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, may employ lyrics about the nativity of Jesus Christ, traditions such as gift-giving and merrymaking, cultural figures such as Santa Claus, or other topics. Many songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the canon for other reasons.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. Though he initially receives ridicule for his nose as a fawn, the brightness of his nose is so powerful that it illuminates the team's path through harsh winter weather. Ronald D. Lankford, Jr., described Rudolph's story as "the fantasy story made to order for American children: each child has the need to express and receive approval for his or her individuality and/or special qualities. Rudolph's story embodies the American Dream for the child, written large because of the cultural significance of Christmas."
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American musician, singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades.
John David Marks was an American songwriter. He specialized in Christmas songs and wrote many holiday standards, including "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "A Holly Jolly Christmas", "Silver and Gold", and "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day".
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a 1964 stop motion Christmas animated television special produced by Videocraft International, Ltd. and currently distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution. It first aired December 6, 1964, on the NBC television network in the United States and was sponsored by General Electric under the umbrella title of The General Electric Fantasy Hour. The special was based on the 1949 Johnny Marks song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" which was itself based on the poem of the same name written in 1939 by Marks' brother-in-law, Robert L. May. Since 1972, the special has aired on CBS; the network unveiled a high-definition, digitally remastered version of the program in 2005, re-scanned frame-by-frame from the original 35 mm film elements.
Radio Disney Jams was a series of CD compilations of music that was featured on Radio Disney, a children's radio network.
I Am Santa Claus is the second Christmas album by Bob Rivers & Twisted Radio. It was released in November 1993 by Atlantic Records, five years after Twisted Christmas, and four years before More Twisted Christmas.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys is a 2001 direct-to-video computer-animated Christmas adventure musical film directed by Bill Kowalchuk for GoodTimes Entertainment. It was released on VHS and DVD on October 30, 2001. The film takes place after the events of the original special. The film thus revisits classic characters like Yukon Cornelius, Hermey the elf, Abominable Snow Monster, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, who is now famous in the North Pole.
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July is an American-Japanese Christmas/Independence Day film produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, featuring characters from the company's holiday specials Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) and Frosty the Snowman (1969), among others. It was filmed in Japan using the company's trademark "Animagic" stop-motion animation style. The film was originally a theatrical film released through Avco Embassy Pictures where it ran for only 2-3 weeks and was considered a box office flop. Later that year, the film premiered on television in the US on November 25, 1979, on ABC where it received better status.
"A Holly Jolly Christmas", also known as "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas", is a Christmas song written by Johnny Marks and most famously performed by Burl Ives. The song has since become one of the top 25 most-performed "holiday" songs written by ASCAP members, for the first five years of the 21st century. Successful covers have notably been recorded by Alan Jackson, Jerrod Niemann, Lady Antebellum and Michael Bublé.
Rated X Mas is a Christmas music parody album by Matt Rogers. The songs on the album are parodies of popular Christmas songs, but with graphic and sexual lyrics.
Christmas by the Bay, recorded at the Sail Loft in the Washington Navy Yard, is Burl Ives's last original Christmas album. It includes only one new Christmas song by Ives: "The Sense of Christmas." The other songs are new performances of previously recorded songs: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"; "A Holly, Jolly Christmas"; "Christmas by the Bay" ; "White Christmas" ; and "The Friendly Beasts". On all of these songs he is accompanied by the United States Navy Band, conducted by Ned Muffley.
Merry Christmas is a Christmas-themed compilation album by Bing Crosby that was released in 1945 on Decca Records. It has remained in print through the vinyl, CD, and downloadable file eras, currently as the disc and digital album White Christmas on MCA Records, a part of the Universal Music Group, and currently on vinyl as Merry Christmas on Geffen Records. It includes Crosby's signature song "White Christmas", the best-selling single of all time with estimated sales of over 50 million copies worldwide. The album was certified 4× Platinum by RIAA for selling over 4 million copies in United States. The original 1945 release and subsequent re-releases and re-packages spent a total of 39 weeks at no. 1 on the Billboard pop albums chart.
Christmas with The Chipmunks is the name given to four different Christmas music albums by Alvin and the Chipmunks. These albums were released individually in 1962, 1963, 2007 and 2008.
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas is a Christmas album by American folk singer Burl Ives, first released by Decca Records in October 1965. It peaked at #32 on Billboard's Best Bets For Christmas album chart on December 2, 1967.
Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits is a set of two Christmas-themed compilation albums released by Rhino Records in 1989, each featuring ten popular Christmas recordings from 1935 to 1983, many of which charted on the Billboard record charts. Both volumes were certified Gold by the RIAA in the U.S., with the second volume being certified Platinum.
"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.
Christmas Jollies is the third album released by Vincent Montana Jr. and his first Christmas album. It was recorded and released on Salsoul Records in November 1976. The album includes a few new Christmas tunes, co-written by Vincent Montana Jr. himself, entitled, "There's Someone Who's Knocking" with the children's chorus singing, "Merry Christmas All" with his daughter, Denise Montana, singing the lead and "Christmas Time" with the sweet honeyed-voices of the session girl-group, The Sweethearts of Sigma, that features group members Barbara Ingram, Evette Benton and Carla Benson. This highly successful album also includes disco renditions of "The Little Drummer Boy", "Sleigh Ride" and so on, plus the orchestrated instrumental version of "Silent Night". Side two is semi-instrumental with two different medleys, such as "Christmas Medley" with the family chorus singing and "New Year's Medley" with The Salsoul Singers singing in the background. Christmas Jollies went on to become the best-selling holiday albums of 1976 and 1977.
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.
