My 20 Most-Played Christmas Songs, according to iTunes (2020 edition)

See? I TOLD you I was gonna do this again! If you missed the previous “Most Played” installment… that’s totally understandable, because I crapped out a TON of Christmas blogs this year. Heck, that first one went out when it wasn’t even December yet, who has time to remember THAT far back?. For those who didn’t see (and are too busy to go read the whole thing) a quick recap: when I switched computers last year, I wrote down iTunes’s Most Played stats to serve as a list of my “top” Christmas songs. I’d overthink it if I had to actually PICK a whole list of favorite Christmas songs, so just let the machine catalog what I’m listening to for me! Easy and accurate, right? Well, not quite, because the end results were STRONGLY biased towards slow, easy-listening, new age background music, as those were the playlists I’d just had on in the background without thinking about it for multiple years. In response, I thought about doing a SECOND Most-Played list specifically for this Christmas season. All the play counts were reset on the new computer, and since I wasn’t going as many places I wouldn’t have as many mindless background plays to affect the final count. In theory, this might be closer to an accurate record of what I actually CHOOSE to listen to.

And hey, that worked out a whole lot better than expected!  As it turned out, I paid VERY close attention to the Most Played rankings all through December. Like, REALLY close. Closer than any sporting event or news story you got worked up over this month. It was legitimately interesting to check iTunes at the end of the day, see how the stats had shifted, and realize “Oh yeah, I DID hear that one song a lot.” In fact, it helped me curate my own musical intake, since it made me conscious of the fact that I was maybe hearing a certain song TOO much in to short a time, and thus avoided getting burned out on any of them too quickly. What’s more, checking those stats also kept reminding me of songs I HADN’T heard enough yet. Seriously, if you haven’t already caught on, I’ve got a LOT of Christmas music in my library. I’m the one person in the Western world who doesn’t have to worry about the old “over-playing the same couple of songs all month” Christmas complaint, because I honestly have too many songs to keep track of without help. So that nice steady stream of “Oh yeah I haven’t heard that ONCE this year!” moments while browsing the stats helped keep things all that much more varied. Long story short, tracking my Christmas music statistics turned out to be a really fun game to play over the holidays, because I’m a massive nerd.

But there’s gotta be a payoff for all that nerdiness, right? What actually ARE my top twenty Christmas songs at the close of Christmas? What songs from the previous list made a repeat appearance? What new songs broke through into the top twenty this year? What shocking upsets occurred? WHO WON CHRISTMAS? Well, let’s quit blabbing and start counting! Here are my Twenty Most-Played Christmas Songs as of the morning of December 25th, 2020 (as determined by iTunes)

“A Christmas Festival” – The Boston Pops

I like that this list is kicking off with The Boston Pops, because that’s probably the biggest difference in the two song lists right away: WAY more orchestra songs. As I’ve said multiple times elsewhere, a huge part of my concept of Christmas Music was founded by tapes my Dad recorded that were full of Mannheim Steamroller-style songs and Boston Pops-style ones. I listened to neither type of music during the rest of the year (at the time) so having them as a trademark of the holiday season made It all that much more special. The last list strongly favored the Steameroller side of that equation, so it’s only fair the orchestras get their chance to shine here! I guess I should say SOMETHING about the actual song itself, though, huh? “A Christmas Festival” is actually a medley of several familiar Christmas carols, most notably “Deck The Halls” and “Hark The Harold Angels Sing.” So, in a way, we’re starting off with a multi-song entry. Wrecking the system right off the bat!

“Still, Still, Still” – Mannheim Steamroller

I know I said Mannheim Steamroller wasn’t gonna dominate this list like the last one, and it’s true, but it’s not like they aren’t still on here. And yes, “Still, Still, Still” is one of the most stereotypically Steamroller songs they could possibly appear with, a traditional Austrian carol done up with so many layers of choirs and swelling keyboards that you’d swear John Williams arranged it. I have nothing against any of those things, obviously, I’m just a bit surprised “Still, Still, Still” is ONLY on this list and not the last one. That list was so heavy on this exact kind of easy listening wonderment, you'd think it’d be right up there with the others. Such are the mysteries of the “shuffle” function.  But seriously, the very fact that this song actually has vocals at all, and with intelligible lyrics instead of just "ooooh"s at that, does make "Still, Still, Still" really stand out among not just the the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas collection, but their discography in general.  So really, this is quite the unusual entry with which to debut on this list.

