30 Best Christmas Songs by ‘American Idol’ Finalists: Critic’s Picks

After competing on season 5, Mandisa carved out a successful career in the contemporary Christian music genre, releasing six studio albums of original material between 2007-2017. Her second release was It’s Christmas; she co-wrote the title track. With its energetic pop sound, the song foreshadowed future Mandisa hits like “Overcomer,” her most successful single, with a 10-week reign on Hot Christian Songs. Mandisa’s friends Melinda Doolittle, Danny Gokey and Colton Dixon paid tribute to her on American Idol this year after her passing at age 47 on April 18. Listen here.

One of season 2’s most memorable moments was when Gladys Knight told Studdard he was the “velvet Teddy bear.” The name stuck and people have been calling the second American Idol winner that ever since. Twenty-one years after his Idol run, he released his first Christmas music on the EP My Favorite Holiday, named after the title song he co-wrote. “The song is pretty self-explanatory,” Studdard has said. “Christmas has forever and will always be my favorite holiday. We set out to describe the feeling and the love that the holiday season invokes. I have always wanted to do a Christmas project and for some reason, it was always put on the back burner. Then about two years ago, my friend, producer and [music director] John Jackson and I decided to start on the music and allow for it to land wherever, when we finished. So, two years of off and on, and we now have this EP. The process of recording the project was fun, but also very nostalgic. I grew up singing a lot of these tunes and it always makes me feel happy to remember holiday memories of old.” Listen here.

Stevens was the Rat Pack disciple of season 3, such a fan of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. that the American Idol producers surprised him after one live show with a limo that whisked him to Burbank, Calif., to meet the Sinatra family while they were in a studio to put the finishing touches on an unreleased Sinatra track. Stevens followed his 2005 debut album Red with the 2009 release Home for Christmas. While filled with standards like “The Christmas Song” and “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” Stevens wrote an original, “Christmas Eve Sweetheart.” Listen here.

McKibbin was a finalist in the very first season of Idol, placing third behind Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini. Distinctive for her rock edge and magenta hair (the first of a few Idols to sport similar locks), McKibbin competed with songs by Stevie Nicks, Janis Joplin, Pat Benatar and Bonnie Tyler. When her season ended, she was asked to record a country album and declined.

Years later, she recorded two Christmas songs for two volumes titled American Christmas. The first was a cover of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” – not the Mariah Carey song, but the country ballad by Vince Vance and the Valiants released in 1989. The second was an original, “All Alone with the Christmas Lights,” a plaintive lament about being alone on the holiday and returning home not to a romantic partner but the lights hung on the house. McKibbin suffered a brain aneurysm on Oct. 28, 2020, and was removed from life support and declared dead four days later. She was 42. Listen here.

It’s been many years since MacIntyre was on Idol, but he’s never stopped being busy. The first and (so far) only visually impaired contestant to finish in the top 10, he continues to record and is a motivational speaker with his own ministry. He has recorded albums in different genres – classical, pop and Christian. His seventh studio album of original material was Christmas in Paris, released in 2013. The album featured 10 standards (including “Do You Hear What I Hear” and “O Come All Ye Faithful”) and two originals, “Christmas Angel” and the title track. “Christmas is my favorite time of the year,” MacIntyre has said. “Sometimes I find myself humming Christmas carols all year round. Being blind, I experience Christmas in a very unique way. Growing up, the sound and smells are what I remember most…I [would wake] up to the smell of fresh pine needles, the taste of hot apple cider and the sound of old Christmas carols on the radio.” Listen here.

The first of two songs with this title on our list was mostly written by Lewis’ actor friend (and roommate at the time) Sky Elobar. “Presumably our sunny apartment in Sherman Oaks (Calif.) inspired the song,” the season 3 finalist tells Billboard. Since he is a fan of Christmas classics like “White Christmas,” “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” Billboard wanted to know if writing a Christmas original was easy or difficult. “Holiday songs are a bit easier to write than an average, everyday pop song,” Lewis replied. “They have the benefit of built-in guidelines to subject matter and it seems the tolerance for kitsch and cliché is higher. So writing an anthem of hope for an entire generation isn’t easy, but a holiday bop isn’t nearly as hard.” Listen here.

Hernandez wowed the judges and viewers at home with his season 7 rendition of The Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” his best Idol performance. He’s still covering Motown songs, delivering a take on Stevie Wonder’s “What Christmas Means to Me” in 2024. He released a Christmas EP in 2020 with three covers and one original song, his self-penned “My Winter Wonderland.” Issued during the first COVID Christmas, Hernandez talked about the song in Get Out! magazine: “This year has been really challenging for everyone. I know people are finding it difficult to get in the holiday spirit. I wanted to create a little escape, so I wrote a song that speaks to mental health and being able to find the joy within yourself.” Listen here.

