The Best Christmas Albums That Aren't Annoying
The test for annoying here is the critics: an album needs at least two of their Christmas lists behind it, and most of the best-sellers fall short. Rank the survivors. The lists: Rolling Stone (December 2012, plus a page dated 30 November 2019, as one), Paste (27 November 2019), Tidal (16 December 2015), Stacker (2 December 2022), AV Club (30 November 2022). A list printed before an album existed couldn't name it, so each entry tallies the lists that could. 33 of the 40 best-sellers in 24/7 Wall Street's 18 December 2022 index fall short. EPs are out, bar a box of EPs sold as one release; soundtracks, various-artists albums and earlier-release compilations count. Half its lists or more means top tier, the rest second, votes sort both, and the gate alone decides membership. Each link plays in full and prefers original mix to remaster to remix, then the nearest song count and titles, then age; entries name additions or gaps against a documented original. Christmas with Johnny Cash passes but no Spotify search finds it, so no entry.
Vince Guaraldi Trio — A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) is #1 on “The Best Christmas Albums That Aren't Annoying”.
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Vince Guaraldi Trio — A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Every list counts it, five of its five. Guaraldi's trio cut most of it at Fantasy Studios in San Francisco in autumn 1965; Linus And Lucy - Remastered 2026 is a remaster of an older take, from 26 October 1964, made for Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown. The link is the 2026 remaster of the original eleven tracks, which plays in full, of an album that entered the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2012.
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The Beach Boys — The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (1964)
Brian Wilson produced it, and Dick Reynolds arranged the orchestral backings for the traditional songs, which mostly sit on side two. The Man With All The Toys - Mono Version is one of the band's own songs. All five lists name it, so it is named by five of its five and nobody abstains. The link holds the 1964 mono and stereo programmes back to back, twenty-four tracks, because Spotify's twelve-track copy is the 1991 remix.
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Various Artists — A Motown Christmas (1973)
Motown issued this double album on 25 September 1973, and five of its five lists name it. Michael Jackson sings Little Christmas Tree under his own name, between a Temptations track and a Smokey Robinson one. Spotify's copy runs to twenty-five: the original twenty-four, then Marvin Gaye's I Want To Come Home For Christmas, a bonus first added on a 1999 CD.
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Various Artists — A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (1963)
Philles put it out on 22 November 1963, the day President Kennedy was shot, under a title that credited the label, Philles Records, rather than Spector; it reached 13 on Billboard's Christmas chart that year and 6 as an Apple reissue in December 1972. Darlene Love sings A Marshmallow World. Spector's spoken thanks over Silent Night closes the thirteen tracks, all present and untagged on Spotify. Stacker leaves it off: four of its five.
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Nat King Cole — The Christmas Song (1962)
Paste put it first, and Rolling Stone, Stacker and the AV Club make four of its five. It began in 1960 as The Magic of Christmas, arranged by Ralph Carmichael; the 1962 retitle opened with the title song and dropped God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. Caroling, Caroling is on side two. After the 1962 fourteen, Spotify's Expanded Edition adds Buon Natale, God Rest Ye again, O Come All Ye Faithful, The Happiest Christmas Tree and a Natalie Cole duet.
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Bing Crosby — Merry Christmas (1945)
Decca's 1945 set of 78s held ten sides, Faith Of Our Fathers among them; the 1947 set dropped Danny Boy and Let's Start the New Year Right and swapped in 1947 remakes of White Christmas and Silent Night, and the 1955 LP added Silver Bells, Mele Kalikimaka, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas and Christmas in Killarney. Spotify carries that LP, titled White Christmas since a 1986 CD transfer. Tidal alone skips it: four of its five.
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Willie Nelson — Pretty Paper (1979)
Booker T. Jones produced and arranged it a year after Stardust, and Columbia released it on 6 November 1979 as Nelson's first Christmas album. Christmas Blues is the instrumental near the end of side two. The title song, his own and a 1963 hit for Roy Orbison, closed the LP; the 1984 CD moved it to the front, Spotify keeps that order, and four of its five lists name the record.
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Elvis Presley — Elvis' Christmas Album (1957)
Irving Berlin objected to Presley's White Christmas and asked radio stations to stop playing it, and most American stations ignored him. Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me) closes the secular side, and four gospel songs from the Peace in the Valley EP fill out side two. Spotify's copy here is the 1957 twelve-track LP, not the 1970 Camden ten that holds the Diamond, and three of its five lists name it.
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Mariah Carey — Merry Christmas (1994)
Miss You Most (At Christmas Time) is one of Carey's own songs here, a ballad, and Jesus Oh What a Wonderful Child was cut in a church with children on tambourines. The US edition linked here has ten tracks; international copies add God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen as an eleventh. The RIAA certified it Diamond on 15 December 2025, and Paste, Stacker and the AV Club make it three of its five.
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Ella Fitzgerald — Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas (1960)
Frank DeVol arranged and conducted, Norman Granz produced, and the 1960 New York sessions kept to secular songs. Good Morning Blues, a blues with no holiday in its title, comes seventh. Rolling Stone's 2019 page puts the album first, and Stacker and the AV Club name it too, three of its five. The link is the clean twelve-track Verve copy, not the eighteen-track expansion.
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James Brown — James Brown's Funky Christmas (1995)
Polygram assembled it in October 1995 from Brown's Christmas LPs of 1966 to 1970, so it is here as a compilation of earlier releases. Let's Unite The Whole World At Christmas is track two, and Spotify carries all seventeen as issued. It is third on Rolling Stone's 2012 list and fourth on its 2019 page; Tidal and the AV Club also name it, which makes three of its five.