“Christmas Waltz” – Hagood Hardy

Now this is interesting. Lats time Hagood Hardy appeared once on the list with his original composition “Winder Time,” a song I only knew existed because I’d been looking up THIS song. I think this might be the first version of “The Christmas Waltz” I ever heard, or else it’s the second right after the Carpenters version… which was ALSO on the previous list but not here. Heck, somehow there’s NO Carpenters songs in this Top 20. That’s a bit of an upset right there. As for this song itself, it’s an old school Easy Listening instrumental rendition, with lots of jazzy vibraphone soloing throughout. Good stereotypical shopping music, if you ask me; gentle and relaxing without being sleep-inducing. This is one of MANY songs nobody other than me would listen to this much, but was on one of those tapes I mentioned, so I imprinted HARD on it.

“March Of The Toy Soldiers” – The Boston Pops

And back to the MVP of this list, or at least it feels like it. The Boston Pops are actually tied with Mannheim Steamroller in terms of individual appearances, but they brought along some other pop orchestras as backup. While there’s still SOME other New Age/Smooth Jazz acts in Mannheim Steameroller’s corner, I still feel like it’s the orchestra who win the fight this year. I mean, have you SEEN an orchestra? They’re BIG. I would NOT bet against them in a fight. Who do you thing is stronger, the guy who lugs a tuba around or the guy who plays a plastic Casio? I suppose I’m getting a bit off topic here, but this IS “March Of The Toy Soldiers” we’re talking about, so I guess I’m just in a combative state of mind at the moment.  And as long as I'm senselessly picking fights, I just wanna say that "March Of The Toy Soldiers" is WAAAAY better than "Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers" or it's going by.  Because this is what Christmas is all about, needlessly alienating others and making enemies!  Okay, I need to hurry up and move on to the next one before we go any more off the rails...

“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” – The Williams Brothers

Now THIS is an interesting anomaly. For all my talk about Mannheim Steamroller, the SECOND most Christmas-associated artist in American pop music has got to be Andy Williams. He had an illustrious career during the other eleven months of the year, of course, but this dude OWNED Christmas. His version of “The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” is pretty much definitive, he released no less than EIGHT Christmas albums in his lifetime, and his yearly Christmas specials no only GREATLY outlived his weekly variety show but also set the gold standard for cheesy variety specials for the next two decades. And yet, for all his holiday credentials, the only Andy Williams representation on this Top 20 isn’t a solo track, but a song by The Williams Brothers. Andy got his start in showbiz with his three siblings, and even after the others quit and he went solo, Andy would still get the group back together for a song or two on each special. By 1970, they’d accumulated enough performances to fill out a full Christmas album, and I’ve listened to just about every track on that album more than any Andy Williams solo song. I’m just a sucker for vocal harmonies, dang it!  It really is a nice, mellow, relaxing Christmas album, too.  Fitting for a collection of songs that were basically an excuse for the brothers to just hang out together and get paid for it.

“Christmas Time Is Here (vocal)” – The Vince Guaraldi Trio

This song was actually a key factor in my paying such close attention to the song stats this year. The first time I got curious and took a look at the play counts, I discovered that I’d listened to a cover of “Christmas Time is Here” by smooth jazz combo Fourplay at least twice as much as anything off the original soundtrack. It’s a nice cover and everything, but it just felt wrong that I wasn’t putting the REAL song into my ears, and felt even worse to think about telling The Internet that I’d done so. From there, I started curating my song intake more and more, and I gotta say my brain was a much jollier place for it. And that’s a funny thing to say about a soundtrack as famously mellow as A Charlie Brown Christmas, but you get what I mean. I don’t really even need to say anything about “Christmas Time Is Here,” enough critics have praised the soundtrack enough that you already know everything I COULD say. Definitely my favorite song from Arrested Development.