“I was in Nashville to perform at my alma mater, Belmont University, and to do some writing sessions and catch up with friends,” Owen tells Billboard.  “I got a call from Courtney Knowles, former executive director of the Jed Foundation and founder of Love Is Louder. He told me about a last-minute change for the JED Holiday campaign collaboration with Victoria’s Secret PINK, which aimed to ‘unwrap’ self-care and the true spirit of the season. I immediately pulled out my mini travel keyboard and started crafting the vibe for what would become ‘Perfect Holiday.’ The rhythm originally had more swing, but when my best friend started vibing to it – and he’s super picky – I knew I had something special. I sent the demo to Courtney, who suggested some lyrical edits to align with the campaign’s message. By the time I hit the studio with my Nashville producer, Darius Mines, we were all in on creating Christmas cheer — despite it being October.”

Mines, who has worked with Little Big Town, Snoop Dogg, Dave Aude and India.Arie, refined the swing rhythm Owen originally envisioned, turning the track into an upbeat, holiday pop banger. “I had never written a Christmas song before, so I was nervous. But I trusted my instincts and leaned into my usual songwriting style to bring something fresh to holiday music. I already have ideas for expanding my collection of original Christmas songs next year, and a lot of people have encouraged me to make a full Christmas album.” Listen here.

When airline pilot Kate Gabriel flies a corporate couple from Los Angeles to Switzerland five days before Christmas, the flight is grounded by a storm and is forced to land in the coastal Nova Scotia community of Christmas Island. So goes the plot of the Hallmark Channel 2023 film Christmas Island. The soundtrack for the holiday movie includes the original song “Hurry Up Christmas” by season 20’s HunterGirl. “When I found out that [the song] I wrote [was] going to be featured…I was so excited for my whole family, especially my nana,” HunterGirl said when the movie aired. “I’ve been watching Hallmark Christmas movies with my family since I was a little girl, so hearing my song ‘Hurry Up Christmas’ in Christmas Island was a moment I will never forget.” Listen here.

Season 9 runner-up Crystal Bowersox released a Christmas song near the end of 2013. “Coming Out for Christmas” was not just a holiday song, but, as the title indicates, a song about telling the truth to your family. When the song was posted online, Bowersox released a statement: “The holidays are here, and it pains me to think that anyone would be left alone or be forbidden to be with their family over something as silly as their sexual orientation. I hope it will serve as a holiday anthem for people who may finally have the courage to live their life as their true authentic self, proudly and unapologetically, and that their friends and family will love and accept them with loving open arms. May we all celebrate this holiday season together, celebrate equality, and give thanks for the true spirit of Christmas with our one human family.” Listen here.

Like most holiday albums, Danny Gokey’s second Christmas album (The Greatest Gift: A Christmas Collection) was not recorded in cold weather. “It was really hot,” he told reporter Caroline James. “I was driving up to the studio and it was 95 degrees outside. That didn’t bother me, I just wanted to celebrate the season that was about to happen. So I just put my mind there. I love Christmas enough that I can get through the heat of the warm weather.” The 2019 album includes Gokey’s co-write of “The Holidays Are Here,” a pop song by the contemporary Christian music artist worthy of airplay on any format. The video features guest appearances by his adorable children. Listen here.

Asked about her holiday song “Sugar & Spice,” Gordon told Billboard, “I was in the middle of writing my album Vivian with my ‘big brother’ and best friend Brandon Rogers [see song 18] and we were in the studio where I was being sassy with my fiancé. Brandon said, ‘She can’t have your sugar without your spice.’ We thought it was very funny and within an hour we had written a song. The lyrics say, ‘I’ve been a naughty girl for Christmas, even though I tried with all my might. But you can’t have my sugar without my spice.’ Ain’t that the truth!” Listen here.

“For me, the Christmas season has always had an aura of joy, love and family,” Rogers tells Billboard. “Growing up in California you don’t get a true, snowy, winter season but this time of year is where we all get to do a little holiday cosplay. It almost elevates the season to a sort of magical fantasy.” Rogers has written quite a few Christmas songs for himself and other artists. One of his best is his own “WinterHeart.” “I wanted to channel how the most famous Christmas songs from the ‘40s and ‘50s made you feel.  They’re what we think of when we think of the best holiday songs, so [I wanted] to hew close to that energy. A new Christmas song has to sound like it has always existed — frozen in time.” Listen here.

