The Top Holiday Albums chart is a seasonal chart published weekly by Billboard during October, November, December, and January. It tracks the best-selling holiday albums in the United States. Throughout the 2010s, many albums, compilation albums, extended plays, and soundtrack albums reached the top spot of the chart. Italian opera singer and songwriter Andrea Bocelli received the first number one of the 2010s with his album My Christmas (2009). [1]
Several artists collected multiple number one albums during the decade. Lady Antebellum first visited the top of the chart with their EP A Merry Little Christmas in 2010, and returned with their fourth studio album, On This Winter's Night , in 2012. American a cappella group Pentatonix scored four number ones with That's Christmas to Me (2014), A Pentatonix Christmas (2016), Christmas Is Here! (2018), and The Best of Pentatonix Christmas (2019), totaling 40 non-consecutive weeks at the chart's summit. [2] That's Christmas to Me and A Pentatonix Christmas accounted for 18 weeks at the top each, with the former album occupying the top position for 10 of the 12 weeks during the 2014-2015 holiday season. Pentatonix has sold over 4.5 million holiday albums in the US, as of December 2019. [3] Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas II You debuted at the top spot in November 2010, while her first holiday album Merry Christmas (1994) reached number one in November 2019 following the release of its deluxe edition. [4] [5] [6] Because of Carey's surge in popularity during the holiday season, she is often referred to by publications as the "Queen of Christmas". [7] [8] [9]
The soundtrack to the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas reached the top spot several times throughout the decade, with a special edition release of album also reaching number one in 2015. Scottish singer Susan Boyle released her second studio album, The Gift , in 2010 to commercial success, simultaneously topping both the Top Holiday Albums and the main all-genre Billboard 200 chart. [10] [11] It went on to sell 3.7 million copies during the 2010–2011 season. [12] In 2013, Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas , an album performed by the cast of the American reality television series Duck Dynasty , reached the top of the chart for five non-consecutive weeks. [13] It also reached number one on Billboard's Top Country Albums, selling 138,000 copies in its first four weeks. [14] American singer Reba McEntire previously appeared on the Top Holiday Albums chart in 1994 and 2000, but achieved her first number one on the chart with My Kind of Christmas in 2016. [15] Several of the albums on the list, including Carey's Merry Christmas, Michael Bublé's Christmas (2011), and Celine Dion's These Are Special Times (1998), are among the best-selling holiday albums of all time in the US. [16]
"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham! Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in several European countries. The song has been covered by many artists since its original release, including Whigfield, Crazy Frog, Billie Piper, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.
"Carol of the Bells" is a popular Christmas carol, which is based on the Ukrainian New Year's song "Shchedryk." The music for the carol comes from the song written by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1914; the English-language lyrics were written in 1936 by Peter Wilhousky.
Merry Christmas is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, and her first Christmas album. Released by Columbia Records on October 28, 1994, at the peak of the initial stretch of Carey's career, between Music Box (1993) and Daydream (1995), the album features cover versions of popular Christmas songs in addition to original material. Carey worked with Walter Afanasieff, with whom she wrote all of the original tracks, as well as producing Carey's interpretations of the covered material. Three singles were released from the album, of which "All I Want for Christmas Is You" went on to become one of the best-selling singles of all time and the best-selling Christmas ringtone in the United States.
"Hallelujah" is a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, originally released on his album Various Positions (1984). Achieving little initial success, the song found greater popular acclaim through a new version recorded by John Cale in 1991. Cale's version inspired a 1994 recording by Jeff Buckley that in 2004 was ranked number 259 on Rolling Stone's "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
"What Christmas Means to Me" is the name of several different Christmas songs. The most-covered version was written by Allen Story, Anna Gordy Gaye, and George Gordy. It has been recorded by many artists, including:
"Mary, Did You Know?" is a Christmas song addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, with lyrics written by Mark Lowry in 1984, and music written by Buddy Greene in 1991. It was originally recorded by Christian recording artist Michael English on his self-titled debut solo album in 1991. At the time, English and Lowry were members of the Gaither Vocal Band, and Greene was touring with them. The song reached number six on CCM Magazine's Adult Contemporary Chart. In 1993, the second singer to record the song was Country singer Kathy Mattea on her album Good News, which won the Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album. Lowry would record the song several times himself, most notably with the Gaither Vocal Band on their 1998 Christmas album, Still the Greatest Story Ever Told.
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a song written in October 1962, with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne. The pair, married at the time, wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regney had been invited by a record producer to write a Christmas song, but he was hesitant due to the commercialism of Christmas. It has sold tens of millions of copies and has been covered by hundreds of artists.
Canadian singer Michael Bublé has released eleven studio albums, three live albums, nine EPs, eighteen singles, and fourteen music videos. He has recorded for Warner Bros. Records, Reprise Records, and 143 Records. Bublé has sold over 75 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling Canadian artists in history. Billboard listed him as the 3rd Top Canadian Artist of all time. He has scored 4 No. 1 albums on Billboard 200. He was listed by Billboard as the 47th Top Artist of 2010s decade. He also placed three albums on Billboard 200 Albums of the Decade which includes: Christmas, To Be Loved and Crazy Love.