“Wonderful Christmastime” – Paul McCartney

Okay, as much as this list turned out different from the last one, of course there’s still going to be a bit of overlap. Unfortunately, I think I already said everything there is to say about “Wonderful Christmastime” last month. I hear all the complaints about it, and I just don’t care. It’s a Beatle doing a Christmas song, with spacy synth noises all over it. I’m gonna love this song regardless of any uninspired writing or sloppy production or excessive overplaying. I’m not gonna defend “Wonderful Christmastime” as a solid song anymore than I’m gonna defend a Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake as good baking, but that won’t stop me from enjoying the heck out of it. Literal comfort food here, folks.

“Stille Nacht” – Mannheim Steamroller

See? I told you there was still more to come. Actually, I’m really surprised this WASN’T on the last list, since the aggressively magical “Stille Natcht” is one of Mannheim Steamroller’s signature Christmas tunes. This one feels even more like the soundtrack to a Spielberg movie than “Still, Still, Still” did, with the classic “Silent Night” melody almost feeling like a bonus flourish added onto a pre-existing Mannheim Steamroller. In fact, I don’t hear people pointing this out, but “Stille Nacht” LITERALLY has a separate Mannheim Steamroller song hidden it: that’s not some random piano improvisation before the band’s big climactic swell, that’s the melody to the song “Embers.” It says a lot about the general sound of Mannheim Steamroller that they could just casually slip a totally non-Christmas song into “Silent Night” like that, and nobody even noticed. By the way, I used to make a tradition of having “Stille Nacht” be the last song I listened to before going to bed Christmas night, and by extension my last Christmas song all year, because I’d go cold turkey on all holiday media starting on the 26th. The idea was to try and preserve the “specialness” of the whole Christmas experience by not letting it overstay its welcome, but… well, I’ll get back to that in a bit.

“Carol of the Bells” – The Bird and The Bee

I’ve almost entirely moved on from my obsession with early-aughts Indie rock, but this duo’s 2007 holiday offering still stands as a good example of what I liked about that stuff back in college. One of the more drastic reinterpretations of a familiar song on this list, The Bird and The Bee take the old European choir song and turn it into one of those Electrpop-meets-Exotica kitchfests that so many Indie acts were into at the start of the millennium. There’s only one vocal part for most of the song, but it does a good job of avoiding being too repetitive by throwing in a lot of interesting key changes throughout. There’s also some nice interplay between harpsichord and really spacey keyboards, which is always a way for a song to get on my good side. Admittedly, Inara George’s vocals are a weak point, exactly the kind of half-whispered tweeness that I’ve come to hate in Indie Pop, but it’s not enough to drag down the good parts of the song’s arrangement. I think the production here is what Paul McCartney WANTED “Wonderful Christmastime” to sound like, sort of. Maybe.

“Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” – The Boston Pops

Yep, here they are again! I can’t stress enough just how much I DIDN’T listen to orchestra music as a kid. I listened to Oldies radio and a smattering of Christian Rock, but Pop Orchestra was absolutely not a thing. Well, there’s soundtracks and stuff like that, obviously, but those compilations of Christmas songs were absolutely the ONLY time all year that Young Me ever deliberately chose to sit down and listen to orchestral music for its own sake. That was such a huge part of what made the whole holiday season feel special, feel DIFFERENT than the whole rest of the year. A lot of people complain about Christmas losing that specialness as they get older, usually due to stress and responsibilities and general adulating. For me, though, the single biggest blow to my own Christmas spirit came when it suddenly hit me that all these artists I normally only heard in December must have performed SOMETHING over the rest of the year. I spent a whole year broadening my musical horizons, which was good, but then the NEXT December when I fired up the holiday playlists again, they couldn’t have that same “and now for something completely different” shift they used to. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that these SPECIFIC songs are still Once A Year treats, so I got over it. And besides, even when I do listen to Pop orchestra music over the rest of the year, most of it still doesn’t sound anything like “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.” This is such an aggressively bouncy, staccato-y, cheesy song that it honestly sounds more like a PARODY of old-fashioned easy listening music than the real thing. Like, the kind of music somebody writes sarcastically to play over a deliberately kitch instructional film strip. But it totally fits a holly jolly tune like “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town!”