For three years running, Locke was the undisputed queen of Christmas, topping Billboard‘s Adult Contemporary chart with her covers of “Up on the Housetop” (2005), “Jingle Bells” (2006) and “Frosty the Snowman” (2007), which all appeared on her first Christmas album when she was signed to Nashville-based Curb Records. “I know I’ve had a lot of success with cover songs but you can ask anybody in the business and they’ll tell you that the unspoken challenge is to write the next Christmas hit. So that means you’ve got to try,” Locke tells Billboard. Locke got to try when she was working on her second holiday album, the 2021 release Christmas Is Here.

“My ‘studio husband’ JC brought ‘The Spirit of Christmas’ to me. It was written in the 1970s [but not released]. I liked it but wasn’t sure it was right for the project. The album was centered around my relationship with the band EMP3. I gave them the song and told them one of my favorite albums was by Raphael Saadiq and I loved his vibe. They brought the song back to me and they nailed it. We tweaked the song a little bit and put some Kimberley vibe to it. This album was about recording obscure cover Christmas songs but when it came to the originals, I really wanted them to have meaning and they were carefully selected. ‘The Spirit of Christmas’ is simple and everybody can relate to it. The lyrics are about friendship and the true meaning of Christmas. That’s what resonated with me.” Listen here.

Before season 14 winner Fradiani went into the starring role of the Neil Diamond musical A Beautiful Noise on Broadway, he recorded the original holiday song “First Real Christmas,” composed with his friend Eric Donnelly, guitar player for the band the Alternate Routes.

The tune was written in the winter of 2020. “We were still locked down and I was doing a decent amount of writing,” he recounts for Billboard. “I had never tried to write a Christmas song before. My girlfriend Lauren Celentano and I were having our first Christmas together. We had recently moved in with each other and were putting up Christmas decorations and doing fun holiday activities.” That’s how Fradiani came up with the lyric, ”It feels like my first real Christmas.”

Was Fradiani concerned that his original composition would be judged against long-time favorites like “White Christmas,” “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”? “I honestly wasn’t thinking about other Christmas songs when I wrote it. I did while doing the production, but while writing it I was truly in a great place and felt like I was just writing from the heart. It’s honestly one of my favorite original songs that just happens to be a Christmas song.” Fradiani, who will tour the country with A Beautiful Noise in 2025, says Christmas reminds him of his family and his childhood. “I was lucky to grow up with such an amazing family that made Christmas and the holidays so special. I come from a musical family and the music will always be nostalgic.” Listen here.

The Blake Shelton song “Time for Me to Come Home” has been the source material for six Hallmark Channel Christmas movies; the sixth film in the series is Time for Her to Come Home for Christmas. Playing the role of Riley in the flick is season 18 top 10 finalist Grace Leer, whose commercial pop tune “Star on Top of the Tree” is heard on the soundtrack. Listen here.

Toscano proved herself to be a singer’s singer when she competed on Idol in 2011. She recorded one original Christmas song, “Fall All Over Again” — which she co-wrote with American Idol musical arranger Michael Orland and songwriter Denise Bradley Bundlie — on a six-song EP in 2021. Orland tells Billboard, “Denise and I said, ‘Let’s write a Christmas song for Pia’ and I was so excited, because I would do anything for that woman. When she actually recorded it, I was beside myself.”

Toscano elaborates for Billboard: “When Denise and Michael first presented ‘Fall All Over Again’ to me for my holiday album I thought it was the perfect addition, especially as an original song. I was grateful that they encouraged collaboration and creative freedom with melody and lyrics. It’s such a fun, feel good, yet nostalgic record that puts me right in the mood for Christmas.” Listen here.

What Dixon loves most about Christmas is spending it with his wife Annie and their twins, Dior and Athens. Speaking to Billboard about “Home for Christmas,” he explains, “The song wasn’t a Christmas song when Dan Goldberger, Paris Carney and I wrote it, but it had a similar sentiment.  I spend a lot of time on the road, so any opportunity I get to come back home to be with my wife and girls is an indescribable feeling – especially during the holiday season. During the rewrite with Seth Moseley to tailor it more toward the holidays, I remember thinking that it was always meant to be a Christmas song. Everything finally clicked.” Listen here.

“The only real goal for writing my Christmas song was to make people smile and give them something catchy to hum along to,” Velez tells Billboard. “I think that the genre of Christmas music is so vast and while some can really tug at your heartstrings, others (like ‘The Tune I’ve Hummed All Year’) are just for lightening the mood around the holidays. This song was the first one I wrote, arranged, and co-produced. It’s funny, the songwriting process is different every time but this one came so easily. I remember sitting at the piano and hearing the chorus melody in my head. Once I felt it was right, I started humming ‘doo-be-doo-doo, I love you…’ and mumbled through the rest of the chorus until I finally had some more words. In order, I’d say it was music, lyrics and then the title.” Listen here.

