’90s Christmas Albums Still Going Strong
Not only are most of these must-own ’90s albums for the holiday season, but they have withstood the test of time by continuing to appear on the Internet today. We ran the cover artwork through WhereOnThe.Net to see if these albums are still getting the recognition they deserve.
James Brown, ‘James Brown’s Funky Christmas’ (1995)
During his career, James Brown actually recorded three Christmas-themed albums: James Brown Sings Christmas Songs (1966), A Soulful Christmas (1968) and Hey America It’s Christmas (1970). This album is a fusion of the best tracks from each of those previous works.
Though the album was composed in 1995, it quickly regained relevance after Brown’s death in 2006 and spiked again during the 2009 holiday season. It can now be found on 76 different websites, including Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum and even made it onto a previous list of Playboy’s ultimate holiday party music. Distribution per website look a little like this.
The Cheiftains, ‘The Bells Of Dublin’ (1991)
A mixture of Celtic melodies and traditional holiday carols, The Bells of Dublin is the only Christmas album from Irish band The Chieftains. This album also featured big names such as Elvis Costello, Marianne Faithfull, Jackson Borwne and more.
While the group formed in 1962, they are still performing today which could explain the album’s continual online growth. Today it has appeared on 80 websites and 165 unique pages, such as Irish Culture and Customs and Celtic Music Poland. This is how it has spread online since February 2008.
‘Christmas On Death Row’ (1996)
Made as a form of charity to the community, Christmas On Death Row was released by Death Row Records in early December 1996. The album features many of the label’s key artists including Snoop Dogg, Danny Boy and Michel’le.
The album has been featured on 72 websites and 170 unique webpages. These occurrences had been pretty steady until the album gained nearly 50 more pages between November and December 2014 and then later peaked in May 2015. This is how it has spread online since February 2008 on websites like BuzzFeed and Reddit.
Hanson, ‘Snowed In’ (1997)
American pop rock group Hanson released Snowed In shortly after the success of their hit “Mmmbop” and became the best-selling holiday album in the U.S. for 1997.
MTV and Starpulse are just two of the 93 websites that this cover has appeared on since February 2008. Occurrences dragged off after a spike during the 2009 holiday season, but picked up again when Hanson later returned to the music scene in 2013, reaching 190 unique pages today. The distribution per website of Snowed In looks something like this.
98 Degrees, ‘This Christmas’ (1999)
It’s hard to deny that boy bands do holiday albums well. 98 Degrees’ only holiday album This Christmas sold over one million copies in the U.S.
The album spiked again in popularity during the 2013 holiday season, right after the group reunited for a new album and tour. While it has emerged on 69 total websites since February 2008, you can see below that 1,664 of the 1,891 occurrences were on Metro Lyrics.
Amy Grant, ‘Home for Christmas’ (1992)
Home for Christmas is Amy Grant’s second holiday album and by far her most popular — reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Christian album chart. In 2003, Home for Christmas was reissued as 20th Century Masters — The Christmas Collection: The Best of Amy Grant.
This cover has made its way onto 146 websites, ranging from K-LOVE to SodaHead, with two major spikes of occurrences in December 2009 and June 2015 and a smaller growth in June 2012. This is a look at those trends and how the image has spread online since February 2008.
Oscar Peterson, ‘An Oscar Peterson Christmas’ (1995)
An Oscar Peterson Christmas is the only holiday album released by Oscar Peterson — a man referred to by Rolling Stone as “one of the most accomplished pianists in jazz history.”
The album resurged following the death of Peterson in 2007 with another major spike between December 2013 and January 2014 when occurrences almost doubled. Since February 2008, there have been 298 unique pages that feature the album from websites like HMV Japan and BBC News. Here’s a glimpse of the distribution per website.
*NSYNC, ‘Home For Christmas’ (1998)
The seasonal album Home for Christmas from another beloved ‘90s boy band *NSYNC was exclusively available in the U.S. until the early 2000’s when the album was released in Europe. Thanks in part to the growth of the Internet, Home for Christmas has sold over four million copies worldwide as of December 2014.
The Home for Christmas cover has had a steady, gradual occurrence rate — ultimately appearing on 204 websites and 493 unique pages. These websites include Celebuzz and World News. This is how the image has spread online since February 2008.
Celine Dion, ‘These Are Special Times’ (1998)
These Are Special Times was Celine Dion’s first English-language holiday album and has sold nearly 12 million copies worldwide. It is considered to be one of the best-selling Christmas albums of all time.
There are 1,582 online occurrences for this cover since February 2008 with growths in May 2008 and January 2010 before hitting its peak in November 2015. Last.fm Spain and YouTube are a couple of the 570 websites the album is shown on. Distribution per website looks a little like this.
Mariah Carey, ‘Merry Christmas’ (1994)
Merry Christmas was Mariah Carey’s first holiday album and best known for producing the worldwide classic single, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” To date, Merry Christmas has sold 15 million copies worldwide.
While the album cover was already viral, being featured on sites like Vh1, Glamour Magazine and Urban Outfitters — the image’s popularity spiked after a deluxe anniversary edition was released in October 2015. Today it has reached 889 websites and 9782 unique pages since February 2008. This is how the image has spread during that time.
Got a favorite holiday album you’d like to learn more about? Find out where it is and where it’s been with WhereOnThe.Net and share your results with us.
WhereOnThe.Net traces how images spread online. Whether you want to find copies of your own work or track viral images, we crawl the Internet and show you all the sites it has appeared on and it’s growth over time.
Images used in this article are used subject to news reporting and quotation exemptions in German copyright law, but if you are the rightsholder and think it should be taken down, please let us know. For any questions, please email us at contact@whereonthe.net.
