Mariah Carey performs "Christmas Time is in The Air" from her 25th Anniversary album reissue of Merry Christmas during 'The Late Late Show with James Corden' on Dec. 18, 2019.
Terence PatrickIt’s the first day of December, which means one thing: It’s finally and officially time for Christmas music. Sure, there’s the endless debate about soundtracking Thanksgiving or whether to start the day after, but with the turn of the calendar page, there’s no denying it’s time to crank up the Christmas tunes.
To usher in the holiday season, the Billboard staff broke down their picks for the 100 best Christmas songs of all time, and now we want to know which festive holiday track is your absolute favorite.
We’ve got the usual pop suspects, from Britney Spears‘ turn-of-the-century classic “My Only Wish (This Year)” and Ariana Grande‘s “Santa Tell Me” to the infectious inescapability of Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas is You,” as well as annual standards like “Last Christmas” by Wham!, Brenda Lee‘s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and Donny Hathaway‘s “This Christmas.”
Plus, Billboard‘s rankings don’t skip celebrating the holiday across plenty of other genres, including Latin (El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico’s “No Hay Cama Pa’Tanta Gente”), hip-hop (“Christmas in Harlem” from Kanye West’s GOOD Music collective), kids music (“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” anyone?), dance-punk (!!!’s 2013 single “And Anyway It’s Christmas”) and more.
See the full list here, then vote for the Christmas song that makes your holiday memories the most merry and bright below.
Fontaines D.C. have teamed up with Rosalía for their new collaboration, Where Is Gone?.
The song features on the Irish rock band's forthcoming album, Dopamine Chamber, which arrives on Friday (16.10.26). For guitarist Carlos O’Connell, working with the Spanish superstar is particularly special because of his own Spanish roots.
He explained: “I’ve admired Rosalía ever since her debut album, which I thought was absolutely beautiful.
“What excited me most was the way she continued to preserve Spain's musical traditions, something that felt spiritually connected to what we've been trying to achieve with Irish music. Having roots in both countries, it's been really special to witness. "She's an artist who has continued to amaze me at every point in her career.”
Frontman Grian Chatten has also described the collaboration with Rosalía as one of the most memorable achievements of his career.
He revealed that he felt "humbled" when she agreed to lend her voice to the band's album.
Speaking to NPR, Grian said: “I've always felt there's something almost like a single big idea that I'm personally trying to communicate to the world before I get old and die, if that makes sense. There's one thing I think I'll spend my life trying to express. I have a feeling she has a similar outlook. … I mean, she's an amazing arranger, composer and lyricist. It means so much that she wanted to sing on something we'd put together. It's definitely one of the highlights of my career.”
Rosalía's links to Irish rock music extend beyond Fontaines D.C. She also offered inspiration and helped develop the Spanish lyrics for U2's The Mirror Maker (Rosalía), a track from their forthcoming album, Carnaval de Luz.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last week, she spoke about frontman Bono, saying: “I don't know him personally, but he sent me a text explaining that he was working on a new project and had written a song called The Mirror Maker."
Rosalía joked that Bono had invented a few words of his own.
She recalled telling him: “I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I told him he could create his own language if he wanted to.”
She described the opportunity to collaborate with the 66 year old music veteran as a real privilege.
She added: “Bono is a legend.
“It's amazing.”
Bono recently revealed that he was worried about seeming like a stalker when he reached out to Rosalía to ask whether he could name the song after her.
