One of the biggest aspects of the Holiday season is the music. From the radio, to streaming, to just about any store you go to, you’ll hear holiday music. Specifically, Christmas music is very popular around the Holiday time, no matter how old the song is.
It is so favored, that many artists release albums at Christmas time. Some of the biggest include Elvis Presley’s Elvis’ Christmas Album and Kelly Clarkson’s Wrapped in Red. These Christmas albums are not the most critically acclaimed, but they’ll sell like nothing you’ve seen before.
Many Christmas songs have interesting backstories and history behind them that many people may not know. So, here are just a few interesting facts about Christmas music.
“Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”
One of the most famous Christmas tunes is “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee. Most well known for being used in Home Alone, the song recently went No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after 65 years.
“Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
Many Christmas songs have different versions covered by many different artists. One song with the most well-known versions is “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” Singers such as Frank Sinatra, The Jackson 5, and even Bruce Springsteen have covered the song. Each artist makes the song their own based on their respective genre.
“Feliz Navidad”
Christmas is celebrated all over the world, and many other people from different countries and cultures make music. One of those international songs, “Feliz Navidad,” has an intriguing backstory regarding the writing process.
The original writer and singer, José Feliciano, recorded the song while feeling homesick in Los Angeles during the holidays. He remembers celebrating Christmas Eve with his family, eating Puerto Rican foods, drinking rum, and going caroling.
Bing Crosby
One artist I would like to mention is Bing Crosby. Crosby is a jazz, and country artist who you may know for his popular Christmas songs. One of his more famous songs is the song “White Christmas” on the album of the same title. This song is the best-selling single in the United States and is the best-selling single of all time, with over 50 million copies sold worldwide.
“All I Want For Christmas is You”
One of the most well-known Christmas songs is Mariah Carey’s classic, “All I Want For Christmas is You.” This is the song that when played, you know it’s the holiday season. The song was a success when it was first released and is still a major hit to this day.
When creating this song Carey and her team of writers hesitated, believing that Christmas music was only for artists whose careers were tanking. So they discreetly released her album, Merry Christmas not knowing it was going to blow up like it did.
Elvis’ Christmas Album
By 1957, Elvis Presley was a rising rock star. But to reach larger audiences he needed to release something more universal. So, his team came up with Elvis’ Christmas Album. With at least 17 million copies in the United States, this album is the best-selling album of all time in the US.
The most famous song on the album, “Blue Christmas,” had a very interesting origin. Presley called on two songwriters, who had already written a couple of songs on the album and gave Elvis a couple of hits of his own, to write another Christmas song during sessions with the album. When he heard “Blue Christmas” originally titled “Christmas Blues”, he was determined to ensure that this album would not be ignored
“Do They Know It’s Christmas”
The last Christmas song I would like to discuss is the famous charity song by a collective group of artists known as Band-Aid. The group consisted of popular British and Irish musical acts such as Boy George, George Michael, Bono from U2, Sting from The Police, and even Paul McCartney.
Written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, the song was used to raise funds for the famine in Ethiopia from 1983-1985. When it was released in the UK in December of 1984, it became the fastest-selling single in UK-chart history, until it was overtaken by Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind” in 1997.
