Top Selling Christmas Songs of All Time
by Sheldon Rocha Leal
The Christmas season and the music that is the soundtrack for this time of the year is one of my favorite things. I love the sleigh bells, the festive quality of the songs, the colours and even the messages of longing depicted in some the music. Over the years I have collected hundreds of songs and albums featuring festive tunes and whilst many of these albums contain covers of the same songs, I “keep on keeping on”. I love hearing different artist’s interpretations of the same songs, but what I love more than that is when artists write their own songs, reflecting their feelings or interpretations of Christmas themes.
Whilst conducting research on Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas…” I kept encountering articles referring to the fact that although her song is the biggest festive song of the modern era, that it’s not the biggest in history. That being said, most of these articles did not elaborate on these statements, merely leaving it at the fact that Mariah’s song is not the biggest. I, therefore, decided to conduct some research to determine which songs are the biggest selling festive songs in history, in relation to the Mariah Carey smash hit.
I always knew that Bing Crosby was one of the biggest contenders, but only after conducting the requisite research did I fully comprehend the magnitude of his dominance on the season. If Mariah Carey is the Queen of Christmas, Bing Crosby is the Emperor. His top 3 Christmas singles have shipped in excess of 80million units and if one adds the sales of his record breaking Christmas album “Merry Christmas” then the combined record sales are over 100million. To place this in perspective, those three songs and one album make him one of the biggest selling artists of all time, and that is before we include the remainder of his output, which includes 406 singles and 105 albums.
I found these facts fascinating and therefore decided to continue my research, to determine the Top Selling Christmas singles of all time, which I will endeavor to reveal in the remainder of this article.
11. The Chipmunks and David Seville: The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late) (1958)(5million)
“The Chipmunk Song” was written and produced by Ross Bagdasarian Sr aka David Seville, also the creator of Alvin and The Chipmunks. He invented the Chipmunks whilst experimenting with the speed control on his tape recorder, forming a virtual vocal trio: Alvin, Theodore and Simon. His first hit under this new experiment was “Witch Doctor” credited to David Seville. It was a duet in which Ross duetted with himself. The song peaked at No1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958.
Later in 1958 Ross released “The Chipmunk Song” featuring his new creation, The Chipmunks. It was his last song to peak at No1 on the Hot 100, but also holds the distinction of being the last Christmas song to peak at No1 in the USA. The festive tune went on to win three Grammy Awards in 1959: Best Comedy Performance, Best Children’s Recording and Best Engineered Record (non-Classical). These latter two songs launched a very successful Chipmunk franchise, popular to this day.
10. Harry Simeone Chorale: The Little Drummer Boy (1958) (6million)
The song was originally based on a Czech folk tune entitled “Tluče bubeníček” and in it’s original incarnation was titled “Carol of the Drum”, written by American school teacher/composer Katherine Davis in 1941. In 1951 The Trapp Family Singers, from Austria, recorded the song and brought it to worldwide prominence. In 1957 Jack Halloran re-arranged the song into what we today know as “The Little Drummer Boy” for Dot Records, but his recording was never released. Halloran’s version of the song was, however, brought to the attention of Harry Simeone, by Dot Records executive Henry Onorati, when he was commissioned by 20th Century Fox to produce a Christmas album in 1958.
Harry Simeone made minor alterations to the arrangement, re-titled the song “The Little Drummer Boy” and used many of the same singers from the original Halloran recording. Harry and Henry claimed and received co-songwriting credit along with the original author Katherine, although Harry did not compose, write or arrange any part of the song. This recording of the song, however, was a massive hit, and charted in the USA between 1958–1962. Although it only ever peaked at No13 on the Billboard Hot 100 it has to date shifted over 6million units internationally, making it one of the biggest selling singles of all time.
9. Bing Crosby and The Andrew Sisters: Jingle Bells (1943) (6million)
In 1857 the song was written by American composer James Lord Pierpont to be sung by a Sunday School Choir. It was initially titled “One Horse Open Sleigh” and was intended for the Thanksgiving Season. It was later revised to “Jingle Bells” in 1859. Historians claim that there is nothing original about the song, stating that many of its lines are borrowed from other popular sleigh-riding songs of the Massachusetts area (in which it was composed). It was recorded, for the first time, in 1889 on an Edison Cylinder, and is believed to be the first Christmas recording in history: this recording, however, no longer exists.
