My 20 Most-Played Christmas Songs, according to iTunes (2019 edition)

When I tried to come up with a set of new blogs to try and attract some different eyes over the holidays, the most obvious idea was “My Top 10 Favorite Christmas (whatever)”. Of course, I automatically don’t like doing the obvious thing. But what's more, any time I have to rank anything I wind up thinking waaaaay too hard about it. I never really have one “most favorite” anything, and all my opinions end up being weighed down by disclaimers and shaped by my mood at the moment. Oh, if only there were some kind of outside authority that could just record my likes and dislikes as an objective fact, without me getting my own way! Oh wait, there is!

As if the whole “starting new websites” thing wasn’t enough, I also had to switch over to a new computer this year. I was able to port my whole MASSIVE music collection over just fine, but just the songs and playlists, not the “times played” data. That made me sad, because I like data, so I made a point to write down a lot of the “most played” info for later reference. And of COURSE that included making a list of the most played Christmas songs! No waffling over opinions or debating what “deserves” to be above what or massaging the order to make things more readable, just cold hard STATISTICS. These are the twenty Christmas songs iTunes had played the most by December 26th, 2019, from lowest to highest, whether I like it or not. And, um, obviously I do like it otherwise they wouldn’t have been played this much.

That said, this still isn’t “really” my absolute favorite Christmas songs, because the realities of iTunes shuffle skews the results a bit. I don't just have one all-purpose Christmas music playlist… I mean, I do, and it’s MASSIVE, but I also have a bunch of smaller ones themed around various sub-genres and moods. Some songs I really like only fit in certain moods, and thus only get played when one specific playlist is fired up. Other songs fit nicely in many different playlists, and thus could accrue a much higher play count even if I don’t actively seek it out as much. So remember, this is just “Most-PLAYED,” not “FAVORITE.” Really though, the important thing is just that it gave me yet another chance to ramble on about music I like, and that’s ultimately my only reason for doing anything.

(BTW: I thought about embedding videos of the songs or something like that, but this is already gonna be a HUGE blog as it is. I’m gonna save your browsers a little strain and leave checking out any of these song to your own Googling ability. Sorry!)

20. “Christmas Waltz” – Carpenters

When I did that “Obscure Christmas Songs I Wish Were More Popular” blog last year, I debated including “The Christmas Waltz” somewhere. Ultimately, I decided it’s not really obscure enough to warrant mention in that context, I’ve actually got a BUNCH of versions on it aside from the Carpenters one here. Still, I DO wish we heard “Christmas Waltz” in the wild more often.  There’s fewer 3/4 Christmas songs out there than you’d think, and keeping them in circulation would probably help break up the monotony of holiday music that everybody complains about. That aside, I just think it’s a neat little song, and the Carpenters version really is my favorite one. It's one of a million “list of attributes about the holiday season” songs that have sprung up since “The Christmas Song” was first released, but something about this one manages to carve out a more unique identity for itself than a lot of it’s ilk. And, of course, corny old-fashioned pop is right up the Carpenters’ ally. I’m actually a bit surprised that there aren’t more Carpenters tracks on this list, considering how heavily I’ve raided their two Christmas albums for playlist material. There is one more song coming, though, and you get absolutely NO points if you guess what it is.

19. “Wonderful Christmastime” – Paul McCartney

So, ANOTHER blog I did last year was all about popular Christmas songs I HATE, and I originally wanted to follow it up with a list of songs everybody ELSE hates but I still like. I couldn’t come up with enough entries to fill out a whole blog, though, and even the ones I DID have weren’t so much defenses of the songs as just me not caring. Case in point, “Wonderful Christmastime.” Everything everybody says about this song is true. It IS overplayed. The Lyrics ARE a bit crap. The music IS pretty undercooked (hiccup melody, too much dead air between lines, earworm-y in a bad way). The production IS sloppy even for a demo, let alone a commercial release (seriously, the “spacy echoing keyboards” sound more like a synth breaking down). This is all true… but I love “Wonderful Christmastime” anyway. I can sort of see what it’s TRYING to do; emulating the “cascading strings” sound of old easy listening songs in a contemporary electronic pop context anticipates the kind of stuff indie acts like The Flaming Lips would do in… okay, I won’t even waste your time with that. “Wonderful Christmastime” is a Christmas song written by a Beatle, so of COURSE somebody raised on Classic Rock like me would be conditioned to like it. Nostalgia’s a heck of a drug.

