Best Christmas Hits of this Decade

Attention!!!

Every year this blog delivers a brand new compilation to add to your Christmas playlist. This year we explore the latest Christmas songs that have joined the fray to brighten our yuletide spirit. We are not referring to modern Christmas classics such as Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You and Wham!’s Last Christmas, but those originals songs that have entered seasonal airplay only this decade. 

There are artists such as Michael Bublé and Sia who always deliver a festive jingle or two to lighten up our Christmas gatherings. Producing a Christmas album is an arduous task as reception by fans and critics can be polarizing. Due to this, only a few bold musicians actually go down this onerous path, as most take the easy way out with a single. This playlist was such a pleasure to compile as I found out some real gems to be added to your usual Christmas collection. 

Coldplay’s Christmas Lights takes the top spot as the slow ballad delivers a very inspirational message for the season. This is followed by Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas and Sia’s Santa’s Coming for Us which are both equally upbeat and cheerful. In terms of entries Sia leads  with 5 followed by Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, Aloe Blacc, John Legend, Ariana Grande and Gwen Stefani each with 2 entries. So here are the Top 40 Christmas Hits of this Decade:

1. Coldplay – Christmas lights
2. Gwen Stefani  ft. Blake Shelton – You make it feel like Christmas
3. Sia – Santa’s coming for us
4. Leona Lewis – One more sleep
5. John Legend – Bring me love
6. Kelly Clarkson – Underneath the tree
7. Ariana Grande – Santa tell me
8. Aloe Blacc – I got your Christmas right here
9. Sia – My old Santa Claus
10. Justin Bieber – Mistletoe
11. Matt Terry – When Christmas comes around
12. Lindsey Stirling ft. Becky G – C’mon Christmas
13. Pentatonix – That’s Christmas to me
14. Michael Bublé – Cold December night
15. Lady Antebellum – On this winter’s night  
16. Gwen Stefani – Cheer for the elves
17. Jim Brickman ft. Kenny Rogers – That silent night
18. Kylie Minogue – Every day’s like Christmas
19. Katy Perry – Cozy little Christmas
20. Mariah Carey – Oh Santa!
21. OneRepublic – Christmas without you
22. Sia – Every day is Christmas
23. Kelly Clarkson – Wrapped in red
24. John Legend – By Christmas eve
25. Meghan Trainor – I’ll be home
26. Sia – Ho ho ho
27. Sara Evans – At Christmas
28. Hurts – All I want for Christmas is New Year’s day
29. Ariana Grande – Winter things
30. Katy Perry – Every day is a holiday
31. Christina Perri – Something about December
32. Train – Shake up Christmas
33. Elizabeth Chan – Something about the holidays
34. Idina Menzel – December prayer
35. Sia – Snowman
36. The Monkees – What would Santa do
37. Sara Bareilles – Love is Christmas
38. Jessie J – This Christmas day
39. The Celebs – Rock with Rudolph
40. Aloe Blacc – Funky ass Christmas 

Till the next carol...

At Ease!!!

Most Popular Christmas Songs of All Time

Attention!!!

Christmas celebrates the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. However, Christmas is no longer traditional as in the recent past it has become extremely commercialized. Christmas Carols are those hymns and songs which are sung during the feast, whose lyrics are based on the incidents surrounding the birth of Christ including the Annunciation, Adoration of the Shepherds, Star of Bethlehem, Visit of the Magi and the Massacre of the Innocents and those involved in the birth such Virgin Mary, Joseph, Gabriel, the Shepherds and the Three Kings. 

Carols must necessarily be related to the birth of Jesus Christ and all others which are not relevant to His birth such as those ones about Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer are Christmas songs which are sung and played during the holiday season. Every year we now have more and more Christmas songs being released and we see less and less of Christmas carols being composed by the contemporary artists. The same old carol is covered time and again by artists instead of taking the effort to produce one on their own. A similar trend is taking place in relation to Christmas songs which are now considered as Christmas classics and even sung at Christmas masses and carol services, for instance Jingle Bells, Little Drummer Boy, Morning Has Broken and Deck the Halls.

Jingle Bells is definitely the most popular Christmas song of all time, followed by We Wish You A Merry Christmas and Deck The Halls coming in at a close third. So here are the 75 Most Popular Christmas Songs of All Time. The song is highlighted in bold, while the best version of the song appears first followed by the writer/composer and the year of origin within the brackets. So Merry Christmas soldiers and have a Happy New Year.

1. Jingle bells (Bing Crosby & The Andrew Sisters/James Lord Pierpoint, 1857)
2. We wish you a merry Christmas (Kenny G/West Country of England, 19^th Century)
3. Deck the halls (SHeDAISY/16^th Century, Lyrics by Thomas Oliphant, 1862)
4. Silver bells (Neil Diamond /Jay Livinston & Ray Evans, 1950)
5. Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (Gene Autry & The Pinafores/Johnny Marks, 1949)
6. Winter wonderland (Macy Gray /Felix Bernard & Richard B. Smith, 1934)
7. Santa Claus is coming to town (The Jackson 5/J.F. Coots & Haven Gillespie, 1934)
8. Here comes Santa Claus (Elvis Presley/Gene Autry & Oakley Haldeman, 1947)
9. White Christmas (Bing Crosby /Irving Berlin, 1940)
10. Sleigh ride (Johnny Mathis/Leroy Andersobn & Mitchell Parish, 1950)
11. Little drummer boy (David Bowie & Bing Cosby/Bowie & Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman & Alan Kohan, 1982)
12. Rockin’ around the Christmas tree (Jessica Simpson/Johnny Marks, 1958)
13. Jingle bell rock (Hilary Duff/Joe Beale & Jim Boothe, 1957)
14. Feliz Navidad (Boney M/Jose Feliciano, 1970)
15. Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! (Bing Crosby/Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne, 1945)
16. Blue Christmas (Elvis Presley/Billy Hayes & Jay W. Johnson, 1964)
17. The twelve days of Christmas (Burl Ives & Percy Faith and his Orchestra/Frederick Austin, 1909)
18. The Christmas song (Nat King Cole/Robert Wells & Mel Torme, 1944)
19. Frosty the Snowman (Johnny Mathis/Walter Jack Rollins & Steve Nelson, 1950)
20. I saw mummy kissing Santa Claus (Jane Krakowski/Tommie Connor, 1952)
21. O Christmas tree (Boney M/Ernst Anschutz, 1824)
22. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas (Johnny Mathis/Meredith Wilson, 1951)
23. Santa Baby (The Pussycat Dolls/Joan Javits & Philip Springer, 1953)
24. Have yourself a merry little Christmas (Judy Garland/Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane, 1943)
25. Up on the housetop (Kimberly Locke/Benjamin Hanby, 1864)
26. I wish it could be Christmas everyday (A*Teens/Roy Wood, 1973)
27. It’s the most wonderful time of the year (Garth Brooks/Edward Pola & George Wyle, 1963)
28. Happy Xmas (War is over) (Neil Diamond/John Lennon, 1971)
29. All I want for Christmas is you (Mariah Carey/Carey & Walter Alfanasieff, 1994)
30. Last Christmas (Wham!/George Michael, 1983)
31. Morning has broken (Neil Diamond/Scottish tune, Lyrics by Eleanor Farjean, 1931)
32. Must be Santa (Tommy Steele/Hal Moore & Bill Fredericks, 1960)
33. I’ll be home for Christmas (Bing Crosby/Kim Gannon & Walter Kent, 1943)
34. Parade of the wooden soldiers (Don Janse & The Disneyland Children’s Chorus/Leon Jessel, 1897)
35. All I want for Christmas (is my two front teeth) (Spike Jones & His City Slickers/Donald Yetter Gardner, 1944)
36. Wonderful Christmastime (Paul McCartney/McCartney, 1979)
37. Merry Christmas everyone (Shakin’ Stevens/Bob Heatlie, 1984)
38. Merry Christmas polka (Jim Reeves/Willie Phelps, 1950)
39. Grandma got run over by a reindeer (Elmo & Patsy/Randy Brooks, 1979)
40. Do they know it’s Christmas? (Band Aid/Bob Geldof & Midge Ure, 1984)
41. Merry Christmas, happy holidays (N’Sync/JC Chasez, Veit Renn, Justin Timberlake, 1998)
42. Mistletoe and wine (Cliff Richard/ Jeremy Paul, Leslie Stewart & Keith Strachan, 1988)
43. Fairy tale of New York (The Pogues/Jem Finer & Shane MacGowan, 1987)
44. The magic of Christmas day (God bless us everyone) (Celine Dion/Dee Snider, 1998)
45. My only wish (this year) (Britney Spears/Brian Kierulf, Josh Schwartz & Spears, 2000)
46. Little Saint Nick (The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson & Mike Love, 1963)
47. River (Barry Manilow/Joni Mitchell, 1971)
48. Baby, it’s cold outside (Dolly Parton & Rod Stewart/Frank Loesser, 1944)
49. Run, run, Rudolph (Chuck Berry/Johnny Marks & Marvin Brodie, 1958)
50. An old Christmas card (Jim Reeves/Vaughn Horton, 1962)
51. A holly jolly Christmas (Burl Ives/Johnny Marks, 1964)
52. (There’s no place like) home for the holidays (Perry Como/Al Stillman & Robert Allen, 1954)
53. As long as there’s Christmas (Paige O’ Hara/Rachel Portman & Don Black, 1997)
54. You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch (Thurl Ravenscroft/ Albert Hague & Eugene Poddany, 1966)
55. C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S (Jim Reeves/Eddy Arnold & Jenny Lou Carson, 1949)
56. Nuttin’ for Christmas (Eartha Kitt/Sid Pepper & Roy C. Bennett, 1955)
57. I want a hippopotamus for Christmas (Gayla Peevey/John Rox, 1953)
58. Santa Claus Lane (Hilary Duff/Matthew Gerrard, Charlie Midnight, Bridget Benenate & Jay Landers, 2002)
59. Senor Santa Claus (Jim Reeves/Lawton Williams, 1962)
60. Please come home for Christmas (Charles Brown/Brown & Gene Redd, 1960)
61. Santa tell me (Ariana Grande/Ilya Salmanzadeh, Savan Kotecha & Grande, 2014)
62. Petit papa noel (Boney M/Raymond Vincy & Henri Martinet, 1946)
63. (Everybody’s waitin’ for) the man with the bag (Vonda Shepard/Kay Starr, 1950)
64. Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney (Lisa Nicole Carson/William Hardy & Billy Moore, 1950)
65. Darkness is falling (Boney M/Fred Jay & Helmut Rulofs, 1978)
66. Mistletoe (Justin Bieber/Bieber, Nasr Atweh & Adam Messinger, 2011)
67. 8 days of Christmas (Destiny’s Child/Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland & E.McCalla Jr., 2001)
68. Merry Xmas everybody (Slade/Noddy Holder & Jim Lea, 1973)
69. I heard the bells on Christmas day (Bing Crosby/H.W. Longfellow, 1863)
70. Christmas all over again (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers/Petty, 1992)
71. Christmas lights (Coldplay/Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin, 2010)
72. Underneath the tree (Kelly Clarkson/Clarkson & Greg Kurstin, 2013)
73. The Chipmunk Song (Christmas don’t be late) (The Chipmunks/David Seville, 1958)
74. Pretty Paper (Roy Orbison/Willie Nelson, 1963)
75. This gift (98 Degrees/1998)

