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, about holiday traditions such as gift-giving and merrymaking, about 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.
Mitchell William Miller was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor and artists and repertoire (A&R) man. Miller was one of the most influential people in American popular music during the 1950s and early 1960s, both as the head of A&R at Columbia Records and as a best-selling recording artist with an NBC television series, Sing Along with Mitch. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in the early 1930s, Miller began his musical career as a player of the oboe and English horn, making numerous highly regarded classical and popular recordings.
"Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a song recorded by Harry Reser and His Band. It is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. When it was covered by Eddie Cantor in his own radio show in November 1934 it became an instant hit with orders for 500,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records sold within 24 hours. The version for Bluebird Records by George Hall and His Orchestra was very popular in 1934 and reached the various charts of the day. The song has been recorded by over 200 artists including Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, the Crystals, Neil Diamond, Fred Astaire, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Chris Isaak, the Temptations, the Carpenters, Michael Bublé, Luis Miguel, and the Jackson 5.
When My Heart Finds Christmas is American artist Harry Connick Jr.'s first Christmas album. Released in 1993, it is among the most popular holiday collections of the past three decades in the United States. Connick Jr composed four songs for the album: "When My Heart Finds Christmas", "(It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus", "The Blessed Dawn Of Christmas Day" and "I Pray On Christmas". The other songs are traditional Christmas songs and carols.
Christmas Songs by Sinatra is the name of the third studio album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. It was released in 1948 as a 78 rpm album set and a 10" LP record featuring a collection of eight holiday songs. A compilation album was released in 1994 including the songs released on the 1948 album along with other Christmas songs from his years recording at Columbia.
Hey Santa! is a Christmas album recorded by Carnie & Wendy Wilson. It was released in October 1993, and entered the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart on Christmas Day, 1993. The album was the first album recorded by the Wilson sisters after the group Wilson Phillips went on hiatus.
Merry Christmas is a 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.
"Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" is a popular Christmas song written and originally performed by Gene Autry, with music composed by Oakley Haldeman. Autry's original recording (in which he pronounces Santa Claus as "Santy Claus") was a top-10 hit on the pop and country charts; the song would go on to be covered many times in the subsequent decades.
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.
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.
Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music was Perry Como's first Christmas album, originally issued by RCA Victor as a 78 RPM album set in 1946. The original release included "O Little Town of Bethlehem" which was replaced in 1947 by Irving Berlin's famous song "White Christmas". This album, along with Como's later stereophonic Christmas albums, Season's Greetings from Perry Como and The Perry Como Christmas Album, from 1959 and 1968 respectively, are among the best-selling Christmas albums of all time. RCA has reissued Merry Christmas Music on LP, tape and compact disc several times.
Sing Along with Mitch is an album by Mitch Miller & The Gang. It was released in 1958 on the Columbia label.
More Sing Along with Mitch is an album by Mitch Miller & The Gang. It was released in 1958 on the Columbia label.
Folk Song Sing Along with Mitch is an album by Mitch Miller & The Gang. It was released in 1959 on the Columbia label.
Christmas Sing Along with Mitch is an album by Mitch Miller & The Gang. It was released in 1958 on the Columbia label.
Saturday Night Sing Along with Mitch is an album by Mitch Miller & The Gang. It was released in 1960 on the Columbia label.
Happy Times! Sing Along with Mitch is an album by Mitch Miller and The Gang. It was released in 1960 on the Columbia label.
Before 1958, Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records at the time. This page examines the various specialty sections published during the holiday seasons that only survey Christmas music.