18. “Los Peces En El Rio” – Mannheim Steamroller

Okay, so I’ll just tell you right now: if you don’t like hearing about Mannheim Steamroller, you’d best just drop this blog and walk away right now. I am ABSOLUTELY one of those dorks who listens to this elevator music ravenously every December. Heck, I actually developed a taste for Easy Listening/Contemporary Instrumental music in general specifically because I was curious what Mannheim Steamroller got up to the rest of the year. They're gonna turn up on here a LOT. Of course, after making that “elevator music” crack up there, “Los Peces En El Rio” is a much tenser, minor key song than you’d expect. An old Spanish carol that we don’t really hear much in the Anglosphere, the Steamroller version of “Los Peces En El Rio” is full of pulsing, ominous synth beats right out of a Michael Mann movie. I’d actually make a joke about this sounding like a Knight Rider Christmas song… except we already have “A Knight Rider Christmas.”

17. “New Spirit” – Teja Bell

Oh dear, this one counts as a spoiler. One of the OTHER blogs I’ve got queued up is a sequel to that “Obscure Christmas Songs I Wish Were More Popular” one, and guess what turns up on the sequel? Yeah… I really shouldn’t have waited to type this one up last. Oops. Anyway, I’ll save most of my thoughts on this one for later, just so I don’t repeat myself too much. I WILL say that this is a prime example of how this list favors mood music that plays in the background over music you actually have to sit down and listen to. Most of my top Christmas songs are less show-stoppers and more incidental music. Stuff to play on a loop to calm me down during Christmas shopping. For more, well, tune in again for that other blog!

16. “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” – Mannheim Steamroller

See? I told you we’d be seeing the mighty Steamroller a lot in this list! Actually, this version of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” (and I have to be specific, because they recorded more than one) reminds me a lot of “Los Peces En El Rio,” in that they both possess more tension than one would normally expect from a Christmas song. “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” doesn’t spend as much time in a minor key as the earlier song, but does so enough to make an impact. Actually, sing song sounds a lot like the Exorcist bit of “Tubular Bells” in several places, especially the fade out. That little repeating keyboard sting isn’t QUITE a quote of Mike Oldfield, but it’s close enough to be kinda eerie. And even when the mood brightens up a bit, there’s still enough swirling harpsichord to make this sound as much like a Halloween song as a Christmas one. Definitely recommended for the Jack Skellington crowd.

15. “Silver Bells” – Kevin Eubanks

Another song that’ll get BRIEFLY mentioned in another blog later, I knew this song from early in my childhood thanks to having it on a tape. It wasn’t until years and years later, during a phase of being really interested in Late Night TV, that it suddenly dawned on me that the guy in Jay Leno’s band was actually the same guy that did that one Christmas song I had. And maybe I was just too distracted by him constantly having to find Jay Leno funny to notice, but dude can PLAY. I’ll tell you right now, you could easily listen to this song more than halfway through before even noticing that it’s supposed to be “Silver Bells.” Eubanks uses the basic melody VERY MUCH as a suggestion, a basic foundation for lots and lots and LOTS of Jazzy improvisation, but not the harsh, atonal kind of Jazz. This has more of a gentle Bassa Nova groove under fairly light instrumentation, until it sounds a bit like Christmas music for some tropical bar.

14. “Sleigh Ride” – Eddie Daniels

Huh, not only is this another Smooth Jazz song, but I think it was originally released on the very same multi-artist compilation as the Kevin Eubanks song. I must repeat that a LOT of artists tried to cash in on the Mannheim Steamroller craze. Eddie Daniels is a clarinet player instead of a guitarist, but otherwise this is another slice of chill, sparse Smooth Jazz for sipping Christmas martinis at some lounge. That or Christmas Eve on The Weather Chanel. Either way, it’s got juuuuust enough “Jazz” in the “Smooth Jazz” equation to not quite be Kenny G, but only just. I TOLD you this list was favoring the background music.