In 1943, almost 100 years after it was originally composed, Bing Crosby and The Andrew Sisters recorded a version of the American Christmas carol, which was later included on Bing’s highly successful “Merry Christmas” album. At the time of the recording Bing was a major star and The Andrew Sisters were the biggest selling all-girl group in history, having shipped over 90million records worldwide. Although the song only peaked at No19 on the US single’s chart, it went on to ship over 6million units internationally, making it one of the biggest selling singles of all time.
8. Wham!: Last Christmas (1984) (9.2million units)
The song was written and produced by George Michael and was featured on Wham!’s third and final studio album “Music From The Edge of Heaven”. It was written in George Michael’s childhood bedroom when he and his band mate, Andrew Ridgeley visited George’s parents. When George played the chorus of the song to Andrew, he immediately knew it was a game changer. In the USA the song was not originally released commercially until 2014, but only debuted at No50 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2017. On the Hot 100 chart dated 7 January 2023 the song peaked at No4. It has, to date, shipped over 2million units in the USA alone. When it was released in the U.K., at the end of 1984, it peaked at No2 and shipped over 1,9million units in the country alone, making it, at the time, the biggest selling single in the UK not to go to No1. To date “Last Christmas” has shipped over 3.6million units and is considered third biggest selling singles of all time in the U.K. and the band’s biggest singles.
In 2020 “Last Christmas” finally peaked at No1 making it the song to take the longest time to reach pole position in British history (36 years). The record now belongs to Kate Bush who took 37 years to take “Running Uo That Hill” to No1 in 2022. In 2022 the song spent 2 non-consecutive weeks in pole position. In December 2023 “Last Christmas” spent 4 consecutive weeks at No1, bringing its total tally at No1 in the U.K. to 7 non-consecutive weeks, making it the first British song in history to start and end off a year at No1. The song also attained the distinction of being the Christmas No1 single 39 years after it was originally released, which is a record for a Christmas No1, a distinction it missed out on in 1984 to the Band Aid song. It has now also peaked at No1 in the U.K. in three distinct years: 2020, 2022 and 2023. “Last Christmas” became Wham’s! 5th No1 & George Michael’s 12th in the UK (combined with Wham!). The record for the biggest selling single not to peak at No1 in the UK now belongs to Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger”, which has shipped 1.55million units in the UK alone.
7. Band Aid: Do They Know It’s Christmas? (1984) (11.7million)
The charity single was written by Bob Geldof (former member of the Boomtown Rats) and Midge Ure (former member of Ultravox) in reaction to news reports in 1983–85 regarding the famine in Ethiopia. The two men went about assembling a group of high profile musical talent to sing on the track and bring attention to the cause. This birthed the supergroup Band Aid, which has taken different incarnations over the years. The original band included Bono, Phil Collins, Boy George, George Michael, Simon LeBon, Sting, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Bananarama, Jody Watley.
The song was at the time the fastest selling single in UK history, shipping over 1million units in its first week and until 1997’s “Candle In The Wind” by Sir Elton John, it was the biggest selling single in the country. Although the initial target was to raise £70,000 for famine relief, the final amount exceeded £8million. The single eventually went to No1 in 13 countries and inspired the creation of another mega charity single “We Are The World” in 1985, which followed a similar formula. Since its original release there have been various revivals of the song: Band Aid II (1989); Band Aid 20 (2004) and 30 (2014).
6. Gene Autry: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1949) (12million)
The American songwriter Johnny Marks composed the song in 1939, based on a story written by his brother-in-law Robert May entitled “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”. It additionally contains a portion of a poem entitled “A Visit From Saint Nicholas” in the introduction of the song, acquainting the listener to the names of Santa’s Reindeer. It was recorded 10 years, after it was originally composed, by Harry Brannon, but Gene Autry’s (The Singing Cowboy), version in the same year, is the one that took over the charts. Gene was initially not interested in recording the song, but at his wife’s insistence relented and his recording eventually peaked at No1 on the US single’s chart in 1949.
Gene holds the distinction of being the only artist in history to drop off the chart in the week after peaking at No1. The song was No1 in the first week of January, taking into account playlisting in the last week of December and therefore there was no activity of the song in its second week. The song shipped 1,75million units in its first Christmas, but charted for many years after its initial release and to date has shipped over 12million units. If one includes the sales of cover versions, it has shipped over 150million units worldwide.
