Yooo wazzam errbody, I hope everybody had a happy holiday season. I just wanna start off by saying that everybody should thank Jesus for coming down to Earth so that we can have Christmas music. Great 👍🏽.
About two years ago, I launched this website with this same discussion topic. Since then, a lot has changed for me and about me so I thought it’d be cool to revisit it. Now, I’m pretty sure in that article I said Christmas music is valid until new year’s, but bro was trippin it. If you catch me listening to Christmas music in June, MIND YA BUSINESS‼️ 😒 It’s never a bad time to celebrate the birth of Christ.
I’ve learned that because Christmas music is so abundant and various, actually choosing the top ten Christmas songs is impossible. So, I did my best to make the list more comprehensive by conglomerating as much as possible. Meaning, the title of this article really should be more along the lines of, “Important Discussions: Top 10 Christmas Songs/Albums/Artists/Genres”. I even actually made two lists, dividing secular Christmas songs and hymnal Christmas songs. As far as criteria, I valued albums over singles, joyfulness over sadness, and originals over covers. So without further ado, enjoy, and know I’m always down for a friendly discussion.
The Secular List
#10: Sad Christmas Music
Indeed, Christmas is a time of joy and celebration. But truthfully, I love sad music 🤷🏽♂️, and unfortunately the holiday season is a depressing time for a lot of people, so I salute you if you crank out a melancholy Christmas banger. I also think Christmas music has a great opportunity make statements about the world, such as “Someday at Christmas”, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”, and member of the list “Snow in LA”.
Favorite songs: “Snow in LA”, “I’ll Be Waiting (Sad At Christmas)”, “Amarga Navidad”, “Single On The 25th”, “If We Make It Through December” (EP)
#9: Christmas: A Season of Love Indina Menzel
Indina Menzel is the voice of Elsa in Frozen and is also known as the queen of Broadway. Meaning, she has, “the voice”. Growing up traveling the world, watching my mom sing in operas caused me to highly value singers who have textbook classical execution and also act while they sing. This is what I consider “the voice”, and Indina Menzel did it on em wit it ✅.
Favorite songs: “A Hand For Mrs. Claus (feat. Ariana Grande)” and “Auld Lang Syne”
#8: Home For Christmas NSYNC
Lately, I’ve been really into boybands such as NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys. I think they get an unnecessary amount of hate, and I don’t care what you think 🤷🏽♂️. The combination of a boy band and Christmas music is the ultimate concoction of cheesiness that I absolutely love, plus it’s full of original songs. Salute.
Favorite songs: “I Never Knew the Meaning of Christmas”, “All I Want Is You (This Christmas)”, “O Holy Night”, “I Don’t Wanna Spend One More Christmas Without You”
#7: “Love Is an Open Door” Kristen Bell & Santino Fontana
Well, this isn’t exactly a Christmas song, but it’s on Frozen and it’s a cheesy love song SO IT’S INNEIR. This is probably my favorite duet of all time and the “did dat” levels are wild. You can gone head and hate if you want to 🤷🏽♂️ (this is my favorite emoji if you couldn’t tell).
#6: Dan + Shay
This “country” duo (they make pop music 🙄) has dropped off a series of original joyful Christmas singles that I love. While they do make pop music, it’s ok, because pop music has its place in the world… I guess. Dan + Shay have a really good vocal sound, creative lyricism, and bring an overall good vibe to the Christmas music scene. Score one for pop music 👌🏽.
Favorite song: “Holiday Party”
#5: “White Christmas” The Drifters
Introducing the first returnee from the 2020 list. Not much to say about this one other than that it’s a generation bop and probably my favorite song on the list to sing. Furthermore, it does make me wonder about what the treatment of a black music group in the 50’s must’ve been like. Artists are exploited today, so I can only imagine what it would’ve been like before segregation.
#4: “The 12 Days of Christmas” Straight No Chaser
And now, meet the second returnee. You would be hard pressed to find a song more innovative than this, Christmas or not. If you haven’t learned already, we love cheesy music round hea ✅. And this song also has a special place in my heart because my cheesy a capella group used to sing it, so if anyone from MAC is reading this, wazzzaaaammmm ✊🏽. Enjoy this bonus video as well 🤣.
#3: Santa Baby Alecia Keys
Despite it not being number 1, I feel confident to say that this is the best album on the list. She lands at number 3 for reasons out of her control, but this was a masterpiece. Now, I’m not sure if Christmas music is supposed to be this sexy, but Jesus is sexy, so I’ll allow it 😏. As far as her singing, I really enjoyed the jazzy, sometimes old-timey, charismatic performance that she went with. It was almost as though the songs were recorded live. If there was a “the voice” for R&B style voices, this would be it. Also, in a few songs she has this controlled distortion effect on the vocal that I think is amaaazing 🤤. I gave more points to original songs, in which she had 2.5, because I feel that most Christmas songs have been overcovered. But in the ones that she did cover, she actually made it her own, showing her musical innovation. This is definitely the album I listened to most on the list and enjoyed listening to the most. Gotta respect greatness ✊🏽.