Pentatonix are an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, consisting of vocalists Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Matt Sallee, and Kevin Olusola. Characterized by their pop-style arrangements with vocal harmonies, scat singing, riffing, vocal percussion, and beatboxing, they produce cover versions of modern pop works or Christmas songs, sometimes in the form of medleys, along with original material. Pentatonix was formed in 2011 and subsequently won the third season of NBC's The Sing-Off, receiving $200,000 and a recording contract with Sony Music. When Sony's Epic Records dropped the group after The Sing-Off, the group formed its YouTube channel, distributing its music through Madison Gate Records, a label owned by Sony Pictures.
Mitchell Coby Michael Grassi is an American singer from Arlington, Texas. Known for his high tenor voice, Grassi came to international attention as a founding performer in two groups—the a cappella quintet Pentatonix, and the duo Superfruit with Pentatonix bandmate Scott Hoying. As of September 2023, Pentatonix has released eleven albums and six EPs, have had five songs in the Billboard Hot 100, and won three Grammy Awards as "the first a cappella group to achieve mainstream success in the modern market". As of September 2023, Superfruit's YouTube channel has over 2.4 million subscribers and has accumulated over 483 million views.
Kirstin Taylor Maldonado is an American singer-songwriter. She is known for being a vocalist in the a cappella group Pentatonix. With the group, she has released seven studio albums, won three Grammy Awards, and sold over six million albums.
That's Christmas to Me is the third studio album by a cappella group Pentatonix. It is their sixth release overall and their second holiday release following their 2012 EP PTXmas. It only features previously unreleased material. It was released on October 21, 2014 through RCA Records, peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
American a cappella group Pentatonix (PTX) has released 11 studio albums, six compilation albums, six extended plays (EPs), 34 singles and 58 music videos. The group won the third season of The Sing-Off in 2011, and subsequently received a recording contract with Sony. In June 2012, Pentatonix released their first extended play, PTX, Volume 1 through Sony-owned independent record label Madison Gate Records. The EP debuted at number 14 on the US Billboard 200, selling 18,401 copies in its first week of sales. A Christmas EP, PTXmas, was released in November 2012. It was re-released in November 2013 with one of its new tracks, "Little Drummer Boy", debuting at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and charting in other countries such as Austria, Canada and New Zealand. The EP became the sixth highest-selling Christmas album of 2013, selling over 168,000 copies. In November 2013, Pentatonix released their third EP, PTX, Vol. II which debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200, selling 31,000 copies in its first week of sales.
Scott Hoying is an American singer, musician and songwriter who came to international attention as the baritone of the a cappella group Pentatonix and one-half of the music duo Superfruit. As of June 2021, Pentatonix has released eleven albums and two EPs, have had four songs in the Billboard Hot 100, and won three Grammy Awards as "the first a cappella group to achieve mainstream success in the modern market". As of November 2021, Superfruit's YouTube channel has over 2.4 million subscribers, and over 444 million views.
A Pentatonix Christmas is the fifth studio album by American a cappella group Pentatonix. It is also their second full-length holiday album since That's Christmas to Me in 2014. Featuring two new original songs, "Good to Be Bad" and "The Christmas Sing-Along", A Pentatonix Christmas debuted on the Billboard 200 at number three with 52,000 albums sold in its first week, and later peaked at number one, selling 206,000 units in its best week. A Pentatonix Christmas marks as their second number one album on the Billboard 200 after Pentatonix. The album also debuted atop the Billboard Holiday Albums chart, their second number one on that chart after That's Christmas to Me. The deluxe edition of the album dropped from number 6 to 200 on the Billboard 200 in 2018, the greatest drop for an album that still remained on the chart, in Billboard history. The album also, with a guest appearance by The Manhattan Transfer, marked the first recording by the fourth iteration of the group, as this was Trist Curless' first participation with the group in a recording since the death of Tim Hauser, whom Curless officially replaced in 2014.
Everyday Is Christmas is the eighth studio album and first Christmas album by Australian singer-songwriter Sia, released on 17 November 2017 by Atlantic Records and Monkey Puzzle. Her first album with Atlantic, it features original Christmas songs. Initially released with ten tracks in 2017, the album has since been reissued in 2018, 2021, and 2022 with new bonus tracks each time. The lead single, "Santa's Coming for Us", was released on 30 October 2017, and "Snowman" was released as the second on 9 November.
You Make It Feel Like Christmas is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani. The album, which is Stefani's first full-length Christmas-themed album, was released on October 6, 2017, by Interscope Records. The record was executively produced by Stefani and Busbee, with additional production coming from Eric Valentine. The standard version of You Make It Feel Like Christmas contains twelve songs, featuring six original songs penned by Stefani, Busbee and Justin Tranter, and six cover versions of Christmas standards. While going on a nature walk near the Oklahoma ranch house belonging to boyfriend Blake Shelton, Stefani felt inspired to record a Christmas album and began writing what would later become "Christmas Eve". Recording sessions took place in the summer months of 2017; several of the tracks' titles leaked in August, leaving Stefani to confirm the project in September. The album's original songs make references to Stefani's newfound love and relationship with Shelton.
Christmas Is Here! is the seventh studio album by American a cappella group Pentatonix. It is also their third full-length holiday album following A Pentatonix Christmas in 2016.
The Christmas Is Here Tour was the eighth concert tour by American a cappella group Pentatonix to promote their seventh studio album, Christmas Is Here!. The tour began on November 25, 2018, in Grand Prairie, and concluded on December 22, 2018, in New York City.
Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music.