“Silent Night” – The Percy Faith Orchestra

And speaking of Pop Orchestras, Percy Faith! Yes, the “Theme From A Summer Place” guy recorded some Christmas albums with his orchestra, and it’s basically a smoother, more easy listening version of the Boston Pops stuff. “Silent Night” in particular has a lot more cascading strings and cooing female vocals that make the song sound more like a late 50s industrial short to sell the idea of Christmas to supermarkets. I joke, but only just a little. Unlike “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” up above, this is exactly the kind of vapid Muzak that I DO listen to of my own free will these days. Young Me would be shocked and horrified at my lameness. Still, even with a noticeable air of Percy Faith kitch permeating the affair, at least it’s PRETTY kitch this time. This is another song that makes for good listening when I need to calm down and relax, like just after lugging a big heavy playset around on Christmas Eve night or something like that. (What? My arms don’t hurt as I write this. What gave you that idea?) Also, this is somehow the first time a second version of the same song appeared on one of these lists. See? I TOLD you there was a lot more Christmas songs out there than radio would have you believe!

“Deck The Halls” – Mannheim Steamroller

WHOA! Now THIS is the shocking upset of the year, right here. “Deck The Halls” was my number one song by a country mile last time, and now it’s only barely made the Top Ten! Heck, it isn’t even the top Mannheim Steamroller song on this list! How’d THAT happen? There’s actually a fairly easy explanation a little later on, but for now I’m too busy being flabbergasted by how low this actually ranked, and how much less Steamroller in general made it onto this list. Now, if this were a Top FIFTY Songs list, there’d be waaaaay more, but I’ve just got so much Mannheim Steamroller in my library that a lot of those songs sort of canceled each other out and got stuck in the middle together. Actually, maybe I WILL do a Top 50 next year, especially once those songs in the lower reaches have a chance to space themselves out more. Will “Deck The Halls” and its gloriously cheesy synth riffs make it farther up next time? We’ll just have to wait and see!

“I Saw Three Ships” – David Arkenstone

There’s a glorious cosmic convergence in this ranking one spot higher than a Mannheim Steamroller song, because for years I thought it WAS a Manheim Steamroller song. This was on another one of those Christmas tapes my Dad made, but he didn’t catch the DJ announcing who it was. Still, it’s a cheesy 80s New Age song with layers and layers of synth keyboards turning a traditional Christmas carol into what sounds like the theme to a SciFi Channel movie. That just HAD to be Mannheim Steamroller, right? NOPE! IT’s soundtrack composer David Arkenstone, and that BLEW MY MIND when I stumbled onto this track on a Narada Records seasonal compilation. As I’ve said before, EVERY New Age/Smooth Jazz/Contemporary Instrumental artist tried to cash in on the Steamroller craze in the late ‘80s. This really does make for a great companion piece with “Deck The Halls,” just not QUITE as spacy and with a more airy, Celtic feel. I’m tempted to say it sounds a bit like a Lord of the Rings Christmas song would sound… except LotR Christmas albums are already a thing. Seriously, go look up Yuletide In The Shire by Everstar. I couldn’t make that up.

“Walking In The Air” – Howard Blake & Peter Auty

Wow, how was THIS not on the list last time? I know, I know I’m officially opposed to songs with no intrinsic connection to Christmas beyond “we say it is.” And let’s be honest, if you didn’t know it was from The Snowman, there’d be nothing about “Walking In The Air” to tell you it’s Christmas-related. Heck, I once heard a Chinese cover of this song playing in an Asian Market in the middle of summer, and it never would have stood out if I wasn’t genetically designed to notice Christmas media. But come on, it’s such a gorgeous, haunting song that’s attached to such a memorable, impressive special that I can’t help but affirm its Christmasocity. Also, “Christmasocity” is now a word. Do not question. Oh, and I should point out that this is the original soundtrack version of “Walking in The Air” as sung by Peter Auty, not the re-recording with Aled Jones. They’re ALMOST identical, but for me the key difference is the ending. The original version climaxes in this big orchestral swell and shifts up into a major key for that final moment. The re-recording, on the other hand, sticks to the minor key and just kind of drifts off into this eerie repeating of the title, with the backing mostly dropping out completely. It’s certainly haunting, but I like the version that ends on a big, bright, conclusive resolution. After all, who ever heard of something related to The Snowman ending on a downer?