Favorite songs: “Santa Baby”, “December Back 2 June”, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”
#2: Christmas Album Jackson 5
Basically, a big reason they’re up this high is because for some reason I just feel like Christmas music hits harder when it’s sung by kids. Idk why 🤷🏽♂️. However, I dare not discredit the rarity of someone as young as Michael Jackson was, to have had a voice like he did. Although, I had a little chuckle cuz I wondered if they had to tell him that Santa Claus wasn’t real to make some of the songs lol.
Favorite songs: “Someday At Christmas”, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”, “Give Love On Christmas Day”
#1: Under The Mistletoe Justin Bieber
And behold, the back-to-back champ: Justiiiin Bieber‼️🥳👏🏽 Is this the best Christmas album ever? No. But it has a looot going for it to get it to number 1. First of all “Mistletoe” is up there for one of the best Christmas songs ever, his version of “The Christmas Song” is hands down the best ever, he duetted Mariah Carey on a “All I Want For Christmas is You” remix, he has a lot of original songs on there, he was 16 when he made it, and for me it has a strong nostalgia effect. You can hate on my boy, but JB is a legend and dropped off a Christmas classic.
Favorite songs: “Mistletoe” and “The Christmas Song”
The Hymnal List
#10: Behold Lauren Daigle
Lauren Daigle drops off a good Christmas album. For me, she makes the list primarily off of the uniqueness of her voice. Salute.
Favorite song: “O come, O come, Emmanuel”
#9: “Joyful Joyful” Jvck James
Jvck James makes it at nine with a single. This song is really cool and has like an a capella Brent Faiyaz type vibe to it. Meaning, he brought a strong R&B voice and high emphasis on harmonies into the Christmas scene. Also it has some really cool production. Based on this song, I would wanna hear more from him.
#8: White Christmas Bing Crosby
I just feel like Christmas music and old-timeyness go hand in hand 🤝. For me, Christmas music always evokes a certain level of nostalgia, and this being made in the 40’s adds to that. Plus, Bing can sing.
Favorite songs: “Silent Night” and “Adeste Fideles”
#7: “Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)” Amy Grant
This original song is really cool because it takes the perspective of Mary speaking to God. Amy Grant is also one of 🐐’s of Christian music so it’s only fitting that she’s on here.
#6: “Mothers and Shepherds” Sheléa
Here we have another single, largely about Mary, making the list at six. The song is an original, so thank you Sheléa and Amy Grant, because I’ve kinda gotten tired of having to listen to same songs just with slightly different renditions 😪. But also, the song has an awesome operatic quality to it and does a good job telling the story of the birth of Christ.
#5: Noël Josh Groban
If you couldn’t tell, I’m on my opera/classical kick. Groban drops off a very classically sound Christmas album with high levels of “did dat”. Gone head brotha ✊🏽.
Favorite songs: Pretty much allum 🤷🏽♂️
#4: Christmas in Eden Greatest Hits Caleb Gordon
This may have been my favorite find making this list. I’ve recently been trying to distance myself from mainstream rap, and more into Christian rap. And I tell you the truth, it has not been easy. To be honest, Christian rap just isn’t as wavy to me 😔. But Caleb Gordon is a prayer answered, cuz I think he goes toe to toe to mainstream trap artists. First of all, he made a trap Christmas album, which is awesome in itself and the only reason it didn’t make number one is because it isn’t quite Christmassy enough. However, he has a great trap sound and really innovative production. Plus, some of the beats are Christmas themed. Dude is talented, I highly recommend 💯.
Favorite songs: All dem boys ✅
#3: These Are Special Times Celine Dion
To me, Celine Dion is the best singer on this entire list and makes a case for best ever. She has “the voice” in abundance, which is wild cuz she made pop music (pop music was different back then 😕). Her rendition of “O Holy Night” and original song “The Prayer” are absolute spectacles 😮, and the whole album indeed has an amazingly high level of “did dat”. Much respect for Celine, but I am ashamed to say that I had (and still have) a good lil chuckle when I heard about her recent diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome 🤭. Basically, slowly over time she’s going to turn into a human statue 😗😶…
Favorite songs: “O Holy Night” and “The Prayer”
#2: Pentatonix
Behold the undisputed, pound for pound 🐐’s of Christmas music: Pentatonix (even though they’re second)‼️🔥⚡️👏🏽 In the same way that I feel like Christmas music should be sung by kids, I also feel like it should be a capella. Idk why 🤷🏽♂️. Nonetheless, this group has some absolute Christmas bangers, and if I could only listen to one Christmas music act for the rest of my life, it would be them. Their one drawback in my eyes is that they’ve made Christmas music in volume, basically dropping a Christmas album every year. That’s fine, but I value an act’s hit to skip ratio, and theirs definitely isn’t as high as other artists on the list, causing them to land at number two.
Favorite songs: “Hallelujah”, “Mary, Did You Know?”, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlmen”, “Silent Night”
#1: My Gift Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood’s album, “My gift” has extremely high levels of “did dat” and consistency 📶. Amazingly, she has “the voice” as a country singer, which intrigues me and will definitely lead me to check out more of her music. The songs have just the right energy for a hymnal Christmas album, where the emphasis is her performing the lyrics. “My Gift” also has the highest ratio of Christian to secular songs including two original Christian songs. Score a big one for country music 👏🏽🤠.