimmy Durante.

9. There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays (1954, definitive performance Perry Como)

Commonly married to Christmas and the holiday season, this song was written by Robert Allen and Al Stillman. The best-known recording of the song features Perry Como. The second recording by Como made in 1959 is the one that is usually played on radio stations today.

One of my favorite versions of the song was made by the Carpenters on their 1984 release AN Old Fashioned Christmas. Amazing orchestration, incredible harmonies and the breath-taking voice of Karen Carpenter produce a winning combination. Also included as an honorable mention for the best performance of this song was my mother’s favorite rendition by the Ray Coniff Singers.

10. Have a Holly Jolly Christmas (1962, definitive performance Burl Ives)

This song is also written by Johnny Marks in 1962. The song was featured in the Christmas special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which featured the voice of Burl Ives as the narrator. The version that we often hear on the radio was re-recorded by Ives in 1965 after the 1964 airing of the television special. Lady Antebellum and Michael Buble also have strong covers of the song.

There you have it – ten classic Christmas songs performed by some special artists. Hope you enjoyed the nostalgic look. Check back later to see a list of our sacred Christmas favorites.