“We Need A Little Christmas” – Johnny Mathis

Well THIS is an appropriate entry for this year’s list. For the longest time, I’ve been a pretty staunch believer in not over-saturating Christmas stuff by breaking it out too early. No Christmas songs before Thanksgiving and all that. That’s also the reason for my old “No Christmas songs after the 25th” rule: I didn’t want to cheapen the specialness by allowing it to linger past its welcome. But you know what? SCREW ALL THAT. If I need a nostalgic pick me up, I’m gonna give it to myself right the heck now. I know the clichéd thing is to say I needed more Christmas in my life after the year we all had, but I was already leaning in that direction well before this season made it official. The second we had our first legitimately cold day in early November, I already had the Christmas playlists blaring, and I fully expect to keep it going for an indeterminate time after today. Heck, this list will probably already be inaccurate by the time you read it, let alone by the time I ACTUALLY get bored with Christmas songs around New Years. “We Need A Little Christmas” might as well be my new theme song. Speaking of which, I should really say something about the song itself, right? Well, Johnny Mathis is only a step or two behind Andy Williams in the Old School Crooner Who Really Nailed Christmas Albums department, and this is a nice slice of corny, enthusiastic old fashioned holiday fun. Not at all a bad way to kick off your yearly Christmas music binge.

“Wassail, Wassail” – Mannheim Steamroller

Easily the most obscure Mannheim Steamroller song on this list, and seemingly the most atypical. There’s no synth keyboards or swooping orchestras or “oooh”-ing children’s’ choirs on this one, it’s an old English carol bashed out on harpsichord and lute and period instruments, completely unplugged. If the only Steamroller songs you know are “Deck The Halls” and “Stille Nacht,” this probably will seem right out of nowhere. However, Chip Davis has always had a streak of medieval music nerd about him, and most albums have at least one song that sounds more like it belongs at a Renaissance Fair than a hotel spa like the rest of their catalogue. More important for me, though, “Wassail, Wassail” is actually the very first Mannheim Steamroller song I ever heard. It’s the one Steamroller track on the first of those Christmas tapes I keep talking about, which also happened to be the ONLY tape that survived long enough for me to preserve in playlist form. Quite a few songs on this list got this high up because I repeatedly played that whole tape playlist for absolute maximum nostalgia, and “Wassail, Wassail” probably benefited more than anything else from being around the front of the list. I don’t hear any versions of this song in circulation other than the Steamroller one, which is a shame because it’d make a great substitution for anyone sick of hearing “Here We Come a-Carolling.” And is a great pick for any acoustic/celtic/bluegrass/folk/whatever acts looking for some new songs for their set list.

“Sleigh Ride” – The Boston Pops

Hey, remember how I said I’m officially obligated to look down on “Christmas songs” that aren’t specifically about Christmas?  Or how I’ve complained about “Christmas” media that thinks the presence of snow is enough to count, even though the vast majority of us live in regions where show in December isn’t a thing? Yeah, I’m a total hypocrite. I love “Sleigh Ride,” and the Boston Pops recording is probably the definitive version to me. It represents all the best elements of the song as everybody knows it, and adds a few clever twists to spice things up along the way. In particular, I love the way it briefly turns into a Swing version of the song for a bit right after the second bridge. I remember some commercial once (I think it was a Gap ad?) built a whole song around a sample of just that one line, and it TOTALLY worked. This is the highest ranking Boston Pops track on this list, and is probably the best example of why I think this type of music works so well for Christmastime. I mean, aside from my unquestioning childhood nostalgia, of course. While it’s so easy to associate orchestral music as being ponderous and stuffy, this is just as energetic and fun as any pop song. Heck, it’s MORE fun than most of the pop songs currently being produced.

