What’s one thing Christmas isn’t Christmas without?

Christmas songs!

Millions of people begin listening to Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving, ready to get into the Christmas spirit.

Everyone prepares for the holiday with cheerful faces, hanging ornaments on their trees, decorating their house with lights, or hanging garlands and tinsel.

The Christmas season is truly the most wonderful time of the year.

Christmas music worldwide plays an important role in this festive season.

You might know of the hit song, All I Want For Christmas is You by Mariah Carey or Last Christmas by WHAM!

The list below contains trendy Christmas music to prepare you for this incredible holiday:

1. All I Want For Christmas is You – Mariah Carey

All I Want For Christmas by Mariah Carey is arguably the best Christmas song of all time. This hit song was released on October 29, 1994. Ironically, this was a Christmas song released at the time of Halloween. This extremely successful lead single by Mariah Carey topped the charts in twenty-six countries. Carey explains how the spirit of Christmas is not about gifts, but about love and family.

2. Last Christmas – WHAM!

It’s been 38 years since this song was released, and it is still a Christmas classic to this day. Last Christmas is a popular 80’s song by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley from WHAM! The song was not actually concerning Christmas, rather, it was about a breakup, and the couple seeing each other a year later. Last Christmas is a timeless song that has over 732 million views on Youtube, selling over 1.9 million copies.

3. Do They Know it’s Christmas – Band Aid

Do They Know it’s Christmas was released in the UK on December 3, 1985, as a charity to raise money for the famine crisis in Ethiopia. Band Aid also produced another version of this song in 2014 to raise money for the Ebola crisis in West Africa. In this modern version, many famous music artists contributed to the song, such as Ed Sheeran, One Direction, and Rita Ora. Band Aid was a charity group founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to fight those with AIDS, which was an epidemic in the 80s. The lyrics ask people to pray for the people in Ethiopia during the famine, and the repeated line at the end is, “Feed the world”.

4. It’s Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas – Bing Crosby

Meredith Wilson wrote this song in 1951 for various artists to cover it. The most popular version is by Bing Crosby. It’s Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas celebrates the start of decorating for Christmas, “with candy canes and silver lanes that glow”, and “toys in every store”. Bing Crosby also covered another Christmas song, White Christmas by Irving Berlin, which became his biggest hit.

5. Mistletoe – Justin Bieber

Mistletoe is a modern Christmas pop and R&B song by Justin Bieber. This song is about how Bieber is willing to give up “playing in the winter snow” to spend quality time with his love. The catchy chorus and bouncy rhythm will sweep you up in Justin Bieber’s holiday world. If you are looking for a wholesome holiday romance song to listen to, this is definitely the one.

6. White Christmas – Bing Crosby

This Irving Berlin song was written for a musical production called Holiday Inn in 1942. Many different versions of this song were made, but the most popular one was sung by Bing Crosby. “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas / with every Christmas card I write / may your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white.” The nostalgic lyrics are associated with a warm family gathering at home.

7. Santa Tell Me – Ariana Grande

Like Justin Bieber’s Mistletoe, Ariana Grande’s Christmas song, Santa Tell Me, is a pop and R&B song. Released at midnight on November 24, 2014, the song is about how Ariana Grande feels sort of let down by Santa, as he doesn’t always grant her Christmas wishes for a stable relationship with someone. Because this catchy song topped numerous billboard charts, Ariana Grande was nicknamed “Princess of Christmas”. 

8. Underneath the Tree – Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson’s Christmas jingle Underneath the Tree was released on November 5, 2013. It quickly became a popular Christmas song upon its release. Clarkson’s powerful voice makes the lyrics distinguishable, and full of definition. You can clearly hear all the vocals and background chorus along with the individual instruments. The song is about love and amity, and how gifts and presents are trivial matters. The real Christmas gift is the time you spend with others.

9. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) – Nat King Cole

The Christmas Song written by Bob Wells and Mel Torme was, interestingly enough, written during a hot summer in 1945. The song was popularly known by its opening line, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.” Wells wrote down the first four lines on a notepad, trying this method to psychologically think “cool” thoughts to distract himself from the heat. The version by Nat King Cole had a lot of background instrumental and classical music, which might be why the song is only four verses long. 

10. Christmas EveL – Stray Kids

This not-so-Christmas-y song is certainly unique. Written by a South-Korean boy band, Stray Kids, this song contains modern pop and rap elements. The music video has an interesting storyline, where Santa Claus lost his voice, and now Stray Kids must spread Christmas cheer in his stead. This Christmas song takes a very different approach from the warm, holiday melodies. Instead of highlighting the joys of Christmas, this is known as an anti-Christmas song. The song describes the headaches of holiday traffic and how the vast amount of cars “polluting” the streets take away the beauty of Christmas. Like Kelly Clarkson’s Underneath the Tree, Stray Kids also explains how you shouldn’t need to give and receive presents to have a good time, but how you should focus on the time spent with your family, and not the time spent with material goods.