Related Research Articles
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of carols or songs may employ lyrics whose subject matter ranges from the nativity of Jesus Christ, to gift-giving and merrymaking, to cultural figures such as Santa Claus, among other topics. Many songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the canon for other reasons.
"The Little Drummer Boy" is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer and teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers, the song was further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale; the Simeone version was re-released successfully for several years and the song has been recorded many times since.
"Happy Xmas " is a Christmas song released in 1971 as a single by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir. It was the seventh single release by Lennon outside his work with the Beatles. The song reached number four in the UK, where its release was delayed until November 1972, and has periodically reemerged on the UK Singles Chart, most notably after Lennon's death in December 1980, when it peaked at number two. In a UK-wide poll in December 2012, it was voted tenth on the ITV television special The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song.
The UK Singles Chart was first compiled in 1969. However the records and statistics listed here date back to 1952 because the Official Charts Company counts a selected period of the New Musical Express chart and the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969 as predecessors for the period prior to 11 February 1969, where multiples of competing charts coexisted side by side. For example, the BBC compiled its own chart based on an average of the music papers of the time; many songs announced as having reached number one on BBC Radio and Top of the Pops prior to 1969 may not be listed here as chart-toppers since they do not meet the legacy criteria of the Charts Company.
“Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film of Raymond Briggs' 1978 children's book The Snowman. The song forms the centrepiece of The Snowman, which has become a seasonal favourite on British and Finnish television. The story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy and a snowman who has come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to the North Pole. "Walking in the Air" is the theme for the journey. They attend a party of snowmen, at which the boy seems to be the only human until they meet Father Christmas with his reindeer, and the boy is given a scarf with a snowman pattern. In the film, the song was performed by St Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty, and reissued in 1985 and 1987.
Daniel Richard Powter is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his self-penned hit song "Bad Day" (2005), which was top of the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks.
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is a Christmas song with music and lyrics by British songwriter Tommie Connor and first recorded by Jimmy Boyd in 1952. The song has since been covered by many artists, with one of the most famous covers being attributed to The Jackson 5.
"Run Rudolph Run" is a Christmas song popularized by Chuck Berry, written by Johnny Marks and Marvin Brodie and published by St. Nicholas Music (ASCAP). The song was first recorded by Berry in 1958 and released as a single on Chess Records.
A Santa Cause: It's a Punk Rock Christmas was released November 11, 2003 on the label Immortal Records. A percentage of the proceeds from the album's sale were donated to The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. A second edition, donating money to Cure Autism Now, was released in 2006.
"Santa Baby" is a song performed by American singer Eartha Kitt with Henri René and His Orchestra and originally released in 1953. It later appeared on Kitt's self-titled and first extended play in 1954. The song was written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer, who also used the pseudonym Tony Springer in an attempt to speed up the song's publishing process. Springer initially was dissatisfied with "Santa Baby" and called it one of his weakest works. Lyrically, the song is a tongue-in-cheek look at a Christmas list addressed to Santa Claus by a woman who wants extravagant gifts such as sables, yachts, and decorations from Tiffany's.
Now – The Christmas Album is a compilation album released in 1985. The album is part of the Now! series in the United Kingdom, and collects popular Christmas songs of the last few decades. It reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks, in between two runs of Now That's What I Call Music 6. The album has since been superseded by subsequent two-disc and later three-disc releases in the 2000s.
Merry Christmas To You, also known as Twelve Girls of Christmas, is an album by Twelve Girls Band. It consists of twelve tracks in a sort of modernized Chinese form. It was released in 2005 and is also considered as a Christmas album, in which they cover well-known Christmas Songs.
"Merry Xmas Everybody" is a song by the British rock band Slade, released as a non-album single in 1973. The song was written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and produced by Chas Chandler. It was the band's sixth and final number-one single in the UK. Earning the UK Christmas number one slot in December 1973, the song beat another Christmas-themed song, Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", which reached fourth place. It remained in the charts for nine weeks until February 1974.
"Lonely This Christmas" is a popular Christmas song by the English glam rock band Mud, that topped the UK Singles Chart in 1974, selling over 750,000 copies and reaching Christmas number one.
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is a Christmas song recorded by British glam rock band Wizzard. It was first released in December 1973 and, as with most Wizzard songs, was written and produced by the band's frontman Roy Wood—formerly of The Move and a founding member of ELO. Despite the song's strong, long-lasting popularity, it has reached no higher than number four on the UK Singles Chart, a position it occupied for four consecutive weeks from December 1973 to January 1974. The song was beaten to the 1973 Christmas Number 1 spot by Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody", which remained at the top of the charts for five weeks, from December 1973 to January 1974.
Released in 2007, Monster Ballads Xmas is the fourth in a series of compilation albums that features popular 80s rock bands, usually from the glam metal genre. This is the first in the series to feature a holiday theme – and the first to feature newly recorded songs.
Happy Christmas is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Jessica Simpson, released on November 22, 2010 by Primary Wave. Produced by Kuk Harrell, Aaron Pearce, C. "Tricky" Stewart and The-Dream, it was her first album released by Primary Wave and features cover versions of various Christmas standards in addition to original material.
I Still Believe in Santa Claus is a Christmas album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released by Curb Records in 1990. It was his fourth solo album of Christmas music, following The Andy Williams Christmas Album (1963), Merry Christmas (1965) and Christmas Present (1974). As with the 1965 LP, this album focuses exclusively on 20th-century compositions, including two new songs: "Christmas Needs Love to Be Christmas" and "My Christmas Vow ", the latter of which Williams describes in the liner notes as "a new lyric set to an old Hawaiian melody".
Happy Xmas is the first Christmas album by Eric Clapton, his twenty-first solo studio album, released on 12 October 2018. It includes 13 covers of Christmas-themed songs, both well-known and relatively obscure ones, arranged in a predominantly blues style, and one new composition by Clapton and producer Simon Climie.
References
 | This 2000s pop album–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |