I started listening to Christmas songs on December 1, which is late for me. I usually start listening to Christmas music on Thanksgiving after dinner. But this year I just couldn’t get started listening to Christmas music, and I found myself bored with it after just a few weeks. Very unusual for me and I was wondering why.
I finally decided the reason I was bored with Christmas music is because we were listening to Sirius XM Hallmark station in the truck. Sirius XM Hallmark plays the same 30 Christmas songs over and over and over again. Every hour you can hear “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and “Frosty the Snowman.” And, although they play the same songs ad infinitum, they play a lot of different recordings of the same songs.
Which made me wonder, “what are the most often recorded Christmas songs?” So I did what we all do when we have a question about something – I googled it. Although there are several different lists, they all have the same songs on them with the same numbers. Here are the top 30 most recorded Christmas songs of all time according to the Billboard website.
1. “Silent Night” (137,315)
2. “White Christmas” (128,276)
3. “Jingle Bells” (89,681)
4. “The Christmas Song” (80,064)
5. “Winter Wonderland” (70,471)
6. “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” (68,669)
7. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (65,377)
8. “Joy To The World” (59,767)
9. “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” (56,552)
10. “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” (54,446)
11. “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer” (49,384)
12. “O Holy Night” (48,665)
13. “Silver Bells” (48,440)
14. “Blue Christmas” (42,375)
15. “The Little Drummer Boy” (37,150)
16. “Frosty The Snowman” (36,867)
17. “Here Comes Santa Claus” (34,907)
18. “Jingle Bell Rock” (32,247)
19. “Sleigh Ride” (29,148)
20. “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm” (28,758)
21. “Baby It’s Cold Outside” (26,767)
22. “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” (25,112)
23. “It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas” (23,900)
24. “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” (23,636)
25. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (22,102)
26. “O Little Town of Bethlehem” (20,307)
27. “Last Christmas” (17,806)
28. “My Favorite Things” (17,111)
29. “Do You Hear What I Hear” (14,410)
30. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (13,419)
Several things surprised me about the list. First, Silent Night is #1. Now, this shouldn’t really surprise me because EVERY SINGLE CHRISTMAS ALBUM EVER has “Silent Night” on it. There are heavy metal versions and disco versions. I even found Roseanne singing Silent Night (don’t go there). There are some truly awful versions of “Silent Night” as well as some spectacularly beautiful versions.
A second surprise is that there are six truly Christian Christmas songs on the list. Considering most recording artists are not Christian artists, I find this encouraging. It seems we might be doing a pretty good job of keeping Christ in Christmas after all.
Third, look at how many times these songs have been recorded! “Silent Night” and “White Christmas” are the clear leaders. Recorded 137,315 times! Wow! Maybe I’m lucky Sirius XM Hallmark plays 30 songs! They might decide to just play every single version of “Silent Night” ever recorded.
I love Christmas songs and I have many favorite albums. Those are what I’m going to listen to from now until New Year’s: Amy Grant, Carpenters, Michael W. Smith, and Chicago.
What is your favorite Christmas song or album? Do you have one you listen to over and over at this time of year?