5. Mariah Carey: All I Want For Christmas Is You (1994) (23.2million)
Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff wrote this song at the height of the diva’s career, which was an unusual move for an artist at the top of their game. Up to that point many artists released Christmas albums as a way to revive their careers, so it was unprecedented for a star at the top of their game to venture into such a project. The song was written in about 15 minutes and explores a Rock ‘n Roll audio idiom reminiscent of hits composed and produced by Phil Spector in the 1960s. When the song was originally released in 1994 it was ineligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 as it was not commercially released as a single. It did, however, peak at No6 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary and No12 Hot 100 AirPlay Charts.
In 1998 the rule regarding commercial releases lapsed and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” peaked at No83 on the Hot 100 for the first time. It was then precluded from charting on the Hot 100 between 1999–2012, because of a recurrence rule, which lapsed in 2012. In that year the song peaked at No29 and since then has bettered its position annually, culminating in a No1 peak in 2019. Since then she has spent the following numbers of weeks at No1: 2019 (3weeks), 2020 (2weeks), 2021 (3weeks), 2022 (4weeks) and 2023 (2weeks). A total of 14 Non-Consecutive weeks at No1, 6 ascents to No1 and No1 in 5 distinct years. Additional records include: more No1s than any other solo artist in US history (19), longest cumulative duration at No1 in US history (93 weeks), longest duration at No1 for a festive hit in US history (14 weeks), and most streams of a song in a day on Spotify (21.2million). The song has also peaked at No1 in 25 countries including the UK, and as of 2023 shipped over 23.2million units worldwide, been covered by 51 artists and generated over $60million.
4. Brenda Lee: Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (1958) (25million)
Brenda Lee was a Country, Pop and Rock ‘n Roll singer, most popular in the 1960s. She is ranked as the 4th most successful artist of the 1960s after Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Ray Charles. Brenda recorded and released “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” at the beginning of her career in 1958. She was actually 13 years old when she was selected by the composer of the song, Johnny Marks, to record the song. Although she was young, Johnny, who had previously written with “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Raindeer” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas”, wanted to utilise her mature adult sounding voice on the recording. The song was not a hit when it was originally released 1958. It was again released in 1959 and there were still no takers. In 1960 after Brenda attained mainstream chart success the song finally charted on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at No14.
The song continued to chart in 1961 and 1962 when it peaked at No50 and No59 respectively and then silence for 52 years, when new Billboard Hot 100 charting rules were introduced in 2015. In that year the song peaked at No50, followed by lacklustre appearances in 2015, 2016 and 2017 where it peaked at No30, No27 and No30 respectively. In 2018 the song attained a new chart high when it peaked at No9, and then in 2019 the song entered the Top 5 for the first time in its history peaking at No2. This performance was repeated in 2020, 2021 and 2022, not too shabby for a 64 year old song. In 2023 the song eventually peaked at No1 on the Billboard Hot 100 remaining in pole position for 3 non-consecutive weeks. This made Brenda Lee, at the age of 78, the oldest person in the chart’s history to have a No1 single. It is also the longest climb to No1 and the longest wait between No1 singles, 63 years. It is also only the 3rd Christmas song to peak at No1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song originally peaked at No6 in the U.K. in 1962 and bettered its peak in 2022 when it took the No5 position on the chart, 60 years after its initial appearance. The song has to date reportedly shifted 25million units internationally.
3. Tino Rossi: Petit Papa Noël (1946) (30million)
The song was recorded by French singer Tino Rossi in 1946. The Corsican actor/singer started his career singing in resorts and was aided by songwriter Vincent Scotto, who wrote many of his songs. Although popular in French speaking countries, he managed to expand his audience into the USA and Canada. Prior to the commencement of the Second World War he had become a major box office draw. “Petit Papa Noël” (translation: Little Father Christmas) was written by Raymond Vincy and Henri Martinet during the Second World War in 1944. The original version was a prayer/hymn by a child expressing their desire to see the return of their father from Germany. In 1946 the song made a comeback when director Richard Pottier was working on a movie titled “Destins”. The hymn intended for inclusion in the movie had to be changed at the last minute when a gospel choir, who were meant to perform with Toni Rossi, pulled out of the project.