13. “Winter Wonderland” – Chet Atkins

I’d like to say that going from a twofer of Smooth Jazz tracks to a song by Country guitarist Chet Atkins is a stretch, but this song is suck a steel guitar workout that it almost spills over into Hawaiian music, which would actually kind of fit that resort lounge vibe that “Silver Bells” had. Or maybe I’m really reaching here, and all this song make YOU think of is the improbable sight of snow on a tumbleweed. I’ve never been the biggest Country fan, but this version of “Winter Wonderland” is another one of those songs I had as a kid and wormed its way into my consciousness through sheer repetition. I mean, the combination just doesn’t make any sense. Of all the possible environments the sound of steel guitar could conjure up, could ANY of them be described as “Wintery”? But again, I had this song on a tape as a kid, and it’s forever burned into my brain as a result. I could go on about that… but it’d spoil another upcoming blog. TEASER!

12. “Merry Christmas Darling” – Carpenters

So, I’ve gone on record numerous times that one of my holiday pet peeves is “Christmas Songs” that are really just romantic songs with a little seasonal imagery sprinkled onto them. And yet, here’s one of the top examples of that right in my top twenty. There’s not much I can say, other than it really IS some of the top examples of this sort of song. Very often, the Pop Song with some Holiday Sprinkles ends up overly lightweight and cutesy, or goes the other direction and is way too overwrought and melodramatic. “Merry Christmas Darling” manages to JUST hit that balance of being lush and romantic, but still grounded and intimate. Also, it helps that the song puts as much emphasis on fleshing out the ambiance of the Christmas Eve Night setting as it does the singers’ romantic woes, so there is some legitimate Christmas content to be found here. And it’s just some good chill Easy Listening. I think the Carpenters don’t get enough respect in general, so I’ll stick up for “Merry Christmas Darling” here.

11. “Joy To The World” – The Ray Conniff Singers

…and now for some Easy Listening that is neither chill nor, honestly, all that good. I have NO idea how this wound up being the most played version of “Joy To The World,” other than it being another song I imprinted on as a kid. The Ray Conniff Singers were one of those several-dozen person vocal groups that were big in the late ‘50s to mid ‘60s in what could only be described as a concentrated effort to create the single WHITEST sound ever recorded. You know that song “Lovin’ You Lots And Lots” at the beginning of That Thing You Do? The one that’s designed to be as square and un-hip as non-Rock as possible? Yeah, imagine that in real life… which makes their attempt to do “Joy To The World” as a Gospel song particularly ill-advised. Considering that most Ray Conniff Singer songs were a mix of showtunes and what could charitably be described as “Folk,” it's a real miracle that their “Joy To The World” doesn't fall COMPLETELY on its face. They really can sing, and the backing track is solid, it’s just unbearably stiff and dorky. There’s a lot of music I only heard at Christmas time as a kid, but eventually inspired me to seek out whole new genres later in life. I do NOT listen to The Ray Conniff Singers any time other than Christmas.

10. “Winter Time” – Hagood Hardy

Another song that’s going to be brought up again on that “Ten More Songs I Wish Were More Popular” blog, and one that’s in a dead heat with “New Spirit” for most obscure thing here. Again, I need to save my thoughts for that blog… which REALLY should have come out first, huh? Well, consider this another teaser, I guess. Actually, I could point out that this is actually another example of one of my pet peeves: “Christmas Songs” that are exclusively about wintery conditions and never once actually mention Christmas. For a kind of song I allegedly dislike, I sure do listen to a lot of them. It’s probably just that I’m still a little bent out of shape that a bunch of folks in more Northerly climates got to dictate what Christmas weather is “supposed” to be for the rest of us.

