As much as Christmas trees, turkey and a mildly overworked Santa have become staples of the festive season, so has the music that soundtracks this cheer-soaked time of year. Christmas songs don’t just endure – many end up becoming the crown jewels of an artist’s entire career.
From golden oldies by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Bing Crosby, to ‘80s icons like Wham! and The Pogues, to modern favourites from Ariana Grande and Leona Lewis, these tunes have embedded themselves into our seasonal rituals.
That honour still belongs to Bing Crosby’s 1942 classic ‘White Christmas’. With over 50 million sales, it’s not only the biggest Christmas record in history – it’s the best-selling song of all time, full stop. Guinness World Records first crowned it back in 1955, and it’s held onto the title ever since.
Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ may trail Crosby in pure sales (a mere 16 million), but streaming has turned it into a seasonal juggernaut. It finally hit No.1 in both the UK and US decades after its release and became the first Christmas song to pass 2 billion Spotify streams. Hot on its heels: Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ (1.83 billion) and Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ (1.27 billion).
The past decade has delivered plenty of modern holiday staples, from Ariana Grande to Sabrina Carpenter to Cher. As for 2025, it’s a quieter year, but not silent: Leon Bridges and Norah Jones have teamed up for the duet ‘This Christmas I'm Coming Home’, while the Jonas Brothers drop ‘Coming Home This Christmas’ from their upcoming seasonal special A Very Jonas Christmas Movie. Time will tell whether they graduate to “classic” status and earn a spot in future rankings.
If you prefer minimal sleigh bells and lyrics that don’t sound like a candy cane exploded, there’s a whole world of alternative festive gems. Think prog-folk (Mike Oldfield), hip-hop (Outkast), swoony guitar balladry (John Cale) – all of which pop up in our ranking below.
Here, we’ve rounded up the Top 50 best Christmas songs ever, counting down from 50 to the ultimate champion, drawing hits from nine decades of festive music-making. If this playlist doesn’t drag you into the holiday spirit, honestly… nothing will.
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Release date: 2019
The alt-country icon managed a minor miracle by turning the abysmal spoiled-brat anthem ‘I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas’ into something listenable, but she also managed to carve out a place on the yule playlist with this stripped-down slice of sweetness from her holiday special. It’s a Christmas love song dripping in cute, and an expertly crafted slow-dance amid all the sleigh bells.
Release date: 2023
Twenty-five years after unleashing Auto-Tune on the world with her 1998 smash ‘Believe’, Cher gave it a festive tweak for her 2023 banger ‘DJ Play A Christmas Song’. With a hook more addictive than a tin of Quality Street and production that’s just as shiny, the pop icon trades snowy chill for the heat of the dancefloor, proving she’s still the ultimate queen of the club – even at Christmas.
Release date: 1999
Crammed full of sleigh bells and lyrically sparse it may be, but somehow indie rockers Low managed to do the unthinkable in 1999: create a genuinely cool Christmas song. ‘Just Like Christmas’ is a wistful, lo-fi, modern Christmas anthem.
If you needed any more proof that the ’70s were a weird, weird time, consider this: one of the decade’s most popular and enduring Christmas hits is a prog-folk version of a JS Bach setting of a carol dating back to the fourteenth century. Sometimes the old tunes are the best.
Release date: 1983
It sounds like a take on the classic ‘it’s Christmas, I miss you’ theme, but Chrissie Hynde’s frosty ballad gets much sadder when you know it was written for the band’s guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, who had died the previous year. Honeyman-Scott’s replacement Robbie McIntosh pays tribute with some gorgeous arpeggios: the closest a guitar gets to the sound of snowfall.
Release date: 2021
In his soulful rendition of ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’ Bryson Tiller infuses the classic holiday favorite with his signature blend of R&B and contemporary vibes. His smooth vocals glide over a lush, atmospheric production, transforming the nostalgic lyrics into a warm, romantic experience. Tiller's version captures the magic of the season while adding a modern twist, making it a standout choice on any Christmas playlist. Whether you're cozying up by the fire or enjoying a winter stroll, this track is sure to create a memorable festive mood.
Release date: 1983
It’s not just a drizzle of dudes that gets The Weather Girls going. From the same album as ‘It’s Raining Men’ (and pulling all the same moves with a festive twist), ‘Dear Santa’ is a seasonal stormer that represents the grooviest Christmas list ever written. Bonus points for the ‘fa-la-la-la-la’ backing vocals.
Release date: 2006
No one does Christmas quite like our Sufjan. Not content with releasing a 42-track Songs For Christmas album in 1996, this year he put out Silver & Gold – a whopping 101-song collection celebrating Jesus’s birthday. Picking a favourite out of his festive back catalogue is tough, but we rate ‘O Come O Come Emmanuel’ – a reworking of the traditional favourite on ‘Songs For Christmas’ – as our favourite track. Sparse and haunting, but also uplifting, it’s a beautiful little call to rejoice.
Release date: 1977
In the particularly rollicking, punk-adjacent riot, Ray Davies not only spoils Santa’s true identity, he also threatens to kick his ass if he doesn’t give him some money. At its heart, it’s a sad song about poor kids’ disappointment on Christmas. It’s also a hilarious, snotty, overlooked piece of Christmas counter-programming from one of rock’s all time greats.
Release date: 1963
Ronnie Spector’s distinctive and sensual vocals could easily melt any Christmas snow. On this highlight from the classic Phil Spector Christmas album, she purrs about getting cosy under a blanket on a sleigh ride while her fellow Ronettes ‘ring-a-ling-a-ling-a-ding-dong-ding’ in the background. Spector’s arrangement may be full of trilling bells and clip-clopping hooves, but the melody’s irrepressible warmth hints at the fact that this song was composed (by light orchestral maestro Leroy Anderson) during a July heatwave.
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