The Top Christmas Songs of All-Time, December 23

We've sifted through all of the Christmas songs and are featuring what we believe to be the cream of the Christmas crop.  We began on December 1 and by Christmas Day will have presented The Top 150 Christmas Songs of All-Time*.

"Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"

by Burl Ives

Ives recorded this in July of 1964 for the animated feature "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" which he also narrated.  It reached #13 and is one of the most cheerful, infectious Christmas songs of them all.

 
"Baby, It's Cold Outside"
by Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme

Frank Loesser wrote this song in 1944 and premiered it with his wife, Lynn Garland, at their Navarro Hotel housewarming.    Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme recorded what is regarded as one of the best versions of the song and included it on the album That Holiday Feeling.

"All I Want for Christmas Is You"

by Mariah Carey

 

The song was written by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff. It reached #2 in Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and the U.K. and charted in six other countries. Since then, it has reappeared on the charts in four different years and has quickly become a Christmas standard, selling over four million copies.

My Grown-Up Christmas List"

by Amy Grant

The song was written by Linda Thompson-Jenner and David Foster, originally recorded by Foster with Natalie Cole in 1990.  It was this version, included on Amy Grant's second Christmas album Home for Christmas, featuring altered lyrics and an additional verse that Grant wrote, that caught on.

Amy gives us a message away from materialism and added maturity to Christmas with a Christmas List That Matters.

"Jingle Bells"

by Diana Krall

This song was first copyrighted under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh".  Included on Krall's album Christmas Songs and gifted with her signature voice and style, the version has become one of the most-played Christmas songs in recent years.

 
"Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"

by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote a two-act ballet called The Nutcracker. Originally, the ballet was not a success, but the suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. Of course now, The Nutcracker is extremely popular and is performed by ballet companies all over the world. This is one of the best versions of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" performed by the Royal Symphony Orchestra.