Sick of hearing the same Christmas songs over and over each time December comes around? Here’s ten modern pop Christmas songs and covers to listen to and get into the Christmas spirit this season.
A great remix of a beloved Christmas song is All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) by Mariah Carey and Justin Bieber. In 2011, Justin Bieber recorded a version of Mariah Carey’s classic Christmas hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” as a duet for his holiday album, Under The Mistletoe. Under the Mistletoe is Justin Bieber’s third platinum selling album, third number-one album, and was the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at number-one. The album totaled in 1,245,000 copies in US sales for all of 2011 and was the eleventh best-selling album of the year.
“Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande was released on November 24, 2014, entering the Billboard Hot 100 and later peaking at number forty-two. It also entered the record charts of several other nations, including Netherlands, Japan and Canada. The music video was directed by Chris Marrs Piliero and released on Vevo on December 12, 2014. Junior Megan Mlynarski said, “I’ve always liked her music and when I heard this song it automatically becomes my new favorite Christmas song”
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“Mistletoe” debuted as Justin Bieber’s lead single from his 2011 Christmas album, Under The Mistletoe. The song received positive views from most music critics and reached the top ten charts in countries such as Canada, Denmark and Norway. Though the Christmas hit missed the US top ten chart by only reaching number eleven, it reached top forty in nine other countries.
On December 6, 2014, English singer and songwriter, Sam Smith released a cover version on the Christmas classic, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” by Judy Garland. The song debuted at number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first time a version of the song has charted on this list.
Michael Bublé’s cover of It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas was recorded in 2011 and gained a lot of popularity from people of all ages. Junior Lauren Browne said, “This is my all time favorite version of this Christmas song, I listen to it every winter”.
“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was released on November 17 of 2014, with vocal contributions from One Direction, Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith, Rita Ora, Ed Sheeran, Olly Murs, Chris Martin and much more. This song was originally written in 1984 by Midge Ure and Bob Geldof in reaction to television reports of the famine in Ethiopia at the time. It was recorded by a large group of the most popular musicians at the time including Bono and Sting. In 2014, the two songwriters decided to have a group of artists come in and re-record the 1984 song with respect to the Ebola crisis.
Last Christmas by Ariana Grande is the first track off of Grande’s first EP, Christmas Kisses. This Christmas EP is most popular among teens and amounted to a total of 405,000 copies. This cover of Wham!’s original single gained positive reviews and was critically acclaimed for its “R&B spin” on a classic Christmas song.
The cover of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé is the fourth track off of Idina Menzel’s christmas album, Holiday Wishes. It reached number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as spending three weeks on top as number one on the Adult Contemporary chart.
In Justin Bieber’s “Drummer Boy” featuring Busta Rhymes, Bieber recorded his own version of the 1951 Christmas song, “The Little Drummer Boy” on his 2011 Christmas album. The album, called Under The Mistletoe, gained a large amount of popularity for its fresh and original spin on a Christmas classic.
British band, Coldplay released “Christmas Lights” on December 1, 2010, which received very positive reviews, as well a debuting and peaking at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 12 on Billboard’s Hot Digital Songs chart.
Although the classics are great to listen to, these songs will for sure get you in the Christmas spirit while still adding some pep into your holiday playlist!
