Christmas music
Also known as Holiday music
A broad holiday-pop umbrella for contemporary Christmas recordings, spanning polished pop ballads, radio-friendly originals, and modern takes on standards.
Origins and context
Contemporary holiday pop emerged from mainstream American and Anglophone recording culture, with seasonal releases marketed across pop, rock, R&B, and adult contemporary audiences.
The sound
Characteristics
- Bright vocal harmonies
- Piano
- Bells and sleigh-bell percussion
- Drums
- Electric bass
- Orchestral arrangement
- Synthesizers
History
As a broad category, Christmas music has long included both traditional carols and newer popular recordings, but the modern version of the genre sharpened in the late 20th century as mainstream artists began treating holiday releases as major pop events. AllMusic places Christmas material under its holiday-music umbrella, while crossover releases such as Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and later blockbuster albums from Mariah Carey, Michael Bublé, Pentatonix, and José Feliciano helped define the contemporary holiday sound for radio and streaming audiences. By the 1980s and 1990s, holiday records were no longer just seasonal afterthoughts; they became carefully produced pop statements, often built around familiar standards, glossy new originals, or both. Compilation albums such as A Very Special Christmas also helped cement the idea that Christmas songs could sit comfortably beside mainstream pop and rock stars, not apart from them.
Notable artists
Essential listening
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Explore connected genres
Sources and further reading
- Holiday genre overview on AllMusic
- allmusic.com
Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a landmark contemporary holiday-pop recording from 1984.
- Spotify
Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a canonical modern holiday hit from 1994.
- Spotify
Michael Bublé's Christmas album is a major modern holiday release from 2011.
- Spotify
Pentatonix has become closely associated with contemporary Christmas recordings.
- Spotify
José Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad" remains a widely streamed holiday standard.
- Holiday music overview
- Christmas music overview