The holidays are steadily upon us and along with frivolous spending, ugly Christmas sweaters and uncomfortable family dinner conversations, Christmas songs are yet another vexing part of the season that we’ve all come to put up with.
From songs about Santa Claus to Winter Wonderlands, there are a whole lot of Christmas inspired songs out there and it’s pretty extraordinary when you consider that for every original Christmas tune there is at least 20 different remixes, renditions, and covers of the song from various artists. Not to take anything away from the seminal classics but sometimes older songs need a little bit of a reboot in order to speak to a younger population and restore the festive spirit of the holidays.
A good cover of a popular song will make it feel like new while still holding true to the tone and quality of the original. These prominent holiday cover songs may not be able to sway you into loving Christmas jingles, but they might at least make the inevitable onslaught more tolerable.
Check out our list of the top 12 Christmas song covers:
“O Holy Night”
Mariah Carey 1994 │Adolphe Adam 1847
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
Sam Smith 2014│Judy Garland 1944
“Last Christmas”
Ariana Grande 2013│Wham! 1984
“Silent Night”
Destiny’s Child 2001│Franz Xaver Gruber 1818
“Baby It’s Cold Outside”
Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone 2003│Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalbán 1944
“Blue Christmas”
Elvis Presley 1957 │ Doye O'Dell 1948
“I’ll Be Home For Christmas”
Michael Bublé 2011 │Bing Crosby 1943
“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”
The Jackson 5 1970 │Jimmy Boyd 1952
“This Christmas”
Chris Brown 2007 │Donny Hathaway 1970
“Feliz Navidad”
Celine Dion 1998 │José Feliciano 1970
“Santa Baby”
Madonna 1987│Eartha Kitt 1953
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"
Ingrid Michaelson 2018│Brenda Lee 1958