“Deck The Halls” – The Percy Faith Orchestra

There’s somebody somewhere who probably thinks it’s insulting that my song list has a Percy Faith song clocking in higher than the highest Boston Pops song… but that guy’s probably not going to be reading a blog by That Guy Who Draws Anime Convention Comics to begin with, so whatever. Honestly, I really thought this was a Boston Pops song in the same way that I assumed that one version of “I Saw Three Ships” must be Mannheim Steamroller: it just sounds like it would be. While the previous Percy Faith song on the list was loaded with stereotypical late ‘50s/early ‘60s Easy Listening flourishes, “Deck The Halls” is a much classier affair. This is a big, bombastic orchestral piece with big French horns and church bells and stuff, never once sounding like it’s the soundtrack to a commercial for ‘50s wonder appliances. Best of all is the bridge, which shifts into a minor key and really has some fun playing up the old folk tune nature of the original. I really am a sucker for songs that find unfamiliar ways to play around with familiar melodies. This might be a bit too close to “real” classical music for some listeners, but I actually think that makes it an impressive achievement, especially for the “Theme From A Summer Place” guy.

“Christmas Is…” – Jack Jones

AND SPEAKING OF WHOM! I feel like I’ve been bigging this song up more and more every year, but I really do think Percy Faith’s attempt to write his own holiday standard should have caught on for longer than it did. Thankfully, it was a thing just long enough for Jack Jones to record his version, which remains my favorite. While there’s still traces of the Elevator Music qualities of Faith’s original, Jones’ arrangement has more of a Vegas Lounge quality that really makes it stand out. This should totally be the fallback option for when people finally get sick of hearing “The Christmas Song” too many times. Come on, people! Make it happen! I’m running out of things to say about this song!

And my number one most played Christmas Song of 2020, according to iTunes, is…

“The Twelve Days Of Christmas” – Mantovani

Way back when I made that list of Popular Christmas Songs I Hate, I contemplated following it with a list of generally unpopular Christmas songs I actually like, or at the very least VERSIONS of popularly unpopular songs I don’t think are that bad. I couldn’t come up with enough entries to fill out a whole list, but if I had, this would have absolutely been number one. Let’s face it, “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” is not a very fun song to listen to. It’s really more of a party game than a song, an excuse for everyone to laugh as your friends get lost and stumble over the words. Just sitting down and listening to professionals bash out the song exactly as intended is usually pretty boring. And speaking of boring, the sheer repetition of the melody can get just plain maddening. There’s a reason Frederic Austin introduced the idea of changing things up at “Five Gold Rings,” it just unbearable to sit through otherwise. And yet, here we are, with a version of “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” topping my list. What gives? Well, you gotta understand that Mantovani was yet another orchestral Light Music artist, and actually one of the first big band leaders. Sort of like Percy Faith only less wild and hard rocking. But seriously, Mantovani arranged the HECK out of “The Twelve Days Of Christmas,” giving every single verse its own unique delivery to keep everything varied and distinct. “Twelve Drummers Drumming,” obviously, is a march with prominent snare drums. “Ten Lords a-Leaping” has these sudden staccato string oscillations to give it a jumpy feel. “Seven Swans a-Swimming” REALLY slows down to a lush, graceful swoon that not only breaks up the tempo but also serves as a build up to “Five Golden Rings,” making it even more dramatic than it already was. Basically, this version of “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” is a wild, busy flurry of shifting musical styles and changing keys and fluctuating tempos and all kinds of musical tricks. The one thing it’s not is the one things “Twelve Days” usually is: boring. Now, granted, it’s also COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE to sing along with in this state, which is rather ironic, but as a passive listening experience it’s a massive improvement. It’s also one of the first songs on that Christmas Tape playlist I mentioned earlier, which probably has more to do with this top placement than anything. But you know what? I have no problem with this. It’s probably the one version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” I can truly defend, so I say it deserves to be in the top spot.

Well, there you have it! My SECOND Top Twenty Christmas songs list in a month! You’d almost think I like talking about this stuff or something. I hope you liked all these free Christmas blogs, but even if you didn’t, fear not. We’ll be back to the regularly scheduled Patreon stuff next month, and that schedule is actually growing! There a whole SECOND set of Far Out There comics coming, the results of the latest Mad Lib that went out to $5+ patrons. I’m gonna post those one page at a time, but they should come out more frequently than the Jenna comics, so look forward to seeing those soon. And for the Conventional Wisdom crowd, I’m FINALLY going to be restarting the Weekly Anime Comic project soon too, in a form that hopefully will actually BE weekly again. How would THAT be for a Christmas miracle?

But in the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody, hope you gleaned a few new songs to put in your playlists from all this nonsense, and see you all in January!