Pop, punk or perpetual Mariah, Christmas songs are the gifts that keep on giving after more than 70 years
▶ They span endless genres but unite for one goal: spreading festive cheer. Saeed Saeed rounds up 10 of the best
Christmas carols go back more than 700 years, but it’s the past 70 years of pop music that has led to the fastest evolution of festive songs. Over that time, singers and composers have used it as a time to record various tributes, observations or gripes about what it means to be human and the state of the world around us.
Here are 10 examples of how the modern Christmas hit has grown in recent history while producing an endless roster of chart-topping earworms.
White Christmas Bing Crosby (1942)
Regarded as a cultural milestone in the US, the song was composed by Irving Berlin and performed by Bing Crosby in the 1942 film Holiday Inn.
In addition to its seasonal lyrics, White Christmas’s timeless melodies strike a chord with its yearning sense of nostalgia.
It became an immediate hit and still enjoys success as one of the highest-selling singles of all time. White Christmas’s legacy extends to the end of the Vietnam War when it was broadcast on the US military’s Armed Forces Radio Service in 1975 to signal the start of the evacuation of Saigon.
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Vaughn Monroe (1945)
While White Christmas focuses on the memory of winter holidays past, this jaunty track celebrates the moment, whenever that may be.
That versatility has allowed the song to be used in films and campaigns not limited to Christmas in the years since its release, becoming an anthem of the winter season.
The track has also experienced enduring success over the decades, with covers by Crosby, Dean Martin, Carly Simon and Rod Stewart all becoming hits in the US.
Run Rudolph Run Chuck Berry (1958)
Coming off the success of 1957’s Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms, Chuck Berry cemented rock ‘n’ roll’s contribution to the Christmas songbook with the influential Run Rudolph Run.
While basically a carbon copy of Berry’s hit Little Queenie, recorded the same year, the blistering guitars, locomotive groove and Berry’s irresistible performance all contribute to the song’s enduring appeal.
Run Rudolph Run’s success and Berry’s stature as a genre pioneer encouraged further rock ‘n’ roll acts to try their hand at Christmas tracks in the following decade. This included The Beach Boys, who released Little Saint Nick, and The Beatles, via their frequently overlooked single Christmas Time (Is Here Again).
Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto James Brown (1968)
Step aside carol singers and rockers, James Brown shows Christmas can also sound funky courtesy of this classic.
It was released as part of his holiday season-themed album A Soulful Christmas. Brown pairs his taut rhythms and squalling horns with reflective lyrics about poor families struggling over the holidays.
Written as a letter to Father Christmas, Brown urges him to spread happiness in these struggling communities.
His chorus rings: “Santa Claus, go straight to the ghetto. Tell ‘em James Brown sent you.”
River Joni Mitchell (1971)
Is this really a Christmas song? Perhaps not. While popular culture seems to think so, this is essentially a stark ballad about the dissolution of a relationship involving Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell during the festive period.
Nostalgia pervades this track, which has been covered more than 400 times by artists ranging from James Taylor and Barry Manilow to Sam Smith and Ellie Goulding.
Do They Know It’s Christmas? Band Aid (1984)
Released in response to famine in Ethiopia, British singers Sir Bob Geldof (knighted on the back of his humanitarian work) and Midge Ure corralled more than 30 artists into recording this charity single.
The sound booth and resulting music video is a who’s who of the British pop scene at the time. Artists involved include George Michael, Bono, Phil Collins, Duran Duran, Bananarama and Sting.
The song’s immediate success, with five weeks spent on top of the UK charts, led to the establishment of the Live Aid concert the following year.
Christmas in Hollis Run DMC (1987)
One of the biggest crossover pop groups at the time, Run DMC were tapped to record a Christmas song for the charity album Soul Christmas.
The trio explored how the season was celebrated in their neighbourhood of Queens, New York.
Judging by the lyrics, the adidas-wearing group indulged in quite the feast: “Mom’s cooking chicken and collard greens / Rice and stuffing, macaroni and cheese / And Santa put gifts under Christmas trees.”
Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight) The Ramones (1989)
This punk anthem was written from the point of view of a warring couple who put aside their hostilities for the Christmas period. Fun, manic and powered by Joey Ramone’s sneering vocals, this has become a December staple of the punk music community.
All I Want for Christmas is You Mariah Carey (1994)
Christmas has become one of the defining themes of Mariah Carey’s career thanks in large part to this enduring bop.
For many, the annual re-emergence of this song on the radio is a sign that Christmas has arrived. Carey has embraced its growing stature on top of many a playlist, unleashing the song a day after Halloween via increasingly elaborate annual videos on her social media channels.
Initially released as part of Carey’s first Christmas album Merry Christmas, it took the song 25 years to finally top the US charts in 2019.
Mistletoe Justin Bieber (2011)
White Christmas’s timeless melodies strike a chord with its yearning sense of nostalgia
Not every Christmas track has to be slathered with saccharine melodies and lyrics. With Mistletoe, Justin Bieber brings some welcome pop panache to the tradition by way of acoustic guitars and playful falsetto.
While the song is an original, written by Bieber, Adam Messinger and Canadian-Palestinian singer Nasri Atweh, contemporary pop stars went on to update existing Christmas tracks with a similar modern approach, including efforts by Ariana Grande and Kelly Clarkson.