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The greatest Christmas music ever, per one highly opinionated CBS 6 producer

Here are the places you can take your Christmas tree for recycling
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RICHMOND, Va. -- I love Christmas music. I would listen to it year-round were it socially acceptable (my wife says it is not).

Actually, it is probably more accurate to say that I love good Christmas music. There is a lot of stuff that gets played ad nauseum during the holiday season that is pretty awful.

Don’t worry, I’m here to help. Below you’ll find a list of, in my opinion, the best Christmas/holiday songs and albums ever made.

In most cases, I am talking about specific recordings of songs. Example: I don’t like Bing Crosby’s famous version of ‘White Christmas’ at all. But I love the versions by The Drifters, Elvis (basically a remake of The Drifters’ take) and Darlene Love, to name a few.

Now, don’t take that to mean I don’t appreciate other parts of Bing’s holiday catalog. Count me as a fan of ‘Mele Kalikimaka,’ ‘Christmas in Killarney,’ and his version of ‘Here Comes Santa Claus.’

So fire up Apple Music, Spotify, or YouTube… or travel back in time and pull Napster up on your crumby iMac, and seek out the following.

This is going to be A LOT of music, but just throw it all on a playlist, hit shuffle, kick back, and start smashing some of those peanut butter cookies with the Hershey’s Kiss in the middle.

Merry Christmas! And I’m open to suggestions!

Here are the full albums I would include:

Phil Spector - A Christmas Gift for You (not just a great holiday album, but one of the best early 1960s rock 'n' roll albums)

Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song

Frank Sinatra - A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra

Dean Martin - A Winter Romance

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas

Stevie Wonder - Someday at Christmas

Elvis - Elvis’ Christmas Album (the one released in 1957)

The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album

The Temptations - Christmas Card

The Miracles - Christmas with the Miracles

Jackson 5 - Christmas Album

Ramsey Lewis Trio - Sound of Christmas (in 2024 a new compilation titled 'Here Comes Santa Claus' was released that incorporates this album and a follow-up)

Kenny Burrell – Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas

Bing Crosby - White Christmas

Tony Bennett - A Swingin’ Christmas (make sure it’s the version that includes Christmas Auld Lang Syne as the final track)

Tony Bennett – Snowfall (make sure it’s the version that includes a live I’ll Be Home for Christmas as the final track)

Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas

Ray Charles - The Spirit of Christmas

Willie Nelson - Pretty Paper

Joel Paterson - Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar

Gregory Porter - Christmas Wish

Duke Ellington - The Nutcracker Suite

Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra – Pops Christmas Party

Count Basie Orchestra – A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas!

John Denver and the Muppets – A Christmas Together (no joke, has one of the all-time best versions of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas)

Wynton Marsalis – Crescent City Christmas Card

And these are individual tracks I would add:

Bruce Springsteen – Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (without question the greatest Christmas song EVER)

Bruce Springsteen - Merry Christmas, Baby

Bruce Springsteen - Blue Christmas

Bruce Springsteen - Auld Lang Syne

The Drifters - White Christmas

Frank Sinatra - Let It Snow (up-tempo version recorded in 1950 right before he left Columbia Records)

Frank Sinatra - I Believe

Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin - A Marshmallow World (live version from the Christmas with the Rat Pack compilation)

Bobby Darin - Christmas Auld Lang Syne

Wilson Pickett - Silver Bells

Brenda Lee - Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock

Andy Williams - Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season

Andy Williams - It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Andy Williams – Christmas Is a Feeling in Your Heart

Perry Como - There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays (1959 version is way superior to others he recorded)

Bing Crosby - Looks Like a Cold, Cold Winter

Bing Crosby – Happy Holiday

Bing Crosby – Good King Wenceslas

Louis Armstrong - Winter Wonderland

Louis Armstrong - Christmas Night in Harlem

Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald - I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

Ella Fitzgerald – The First Noel

Ella Fitzgerald - Santa Claus Got Stuck

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan - Baby It’s Cold Outside

Dexter Gordon – The Christmas Song

Dexter Gordon – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

U2 - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)

Duke Ellington - Auld Lang Syne

Darlene Love - All Alone on Christmas

Otis Redding - Merry Christmas, Baby

Otis Redding - White Christmas

Billy Squier - Christmas is the Time to Say “I Love You” (Rob Cardwell's favorite Christmas song)

Chet Baker - Winter Wonderland

Eagles - Please Come Home for Christmas

Donny Hathaway - This Christmas

Brian Setzer Orchestra - The Nutcracker Suite

The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping

James Brown - Please Come Home for Christmas

The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra - Midnight Sleighride

Detroit Junior - Christmas Day

Charlie Parker – White Christmas

Sammy Davis Jr. - Christmas Time All Over the World

Burl Ives - A Holly Jolly Christmas

John Lennon - Happy Christmas

Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime

Brook Benton - This Time of the Year

Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby

Lena Horne - Jingle All The Way

Lou Rawls - Christmas Is

Bill Evans – Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (version from his Trio 64 album)

The Impressions - Amen

Avett Brothers - Auld Lang Syne

Booker T and the MGs - Winter Wonderland

Booker T and the MGs - Jingle Bells

Old Crow Medicine Show - Auld Lang Syne

The Royal Guardsmen - Snoopy’s Christmas

Aretha Franklin - Winter Wonderland

Chuck Berry - Run Rudolph Run

Band Aid - Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Tom Petty - Christmas All Over Again

John Coltrane – My Favorite Things

Oscar Peterson Trio – It’s a Marshmallow World

Andrew Bird – Auld Lang Syne

Stan Kenton – The Holly and the Ivy

Stan Kenton – Good King Wenceslas

Harry Belafonte – Mary’s Boy Child

The Kinks – Father Christmas

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