Toni Rossi decided to re-write the lyrics to the 1944 hymn, removing all referencing to the war and “Petit Papa Noël” was born. The song came at the right time in France’s history, when in an effort to rebuild after the war the Minister of Public Education tried to put an end to inclusion of religious songs in public schools. Although the song is done in a hymn style, it contains secular lyrics, making it one of the only hymns used to this day in France to contain non-religious lyrics. The song had its highest peak in France in 1984 when it charted at No6 on the French SNEP singles’ chart, a year after the passing of the singer. It is reported to have shifted over 30million internationally and 5,7million in France, holding the Guinness World Record for the biggest selling French single in history. “Petit Pape Noël” has been recorded by various artists over the years including The Smurfs in 1996, Céline Dion in 1981 and Josh Groban 2008.
2. Bing Crosby: Silent Night (1935) (30million)
“Silent Night” was originally composed in 1816 in Salzburg, Austria by Franz Gruber (a schoolmaster and organist) and Joseph Mohr (a priest) and was entitled “Stille Nacht”. On the eve of Christmas 1816 Mohr, who had written the lyrics for the song approached Gruber to compose the music, which he wanted to perform at the Christmas Eve mass that evening. The song arrived in the USA in 1839 and in 1859 an English translation was written by John Young, a priest serving at the Trinity Church in New York.
The original sheet music for the song went missing and for the longest time people had forgotten that Franz Gruber had written the music for song. In 1995 after a manuscript in Mohr’s handwriting was discovered stating that Gruber had written the music, was he recognized for his contribution. The song has been covered by many artists and in 2011 was declared by UNESCO an “intangible cultural heritage”. The most famous version of the song was recorded in 1935 by Bing Crosby. It peaked at No7 in the USA and has shipped over 30million units internationally, making it the 4th biggest selling single of all time.
1. Bing Crosby: White Christmas (1942) (50million)
Russian born, Irving Berlin, considered one of the greatest songwriters in US history, composed this song in 1940, in California. When he completed it he said that it was the best song he ever wrote or for that matter, that anyone had ever written. Bing Crosby performed the song for the first time on a radio show, The Kraft Music Hall, on Christmas Day in 1941. He later recorded the song in studio with the Trotter Orchestra and Ken Darby Singers for Decca, to be included on the “Holiday Inn” motion picture soundtrack released in July 1942. Bing initially felt little about the Christmas song, written by a Jewish-American composer. The song was also poorly received by the market, but by October it had risen to the top of the charts, where it stayed for 11 weeks, into 1943. It went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture in 1943.
It was re-released in 1945 and 1946 and peaked at No1 in both years, making it the only song in history to peak at No1 in three different years, by the same artist. The wide appeal of the song resulted in Bing Crosby experiencing his first No1 on the urban themed chart, the Harlem Hit Parade. The 1942 version of the song was destroyed because of overuse and the version we know today was recorded by Bing in 1947. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” is the biggest selling single of all time, having shipped over 50million units worldwide and if one adds the sales of Bing’s album “Merry Christmas”, on which the song appears, sales total 65million units. Taking into consideration the sales of cover versions, the number jumps to over 100million units.
In the final analysis it is clear that Bing Crosby is the Emperor of Christmas with his three songs in the Top10 and 2 in the Top 2. Interestingly, George Michael appears twice on the list, once as a member of Wham! at No8 and once as a member of Band Aid at No7. As a whole the Christmas genre is dominated by male vocalists. Out of the 11 songs on this list women only appear in 3 and only 2 are lead by a woman, Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee. Although Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is not the biggest selling Christmas song of all time, it is the highest charting festive song in the USA since Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” in 1942. Mariah’s Christmas song is also the newest song on this list, having been released in 1994. After her track the newest tracks were released 10 years earlier: Wham!’s “Last Christmas” and Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, both released in 1984.
The concentration of songs on the list were released in the 1940s and 50s (7 out of the 11 songs). Two songs were released in the 1980s, one in the 1990s and one in the 1930s. The most popular year for Christmas releases on this list seems to be 1958, with three songs released in that year: “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee, “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” by the Chipmunks and David Seville and “The Little Drummer Boy” by The Harry Simeone Chorale. For now it seems that Bing Crosby, Tino Rossi and Brenda Lee stand in the way of overall Christmas victory for Mariah Carey. I’m sure, however, that with annual renewed interest in Mariah’s song, it will be a matter of time before she creeps up on these legendary artists.