Till the next season...

At Ease!!!

The Very Best of Christmas Carols

Attention!!!

'Tis the season for all to celebrate the birth of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. What better way to praise His name than singing songs of worship. Christmas Carols are those hymns and songs which are sung during the feast, whose lyrics are based on the incidents surrounding the birth of Christ including the Annunciation, Adoration of the Shepherds, Star of Bethlehem, Visit of the Magi and the Massacre of the Innocents and those involved in the birth such Virgin Mary, Joseph, Gabriel, the Shepherds and the Three Kings. There are also carols about caroling itself or wassailing as it was referred back then. Carols have originated from all over the world for instance Germany, Austria, the United States, France and the Czechoslovakia. 

Carols must necessarily be related to the birth of Jesus Christ and all the others which are about Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph are Christmas songs which are sung and played during the holiday season. Carols can be distinguished from the other songs by the fact that these are the hymns/songs which are sung at the official carol service and christmas mass at church. 

Adeste Fideles or O Come, All ye Faithful takes the crown as the best Christmas Carol of all time as it is definitely the carol which has the most powerful lyrics accompanied by a unique and moving melody. Silent Night is at a close second as it is probably the most popular Christmas Carol around the world, translated into numerous languages and declared by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage. So here are the 40 of the most loved Christmas Carols of All Time, with their writers/composers and the year or century of origin. 

1. O Come, All ye Faithful/Adeste Fideles (17^th Century)
2. Silent Night (Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818)
3. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Charles Wesley, 1739)
4. Joy to the World (Isaac Watts, 1719)
5. O Holy Night (Adolphe Adam, 1847)
6. The First Noel (18^th Century)
7. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (Edmund Sears, 1849)
8. Once in Royal David’s City (Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848)
9. What Child is This? (William Chatterton Dix, 1865)
10. Angels We Have Heard on High (18^th Century)
11. Mary’s Boy Child (Jester Hairston, 1956)
12. Carol of the Bells (Mykola Leontovych, 1904)
13. The Little Drummer Boy (Katherine Kennicott Davis, 1941)
14. Little Town of Bethlehem (Phillips Brooks, 1865)
15. The Twelve Days of Christmas (18^th Century)
16. Away in a Manger (19^th Century)
17. God Rest ye Merry, Gentlemen (18^th Century)
18. Angels from the Realm of Glory (James Montgomery, 1816)
19. When a Child is Born (Fred Jay, 1974)
20. I Saw Three Ships (17^th Century)
21. Ding Dong Merrily on High (George Radcliffe Woodward, 1924)
22. I Wonder as I Wander (John Jacob Niles, 1933)
23. Good King Wenceslas (John Mason Neale, 1853)
24. The Holly and the Ivy (19^th Century)
25. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (15^th Century)
26. Do You Hear What I Hear? (Harry Simeone Chorale, 1962)
27. Star of the East (George Cooper, 1890)
28. In Dulci Jubilo (14^th Century)
29. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks (17^th Century)
30. Coventry Carol (16^th Century)
31. Personent Hodie (16^th Century)
32. Here We Come A-Carolling (18^th Century)
33. We Three Kings of Orient Are (John Henry Hopkins Jr., 1857)
34. In the Bleak Midwinter (Christina Rossetti, 1904)
35. Little Donkey (Eric Boswell, 1959)
36. Wexford Carol (12^th Century)
37. Still, Still, Still (19^th Century)
38. Gabriel’s Message (19^th Century)
39. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1863)
40. Mary, Did you Know? (Mark Lowry & Buddy Greene, 1991)

Till the next season…

At Ease!!!