This page shows the best-selling Christmas singles in the United States. It includes artists from around the world, but it only reflects sales in the United States. According to the Guinness Book of World Records , "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby is not only the best-selling Christmas/holiday single in the United States, but also the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Prior to March 1, 1991, the only means of tracking sales figures for record albums and singles in the United States was via the certification system of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), based specifically on shipments (less potential returns) on a long-term basis. From March 1, 1991, through the present day, the Nielsen SoundScan tracking system has been more widely used to accurately track sales of record albums and singles at the point of sale (POS) based on inventory bar code scans, as well as digital music download sales starting in 2003. As of November 25, 2016, the holiday single with the most digital downloads is Mariah Carey's 1994 track "All I Want for Christmas Is You", which SoundScan estimates as having sold 3,200,000 copies. [5]
This is a list of the top ten best-selling Christmas singles of the SoundScan era in the United States according to the Nielsen Company, as last updated on November 25, 2016. [5] Nielsen SoundScan began tracking digital download sales data at the end of June 2003.
| Rank | Title | Artist | Released | Label | Digital downloads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "All I Want for Christmas Is You" | Mariah Carey | 1994 | Columbia | 3,200,000 |
| 2 | "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" | Kristen Bell , Agatha Lee Monn & Katie Lopez | 2013 | Walt Disney | 1,600,000 |
| 3 | "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" | Savatage (later credited to Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which featured all Savatage members) | 1996 | Lava | 1,300,000 |
| 4 | "Mistletoe" | Justin Bieber | 2011 | Island | 1,100,000 |
| 5 | "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" | Brenda Lee | 1958 | Decca | 1,000,000 |
| 6 | "Where Are You Christmas?" | Faith Hill | 2000 | Interscope | 977,000 [6] |
| 7 | "Christmas Canon" | Trans-Siberian Orchestra | 1998 | Lava | 918,000 |
| 8 | "Feliz Navidad" | José Feliciano | 1970 | RCA | 808,000 |
| 9 | "Jingle Bell Rock" | Bobby Helms | 1957 | Decca | 780,000 |
| 10 | "Last Christmas" | Wham! | 1984 | Columbia | 751,000 |
This is an incomplete list of the best-selling Christmas/holiday singles in the United States based on certification by the RIAA. This list provides a more complete representation of the best-selling Christmas/holiday albums in history, as it includes those released well before the Nielsen/SoundScan era of music sales.
| Year of release | Title | Artist | Labels | Certification award [8] | Certification date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | "All I Want for Christmas Is You" | Mariah Carey | Columbia | 2× Multi-Platinum | 2009-12-15 |
| 2003 | "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" | Elmo & Patsy | Legacy/Epic | Gold | 2008-12-10 |
| 2003 | "Santa Baby" | Eartha Kitt | Legacy | Gold | 2008-12-09 |
According to the most recent record album certifications, the holiday single title with the highest RIAA certification is Elvis Presley's 1964 single "Blue Christmas", which is certified Platinum by the RIAA (though its date of certification came more than ten years after the RIAA reduced the threshold for Platinum level for singles from two million copies to one million copies). [9]
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) award certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards. Certification is not automatic; for an award to be made, the record label must first request certification. The audit is conducted against net shipments after returns, which includes albums sold directly to retailers and one-stops, direct-to-consumer sales and other outlets.
Jackson 5 Christmas Album is the first Christmas album, and fourth studio album, by Motown family quintet the Jackson 5, released on October 15, 1970. Included on the Christmas Album is the Jacksons' hit single version of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town". The Jacksons' versions of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" remain frequent radio requests during the Christmas season. The album spent four weeks at the number one position on Billboard magazine's special Christmas Albums chart that the magazine published in December 1970, making it the best-selling Christmas album of that year and also of the year 1972 in the United States. This album was a top seller and had the potential to chart high on the US Billboard Top LPs ranking, but from 1963 to 1973, holiday albums were not allowed to chart in it. The album has been praised by music critics.
"White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. The song was written by Berlin for the 1942 musical film Holiday Inn. The composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards. Bing Crosby's record topped the Billboard chart for 11 weeks in 1942 and returned to the number one position again in December of 1943 and 1944. His version would return to the top 40 a dozen times in subsequent years.
Because It's Christmas is the first of three Christmas-themed albums released by singer-songwriter Barry Manilow. The album was released in 1990 and was a huge success, becoming Manilow's first platinum album in the United States since 1980's Barry. It also began a period in Manilow's career in which he recorded cover albums. Each album would focus on a particular style of music. He continued this pattern until the release of Here at the Mayflower in 2001.
"Blue Christmas" is a Christmas song written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson and most famously recorded by Elvis Presley, although it was first recorded by Doye O'Dell in 1948. It is a tale of unrequited love during the holidays and is a longstanding staple of Christmas music, especially in the country genre.
