Best Christmas songs
Every December, the same battle breaks out around office parties, family gatherings, and shopping mall speakers: which Christmas song truly reigns supreme? From Mariah Carey's era-defining anthem to timeless classics crooned by Bing Crosby, the holiday songbook is packed with contenders that spark real nostalgia and real debate. So bundle up, hit play in your head, and cast your vote for the greatest Christmas song of all time.
What counts: The crowd's votes decide the order — seeded neutral.
Last Christmas — Wham!▲ Rising
George Michael's aching synth-pop confession of giving his heart away only to have it given away turned tinsel into heartbreak, proving Christmas songs could be bittersweet instead of just merry. It's the one everyone secretly plays while crying a little, which is exactly why it refuses to die and finally hit UK Number One decades later.
added by IJR
45All I Want for Christmas Is You — Mariah Carey▲ Rising
That key-change chorus and sleigh-bell shimmer turned a 1994 album cut into the modern definition of the holiday itself, colonizing every mall and playlist for thirty years running. Mariah didn't just write a Christmas song, she wrote the Christmas song of the streaming era, and the royalty checks (and Discogs memes) prove it every November like clockwork.
added by IJR
32White Christmas — Bing Crosby▲ Rising
Written by Irving Berlin and delivered with Bing's impossibly smooth ache, this became the best-selling single in history, a wartime lullaby of longing for snow and home that still lands even in places that never see a flake. Its sheer cultural gravity — the song that soundtracked homesick soldiers and holiday films alike — earns it a permanent seat at the top table.
added by IJR
21The Christmas Song — Nat King Cole▲ Rising
That velvet baritone gliding over 'chestnuts roasting on an open fire' basically invented the sound of a cozy fireside Christmas in 1946, and nobody's topped the warmth since. It's the standard against which every crooner cover gets measured, and it usually loses.
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13Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) — Darlene Love▲ Rising
Phil Spector's Wall of Sound met Darlene Love's powerhouse vocal to create the most desperate, gorgeous plea in the holiday canon, all clanging bells and orchestral yearning. Its yearly Letterman performances turned it into a beloved ritual, and its influence on U2 and Mariah alike cements it as the soul cornerstone of Christmas music.
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12Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree — Brenda Lee
Recorded when she was just thirteen, Brenda Lee's rockabilly stomp injected pure teenage energy into holiday music and gave every school dance and mall speaker a reason to move. Decades later it finally cracked the Billboard Number One, proof that this jingling, guitar-twanging joyride was underrated for way too long.
added by IJR
3Wonderful Christmastime — Paul McCartney
That woozy synthesizer riff and Paul's determinedly cheerful vamping created a song so simple it's practically a novelty, yet it refuses to leave rotation no matter how many critics roll their eyes. It's the ultimate guilty-pleasure entry — divisive, inescapable, and somehow essential to any real accounting of Christmas radio.
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O Holy Night▼ Falling
The one where every singer goes for broke on that soaring 'fall on your knees' climax, a 19th-century hymn that still gives goosebumps whether it's a soul diva or a church choir, singing it. Its raw religious majesty offers something the pop entries can't — genuine reverence — and that's exactly why it belongs in this conversation.
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Comments (8)
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This order is closer to right than any editor would've gotten.
Voted — and the gap between #1 and #2 should be bigger.
- KKira IvanovJul 28, 2026
The crowd is sleeping on the bottom half of this list.
Exactly the kind of argument the internet was built for.