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Sufjan Stevens — Songs for Christmas (2006)
Stevens recorded a Christmas EP most years from 2001 to 2006 as gifts for friends and family, skipping 2004 for Illinois, and Asthmatic Kitty boxed them as one release on 21 November 2006, which is why the EP rule does not reach it. That Was the Worst Christmas Ever! is on the third volume, recorded in December 2003. Spotify has all forty-two tracks of the box, and Rolling Stone, Paste and Tidal make three of its five.
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Bob Dylan — Christmas in the Heart (2009)
Dylan produced it himself as Jack Frost, in Santa Monica in May 2009, and his royalties from it go to Feeding America, Crisis and the World Food Programme. Must Be Santa got a video directed by Nash Edgerton that November. Columbia released the fifteen tracks on 13 October 2009, and the AV Club ranked it fifth, with Rolling Stone and Tidal making three of its five.
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The Ventures — The Ventures' Christmas Album (1965)
Dolton issued it in November 1965 in mono and stereo. Scrooge carries a writing credit for all four Ventures, as does Snow Flakes; the rest are standards with guitars carrying the tune. Paste ranked it ninth and Rolling Stone's 2019 page 27th, and Stacker names it, three of its five. Spotify's twelve match the Dolton running order, Sleigh Ride first and White Christmas last.
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Various Artists — Christmas on Death Row (1996)
Suge Knight was executive producer, and Death Row and Interscope issued it on 3 December 1996. Nate Dogg sings Be Thankful, track eight, after singing on the opening track, which Spotify credits to Snoop Dogg alone. All sixteen tracks are on Spotify as issued, and Rolling Stone, Stacker and Tidal name it, three of its five lists.
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She & Him — A Very She & Him Christmas (2011)
Zooey Deschanel sings and plays piano and ukulele, M. Ward produced and plays guitar and organ, and Jim Keltner adds percussion. The Christmas Waltz opens it. Merge released it on 24 October 2011 with sales proceeds going to 826 National, and it reached 12 on the Billboard 200 that year. Rolling Stone, Paste and Stacker name it, three of its five.
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Kacey Musgraves — A Very Kacey Christmas (2016)
Mercury Nashville released it on 28 October 2016, too late for Tidal's 2015 list but early enough for Rolling Stone's page dated 30 November 2019, so four lists could name it and Stacker and the AV Club did: two of its four, which is half. Willie Nelson sings on A Willie Nice Christmas. Its Billboard 200 peak was 97 in 2016, then 21 when it came back in December 2019.
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Frank Sinatra — A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra (1957)
Gordon Jenkins conducted, and Capitol released it on 21 September 1957 with secular songs on side one and carols on side two. Mistletoe And Holly - Remastered 1999 is track three; Spotify tags all fourteen songs on this copy with the 1999 remaster, and after the original twelve come a White Christmas, an alternate Christmas Waltz and a Christmas Seals announcement, with Rolling Stone and the AV Club making two of its five.
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Various Artists — A Very Special Christmas (1987)
Jimmy Iovine conceived it as a memorial to his father, A&M issued it on 12 October 1987 for the Special Olympics, and Keith Haring drew the cover. Sting sings Gabriel's Message. All fifteen original tracks are here, including Bon Jovi's Back Door Santa, which later pressings swapped out. It sits 19th on the 24/7 Wall Street index and still clears the bar, the AV Club ranking it 23rd and Rolling Stone naming it: two of its five.
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Ray Charles — The Spirit of Christmas (1985)
The Raelettes sing behind Charles and Freddie Hubbard plays on it, according to the singer's official store, which also dates it to 1985. That Spirit Of Christmas - Remastered is the ballad heard in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. All ten titles on Spotify carry a Remastered tag and a search turned up no untagged copy, and the AV Club at 17th and Rolling Stone's 2019 page at 32nd make two of its five.
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Jimmy Smith — Christmas Cookin' (1964)
It came out in 1964 as Christmas '64 and took its current title in 1966. Creed Taylor produced, Rudy Van Gelder engineered, Billy Byers wrote most of the big-band charts, and Al Cohn arranged We Three Kings (Of Orient Are). Spotify's ten add two 1992 CD bonuses to the original eight, Baby, It's Cold Outside and a Greensleeves of nearly nine minutes, and the AV Club and Rolling Stone each name it, two of its five.
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Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton — Once Upon a Christmas (1984)
RCA released it on 29 October 1984 and the RIAA had it at double platinum by 1989, and 24/7 Wall Street's index places it 38th, yet Stacker and the AV Club carry it over the bar, two of its five. With Bells On is a duet. Spotify has the 1997 reissue's nine tracks, which drop Rogers' solo The Christmas Song and Silent Night and add Parton's Hard Candy Christmas.
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Nick Lowe — Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family (2013)
Yep Roc asked Lowe for a Christmas record, he said no at first, and the result came out on 29 October 2013, recorded in Tooting Bec. Christmas at the Airport is one of his own songs, and Ron Sexsmith wrote Hooves on the Roof for it. Rolling Stone's 2019 page has it 17th and the AV Club's list 12th, two of its five, and Spotify carries the twelve tracks as issued.
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Jacob Miller — Natty Christmas (1978)
Miller cut it with Inner Circle at Channel One, Sly Dunbar on drums, and was killed in a road accident in March 1980, aged 27. Natty No Santa Claus (feat. Ray I, Inner Circle) is track four. Deck the Halls appears twice on Spotify's ten, at seven and nine, and Rolling Stone and Tidal name it, two of its five.
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