Christmas is the first Christmas album by country band Alabama. The album was released on RCA Nashville in 1985. It was certified double platinum for shipment of 2 million units by the Recording Industry Association of America on July 11, 1996. Since 1991 when SoundScan started to collate sales data, 515,300 copies have been sold in the United States.
The discography for Canadian country-pop singer Anne Murray includes 32 studio albums, 15 compilation albums and 76 singles. Murray has sold over 55 million records across the world, becoming one of the best-selling Canadian artists in history. She has scored 10 number one hits on Hot Country Songs and 8 number one hits on Adult Contemporary Chart.
A Christmas Album (1967) is the first Christmas album and the tenth studio album released by American singer Barbra Streisand.
This article contains a list of albums by Nat King Cole and compilations of his recordings, together with a list of his chart singles.
The Andy Williams Christmas Album is the first Christmas holiday album released by singer Andy Williams and his twelfth studio album overall. It was issued by Columbia Records in 1963, the first of eight Christmas albums released by Williams. Though it was also the album that introduced Williams's perennial holiday classic "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", Columbia instead released Williams's cover of "White Christmas" as the album's promotional single at the time.
Merry Christmas is the second Christmas album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released by Columbia Records in 1965, and his seventeenth studio album overall. This seasonal LP is focused exclusively on 20th century compositions, unlike 1963's The Andy Williams Christmas Album, which, of its 12 tracks, had six with origins predating the turn of the century.
Give Me Your Love for Christmas is the third Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis and was released by Columbia Records on October 13, 1969. The oldest song selected for this project was the 1934 classic "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", which meant there were not the traditional hymns that could be found on his previous Christmas outings. He did, however, cover several other contemporary Christmas favorites along with a few new and lesser-known songs, such as the title track, which was a reworking of an unreleased recording of his from 1961, and "Christmas Day", which came from the then-current Broadway musical Promises, Promises. New versions of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "The Little Drummer Boy", which he also recorded in 1963 for his previous Christmas LP, Sounds of Christmas, made the final track list here as well.
"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a song by songwriter Johnny Marks based on the 1939 story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer published by the Montgomery Ward Company. Gene Autry's recording hit No. 1 on the U.S. charts the week of Christmas 1949.
The singles discography of Elvis Presley began in 1954 with the release of his first commercial single, "That's All Right". Following his regional success with Sun Records, Presley was signed to RCA Victor on November 20, 1955. Presley's first single with RCA, "Heartbreak Hotel", was a worldwide hit, reaching the No. 1 position in four countries and the top 10 in many other countries. Other hit singles from the 1950s include "Don't Be Cruel", "Hound Dog", "Love Me Tender", "Too Much", "All Shook Up", "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear", "Jailhouse Rock", "Don't", "Hard Headed Woman" and "A Big Hunk o' Love". On March 24, 1958, Presley entered the United States Army at Memphis, Tennessee, and was stationed in Germany. He left active duty on March 5, 1960.
Song Sung Blue is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 13, 1972, by Columbia Records and featured his renditions of mostly recent chart hits.
The Christmas Music of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in October 1993 by Columbia Records and included selections from the four Christmas albums that he had recorded to date: Merry Christmas, Sounds of Christmas, Give Me Your Love for Christmas, and Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis.
Johnny Mathis has recorded 73 studio albums, 10 of which achieved sales of 500,000 units and were awarded Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. Six of his compilation albums also accomplished this, and of these 16 Gold albums, six eventually went Platinum by reaching sales of one million copies. In 1999, sales figures totaled five million for his first holiday LP, Merry Christmas, and three million for Johnny's Greatest Hits, a 1958 collection that has been described as the "original greatest-hits package" and once held the record for most weeks on Billboard magazine's album chart with a total of 490. His second longest album chart run was the 295 weeks belonging to his Platinum 1959 album Heavenly, which gave him five weeks in the top spot. In a ranking of the top album artists of the last half of the 1950s in terms of Billboard chart performance, he comes in at number two, for the 1960s, number 10, and for the period from 1955 to 2009 he is at number six.
José Feliciano has recorded 56 studio albums, most of which are primarily sung in either English or Spanish. Three of his releases received the standard Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 500,000 units. Two of his other albums were awarded Los Premios de Oro y De Platino from the RIAA: Señor Bolero went double Platinum in 2004 for surpassing sales of 120,000 units, and José Feliciano y Amigos went Gold in 2008 after selling 30,000 copies.
It was a peaceful song that became a wartime classic. Its unorthodox, melancholy melody—and mere 54 words, expressing the simple yearning for a return to happier times—sounded instantly familiar when sung by America's favorite crooner. But 67 years after its introduction, some still are surprised to learn that Bing Crosby's recording of the Irving Berlin ballad "White Christmas" became not only the runaway smash-hit for the World War II holidays, but the best-selling record of all time.
