While I’m technically a practicing Jew and don’t celebrate Christmas, I have always loved Christmas music. There is just something about Christmas tunes that can put you in an immediate good mood, and I have every intention of blasting Christmas albums all December long (sorry in advance to my colleagues). If you’re looking for some holiday album recommendations, I’ve compiled some of my top favorites below. Happy listening J
She & Him: A Very She & Him Christmas
As Paste magazine wrote, this is the first of two Christmas albums She & Him would go on to release, and it’s full of traditional carols like “Silver Bells” and “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” plus more modern classics like “Little Saint Nick,” “Blue Christmas” and “The Christmas Song,” all performed with Deschanel’s and Ward’s glittery, retro style. They’re one of those groups who seemed destined to make a holiday album from the onset, and they proved twice over their abilities when it comes to generating Christmas playlist staples.
Michael Bublé: Christmas
Michael Bublé’s compilation of Christmas classics is so much more than the butt of one of Saturday Night Live’s best-ever digital shorts, Michael Bublé Christmas Duets. If you want your Christmas music to sound like stepping inside a snow globe, look no further than this Canadian’s canonical record.
Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas
No Christmas album compilation is complete without the record that brought us the masterpiece All I Want For Christmas is You.
Sufjan Stevens: Songs for Christmas
This is Sufjan Stevens at his most freewheeling and joyful (if not always successful), and it offers not only an unorthodox soundtrack to the season but another opportunity to trace the musical evolution of one of our greatest living songwriters. Songs for Christmas takes us from his most minimal to most maximal tendencies, with its final, woodwind brass heavy installment coming fresh off the heels of Illinois and The Avalanche. Its best tracks—ones like “All the King’s Horns,” “Star of Wonder” and “Holy, Holy, Holy”—make for an enchanting listen all year long.
John Legend: A Legendary Christmas
The rerelease of last year’s elegant John Legend holiday album A Legendary Christmas adds four new tracks to the first side, including quality covers of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “My Favorite Things” and Donny Hathaway’s enduring soul serenade “This Christmas” that should’ve made the original cut.