9. “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” – Mannheim Steamroller

AAAAAAAND THEY’RE BACK! I think out of all the Steamroller songs on this list, THIS is probably the one that most sounds like what people who hate Mannheim Steamroller think ALL their stuff sounds like. I mean, if you’ve only heard “Deck The Halls” and expect it all to have that sort of Prog Rock feel, it won’t, but if you subscribe to the idea that it’s all keyboard-heavy Easy Listening elevator music… yeah, that’s pretty much what “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is. It starts out with a lot of piano and Casios set to various bells and chimes, but gradually shifts into more and more woodwinds and slinky sax, wrapping up more like a Kenny G song than anything. Now, I’m record thinking that Kenny G gets a bit of a bad wrap in some circles, but I still acknowledge that anybody IN those circles would be bored to tears my this version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” Again, though, this list inadvertently favors gentle background music, so here we are.

8. “Pat a Pan” – Mannheim Steamroller

AND WE HAVE A TWOFER! I threw the Steamroller haters a bone with the last one, but “Pat a Pan” is a fine example of the kind of song where I’ll actively defend the honor of Chip Davis and his army of keyboards. This is also another minor key song, which seems to be the Mannheim Steamroller shortcut onto this top twenty. It’s certainly livelier than the previous song, with a driving march rhythm and some fun electronic drum fills to give it a nice Miami Vice Christmas vibe. Also, it’s another less over-covered song, and it’s always good to have more of those on a list like this.

7. “Silent Night” – Chris McDonald & The Drive Time Band

Okay, I’m gonna level with you, I have no idea who “Chris McDonald & The Drive Time Band” even are. Their Christmas album Tis The Season wasn’t even listed under their own name on our family iTunes stash for the longest time, it was just listed as “Various Artists.” I don’t even know how we got it. But SOMEHOW it made it into our library, I’ve had it ever since, and this ended up being the one most-played version of “Silent Night” I have. It’s another Smooth Jazz track, a perfectly serviceable mix of guitar and sax and keyboard, but not one anybody would hear once and think “Oh yeah, that’s DEFINITELY somebody’s seventh-favorite Christmas song of all time!” Rather, it’s yet another pleasant bit of background music that I apparently used on way more playlists than I realized. It’s almost like this whole letting iTunes tally things up for me thing wasn’t as good an idea as I thought!

6. “Sleigh Ride” – The Boston Pops

Actually, no. Never mind. This is absolutely correct. If anything, I’m shocked there aren’t MORE Boston Pops songs on this list. Back when I was kid, Christmas was the only time I EVER listened to orchestral stuff like The Boston Pops or Percy Faith or Mantovani or any of those other Easy Listening (in the OLD sense) artists whose albums always choke the record bins at Goodwill. That was part of what made the Christmas season feel so special, the fact that it literally sounded DIFFERENT than the rest of the year. Less so now, because years of hearing these light orchestra songs around Christmas time eventually got me listening to them the rest of the year too, something my Classic Rock junkie younger self never could have imagined. But enough about that, “Sleigh Ride” is awesome. This is a prime slice of orchestral jolliness; not overly serious, but not cutesy either, just fun. I occasionally hear snippets of this version sampled for other artists’ Christmas songs, but I still say stick with the original.

5. “Carol of the Bells” – Mannheim Steamroller

Sick of hearing about these guys yet? There’s not a lot I can say about Mannheim Steamroller here that I haven’t already said about “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” or “Pat a Pan,” so instead let’s go with a weird little story. For YEARS I thought I remembered this version of “Carol of the Bells” being in Home Alone. You know, the part where Kevin runs home from the church, says the line for the trailer, and does the whole trap setting montage. And yes, the choir at the church IS singing “Carol of the Bells” before the John Williams soundtrack kicks in, but that’s what it is: John Williams. NOT Mannheim Steamroller. Heck, it’s not even actually “Carol of the Bells” at that point, but a legally separate and distinct original composition called “Setting The Trap” that just HAPPENS to specifically replicate the tone and arrangement style that Chip Davis used on the Mannheim Steamroller version of “Carol of the Bells.” Also, that album came out just two years before Home Alone did. Not that I’d accuse John Williams of basically just rewriting a piece of music that was already written. Who’d ever say something like that?

