(Some of) the best Christmas songs ever

No matter if you are at a public sing-a-long or if you are just with family and friends in your home, there is nothing better than belting out some of the classics. 

We have compiled a list of SOME of our favourites – we know there are many, many, MANY more not featured. 

But we feel there is enough of a smattering of hits to get your excited for December 25. 

With lyrics based on John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1969 billboard campaign which displayed the words "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko" in cities deeply entrenched in the Vietnam War, it’s perhaps surprising that the song’s original release failed to chart in the US.

Fact: The song’s whispered beginning is a greeting to the couple’s children - Yoko says “Happy Christmas, Kyoko" and John says “Happy Christmas, Julian” - not, contrary to popular belief (and incorrectly included in the lyric sheet from 1982’s The John Lennon Collection!), “Happy Christmas, Yoko. Happy Christmas, John”.

Written by: John Lennon, Yoko Ono

A croon for those longing for the Dickens-esque Christmas Carol white blankets of old. Bing Crosby’s version remains one of the best selling singles of all time and, with heart-warming lyrics about ‘glistening treetops’ and heart-wrenching memories of Christmases at home - “just like the ones I used to know” - you’d have to be Scrooge himself not to hear why.

Fact: the song’s writer Irving Berlin’s opening verse is often dropped from many of its covers. Darlene Love’s take on A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector is one of the few to include it.

Written by: Irving Berlin

Going up against Do They Know It’s Christmas? for the coveted Christmas number one spot in 1984 was never going to be easy, so it’s no real surprise that Last Christmas became the biggest selling single in the UK never to reach the top of the charts! 

Still, we’re sure George Michael didn’t mind, being heavily involved in Band Aid himself. In fact, he donated all of the song’s royalties to the Ethiopian famine appeal. Now that’s charity.

Not one to be outdone by John, our Paul’s contribution to the Christmas canon is a strange but beguiling beast. Squelchy synth sounds brush against sleigh bells, there’s weird delay pinging off everywhere, the video clearly cost about a tenner, but it all somehow works.

Amazing what a Macca melody can do in a pinch.

Written by: Paul McCartney

It has to be said, it’s not every day you’ll see Mariah Carey taking pride of place in a poll voted for by musicians. It also has to be said that when the American diva sings “I don't care about the presents, underneath the Christmas tree,” we don’t believe her. 

Regardless, All I Want For Christmas Is You is not only the most recent festive release (1994) to make the list, it’s a staple soundtrack to every office party, turkey preparation session and mistletoe shenanigan the world over.

Written by: Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff

A song that's sure to evoke emotion - either a bile-inducing hatred for Bob Geldof, or the feeling that we just must, somehow, save the world with music. 

Band Aid may have numerous flaws (Simon Le Bon's horrific over-singing of the oh-so-evocative line "but when you're having fun" to name but one) but the immediacy of the recording and (overall) sincerity of the cause shine through.

Written by: Bob Geldof, Midge Ure

Apparently the ‘most-performed Christmas song of all time’ was written on a blistering hot summer day in an effort to “stay cool by thinking cool”. 

First released in 1946 by The King Cole Trio and covered by just about everyone from Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra to Christina Aguilera and ‘N Sync. Most-performed indeed.

Written by: Mel Tormé, Bob Wells

First uttered by Judy Garland in 1944’s romantic tear-jerker Meet Me In St. Louis, before being modified, re-recorded and brought to prominence by Frank Sinatra in 1947. 

And then again and again by a few hundred more would-be crooners including Mel Torme, whose version soundtracks everybody’s favourite Macaulay Culkin movie - scratch that, everybody’s favourite Christmas movie - Home Alone.

Written by: Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane

Credit where credit’s due for Bobby Helms’s 1957 original rockabilly version of Jingle Bell Rock. It’s great. But anyone who’s seen Mean Girls will know that the only way to enjoy the song fully is to have Lindsay Lohan and three scantily clad Santa’s helpers dancing along to it. See? OK, maybe not. Listen to Arcade Fire’s take instead.

Written by: Joe Beal and Jim Boothe

Another classic to be honoured with an animated short film by the same name is Little Drummer Boy. 

The song first came to prominence with the Harry Simeone Chorale in 1958, but the real recording to be treasured is David Bowie and Bing Crosby’s Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy. Watch this clip from Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas TV special to see and hear why.

Written by: Katherine K. Davis, Henry Onorati, Harry Simeone

Like The Christmas Song, Let It Snow was penned in sunny California during one of the hottest days on record! 

And, just like The Christmas Song, it became a staple cover of the Rat Pack alumni after Vaughn Monroe took it to number one in 1945.

Fact: while Let It Snow certainly marks the festive season with its cheery lyrics, there is actually no mention of Christmas at any point. Both composer and lyricist were Jewish.

Written by: Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne

Brenda Lee’s 1958 swinging version of Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree is a cracker. Mel (Smith) & Kim (Wilde)’s 1987 Comic Relief cut with added spoken word lines written by Smith and sometime partner in crime Griff Rhys Jones, does indeed provide some comic relief. And it’s somewhat better than Gareth Gates and the Kumars doing Spirit In The Sky.

Written by: Johnny Marks

With memorable covers by the likes of Madonna, Kylie Minogue and, er… Ally McBeal, this ode to gluttony, Girl Power and stockings stuffed with Tiffany’s swag is the soundtrack to any self-respecting diva’s holiday season. 

However, it’s the late Eartha Kitt’s brilliant 1953 original take that we’re paying tribute to here. Orson Welles once described her as the “most exciting woman in the world." That, and the most demanding…

Fact: Eartha Kitt passed away on Christmas day, 2008.

Written by: Joan Javits, Philip Springer

Possibly the best tool a parent has for keeping their kids in check throughout the year: “He (Santa) knows if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake". 

The Jackson 5 know it, so do Alvin And The Chipmunks and so does Bruce Springsteen. 

Written by: J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie

The tune adopted by chanting fans on football terraces is, of course, from Winter Wonderland. Released first by Richard Himber in 1934, the song, like every festive staple, has attracted its fair share of interpretations. And ‘Wonderland’s are as diverse as any you'll hear: Bob Dylan, Cocteau Twins,Cyndi Lauper, Ozzy Osbourne ft. Jessica Simpson… we could go on.

Written by: Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith