Christmas is here, an always profitable time for the music industry. If in the past record stores eagerly awaited this week of December to multiply the sales of singles and CDs, today Spotify, YouTube and other platforms are taking full advantage of it with the countless reproductions of charts and/or thematic singles in every family reunion.
It is also a special monetization period for some artists. The business queen is Mariah Careywhich in addition to leading all charts with its success All I want for Christmas is youin recent years, it has added holiday-related television specials.
In this context, the singing of Christmas carols by musical personalities is a custom which, with little more emphasis in the northern hemisphere than in the southern, does not go out of style. Many pop artists, along with record companies and incipient streaming services, continue to bet on “hitting” with classic Christmas carols backwards.
This year is the case with Lizzo with One day at Christmas, a holiday single Stevie Wonder recorded in 1966; or Camila Cabello with the eternal I’ll be home for Christmas by Bing Crosby that a few years ago Michael Bublé loudly relaunched.
It is therefore necessary to draw up this ranking, a selection of ten Christmas songs that surely everyone has heard sometime and which, in some cases, can awaken a pleasant nostalgia, but in others it is worth remembering to remove from the playlist and reorganize the algorithm.. .
Mariah Carey – All I want for Christmas is you
Recorded in 1994, Carey herself confessed that this inevitable Christmas was born in just 15 minutes and didn’t get much recognition at first. The “market” did him justice 25 years later, placing him at the top of all rankings.
Today, it continues to be quite the phenomenon: in addition to being the 12th best-selling single of all time and the first song to be number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in four different decades, this year it topped that chart for three weeks-, accumulates more than billion streams on Spotify and YouTube.
Bobby Helms – Jingle Bell Rock
What about this emblematic song of the whole year that ends. Considered the first holiday rock and roll, it first came out in 1957 and has been around ever since – today it’s number four on the Billboard 100, last week it was sixth. It has become popular to such an extent that there are countless inversions that have been used for movies, series and commercials. But none have managed to capture the spirit — and profit — quite like Helms’ original.
Food Aid – LadBaby
Social media star English comedian Mark Hoyle and his wife Roxanne once again top the UK charts with this teasing video Do they know it’s Christmas?, a song that Bob Geldof recorded in 1984 to raise funds for Ethiopia and which despite bringing together Sting, Bono, George Michael and Simon LeBon, among others, leaves much to be desired. The duo LadBaby managed to reconsign it to pure humor and sarcasm and made history: by securing another Christmas number one, they surpassed the all-time record held by the Beatles in the 1960s.
Ed Sheeran & Elton John – Merry Christmas
The Christmas single that Sir Elton John and last year’s Sheeran manages to evoke some of that much-needed holiday spirit, while also including a nod to “those who are gone,” in that 2021 that many have preferred to forget. Unsurprisingly, Elton likes the merry Christmas atmosphere. But the video clip veers between the bizarre and the creepy, especially the sequence where the lovable red-haired man engages in some darting against the wall dressed as a sexy Santa Claus in shorts.
Cyndi Lauper – Christmas Conga
If with the registration of From time to timeIn 1984, the American singer took off the label of great artist, with this song, released fourteen years later, not only ran the risk of losing the label of “great”, but even brought into play that of “artist”.
Kelly Clarkson – Christmas isn’t cancelled, just you
The catchy Christmas jingle that the first ever winner of the reality show American Idol released in 2021 has a similar vibe to Carey and is on the same path: it still lacks the Billboard Hot 100. The title has made some Noise: In times when many public figures are being “wiped out” – the word has taken on another meaning – many have imagined the worst. But none of that: Clarkson just meant that dark memories from an old flame won’t dampen your holiday spirit.
Michael Bublé with Rod Stewart – Winter Wonderland
Written in 1934, unlike others that were losing over time, the classic that Bing Crosby brought to the top of the charts of the time, renews the attributes in that of the modern Canadian crooner, released in 2012 with Stewart. A treat to get fully into Christmas mode or greet with sparkling wine and sweet bread.
Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
In the vein of Bobby Helms’ Christmas carol, this stainless-steel Christmas classic invites you to step away from your plate of sugar and go out dancing (or, failing that, stand still and move your little foot). Lee, a country singer who shined in the 60s, recorded it in 1957, when she was just 13 years old. She has had several reversions, including that of Miley Cyrus -always as Hanna Montana- and the most recent one of Justin Bieber, released in 2020. But the original is the one that today ranks second on the Billboard Hot 100.
Luis Miguel – Santa Claus has come to town
A really useless song for several reasons. It was not necessary to translate the Christmas classic with a result of dubious poetic taste, nor for Luismi to try to bring it to his version of “crooner” with an excess of sunbeds, which appears in the video clip between sensual Santa Claus and cotillon applause. The only thing that can be salvaged: the big band.
Wham! -Last Christmas
Another classic that usually climbs to the top of the charts in the US and UK these days. Written by George Michael and published in 1984, it is about an old love from Christmas past and has the typical corniness of the lenses of that decade – and even a little more -. If “ironic consumption” is the plan, the full experience with a video clip, including frolicking in the snow and slow-motion abuse, is essential.
POS
Source: Clarin