4. “Balulalow” – Heart

Another song that got mentioned on that first “Songs I Wish Were More Popular” list, though this is probably the least non-popular of the bunch.  I know a lot of choirs perform it, but I still wish it got more traction in Pop music circles. It’s a short piece, but really pretty in an almost fairy tale sort of way. There’s also some weirdness in the artist credits that I should acknowledge here. This version was originally recorded, and I first heard it on Pandora, by “The Lovemongers,” a country side project of Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart fame. They’re SO much of Heart fame that the Lovemongers Christmas album was eventually absorbed into the Heart catalog and re-released as a Heart Christmas album. I’m surprised Mannheim Steamroller hasn’t recorded a version of THIS yet. They’ve done everything else, right?

3. “Above The Northern Lights” – Mannheim Steamroller

AND SPEAKING OF WHOM! This is yet another item off of that “Should Be More Popular” list, in fact I think it might have been the top of the list. It’s a rare Steamroller holiday original, and with vocals to boot. In fact, part of the reason I wish this song were better known is because I want there to be covers with somebody other than Gene Nery singing. Aside from the not-the-best vocals, I really dig how spacy and ethereal “Above The Northern Lights” is. Later Mannheim Steamroller songs get rightly criticized for sounding too much like a dozen Casios recorded in Chip Davis’ living room, but the electronic synth sound really works to this songs’ advantage. When somebody films the world’s first Christmas special in space, this would be a fantastic theme song (and don’t even act like you wouldn’t watch that) I think in that earlier blog I described “Above The Northern Nights” as music for holiday planetarium show. If not, then I totally should have.

2. “The Star Carol” – Teja Bell

Oh look! MORE New Age synth music! I mentioned before that Teja Bell was one of numerous artists blatantly trying to cash in on Mannheim Steamroller’s success, so I guess it’s only fitting that he slip into this list a second time in that company. This version of “The Star Carol” is kind of like what I imagine a Tron Christmas special would sound like: lots and lots of synths and ONLY synths on top of each other. I’m usually pretty iffy about synthesizers trying to sound like other instruments, but there’s something uniquely weird about that one setting where they try to sound like a choir. A special sort of uncanny valley that becomes it’s own weird, special thing, and that’s all over this version of “The Star Carol.” It wisely doesn’t try to ACTUALLY pass they keyboards off as a real choir, rather mixing them in with the fake organ and fake chimes as just another setting in the Casio soup, but it still gives the song a kind of weirdness that I dig for reasons I have trouble explaining.

1. “Deck the Halls” – Mannheim Steamroller

…and who else could possibly be at number one, and what other possible song could it be with? If Flash Gordon had a Christmas special, this would be the theme. This is the sound of laser-powered reindeer on a DeLorean sleigh so that Space Santa can deliver presents from the distant future of THE YEAR 2000!!! Seriously, though, I’ve loved this song every since I was a kid, and no amount of accusations of cheesiness or overexposure will ever dissuade me. Actually, I think this may have been the first time Young Me realized just how drastically a cover of a song could re-invent the original. I’d only ever heard “Deck the Halls” performed by sticking pretty closely to the original carol’s arrangement. It never really occurred to me that you could throw extra chord changes behind the familiar melody or shift those notes around to unfamiliar spots or add whole new bits in to complement the familiar tune and end up with something recognizable but also entirely unique. It seems obvious NOW, but every obvious fact has to be a mind-blowing revelation at least ONCE. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I totally need to go draw a picture of Space Santa in a DeLorean sled.

Well, that was fun! I can’t say the top artist was much of a surprise, but I didn’t expect so many songs I’d already decided to mention elsewhere to pop up again here. I guess I really should have done this blog last… but I’m already thinking about doing ANOTHER version right after Christmas to record my top 2020 songs! Remember, that change of computers means all my iTunes stats were reset to zero at the beginning of the year, so this is a rare opportunity to compare one individual year’s listening patterns to the MANY years’ worth recorded in this blog. I’m not one hundred percent sure I’ll do it just yet, since I won’t know what the results will turn out to be a month from now. If it’s just the same twenty songs all over again, that’s got very interesting. Also, it can take a while for the stats to become varied enough to actually form a clear ranking. If it’s just twenty songs all tied with five plays a piece, that doesn’t exactly work. So I dunno, we’ll see what happens. It’s not like you won't be getting buried by an obnoxious amount of holiday material either way! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!