Reinhart sang this extremely short song (1:20) for the soundtrack of the 2015 Hallmark Channel movie Crown for Christmas, with a script co-written by Michael Damian (who topped the Hot 100 in 1989 with a cover of David Essex’s “Rock On”).

“I recorded this holiday tune as a favor to a producer friend of mine, Alex Geringas,” she tells Billboard. “We wrote one of my favorite songs of mine together, titled, ‘I Belong to You,’ off my album Better.” Reinhart thought the song would only be heard in the TV movie, which starred Danica McKeller. “I didn’t know the song would be on streaming or anywhere other than Crown for Christmas. It was sweet to hear it in the opening credits of the film. And I have adored Danica ever since The Wonder Years.” Listen here.

Rox tells Billboard that her two favorite Christmas songs are “Jingle Bells” and “O Holy Night,” both of which she recorded for her album An Olivia Rox Christmas. She also included a couple of originals: “It’s Christmastime” and the follow-up single “Cold Toes.”

“I wrote ‘Cold Toes’ in California, as I sat at the piano dreaming about my memories of snowy white Christmases growing up in Colorado. I had fallen in love for the very first time a few months before, and so I envisioned this magical scene of dancing with the one you love in the snow, spinning around and not even feeling the cold. As I looked out my window on the warm sunny November day, I imagined the green scenery outside blanketed in snow, and somewhat of a whimsical musical played out in my mind. The song was born from this emotion of love and innocence.”

Writing a new Christmas song can be a challenge when one is competing with “White Christmas” and other long-time holiday favorites. “It is very hard to live up to the classic songs because people have heard them over and over again and they have become synonymous with happy times,” says Rox. “I feel every year we may get a new song that becomes part of our holiday playlist. So I am honored that people have embraced my Christmas album. Maybe a few of my original songs will become tried and true and finally recognized as classics one day.” Listen here.

McPhee’s third studio album after her Idol run in 2006 was her first holiday collection. Filled with traditional Christmas tunes, one original (co-written by the artist) stood out as an adult contemporary future classic – “It’s Not Christmas Without You.” When McPhee started recording the album in July 2010, she wrote on her website, “Christmas really is my favorite time of year. It takes a little imagination to be recording right now but I don’t need a ton of Christmas lights in the studio to inspire me. I know these songs so well. These are the songs I listened to growing up. Hopefully my versions will be unique but at the same time timeless; full and rich yet simple and intimate.” Listen here.

When White performed Carole King’s “Beautiful” during Hollywood Week, she proved her singer-songwriter chops and her first post-Idol album, High Hopes & Heartbreak, was very much a descendant of King’s Tapestry. One of her co-writes on that album was “California Song,” an ode to her adopted state.

Asked about her love for the Golden State, White explained to Billboard: “Ever since I was a kid taking trips to California to go to Disneyland or the beach for my family vacations, I knew I would end up here someday. It just felt like the place for me. Sure enough, I made it here right after high school and have been here ever since. While making the move here has always felt right, the Christmas season is the time of year when I especially miss home and my family. I’m just a short flight or six-hour drive back to Arizona, but sometimes it’s not fast enough to make it home for a Sunday dinner or to go see Christmas lights with my siblings. The song ‘California Christmas’ is about feeling that melancholy feeling while also knowing I’m where I’m supposed to be and that I have to ‘make it my own’ here just making angels in the sand.”

White was in the studio recording two songs for a holiday EP with Dave Cobb, who produced High Hopes & Heartbreak in his home studio in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. “I felt like I needed an original Christmas song, So I went into a side room of the studio and started to write and It came together pretty quickly. Immediately, I played it for Dave and he knew just what to do with it in the studio with a live band. After running a handful of takes we had the tune, I later went on to make a full Christmas record, Brooke White Christmas, and knew it had to be included.” Listen here.

This is the first Christmas song Allen wrote before eventually recording a full album of holiday music. “I was in a writing session in July with one of my favorite writers, Madeleine Slate,” he tells Billboard. “We were hitting a wall writing a song and for some reason we mentioned Christmas. She said she loved writing Christmas songs and I told her I never had. The song took about two hours to finish. It was so fun and easy. We recorded it in live takes with a little bit of overdubbing.

“I have always revered the classic Christmas songs. The last thing I ever wanted to do was write a Christmas song that is either some B version of a classic or when listening to it you just wish you were listening to one of the classics. There’s a Christmas vocabulary you have to pull from. Santa. Snow. Cold. Mistletoe. So that’s fun to be able to pull from those and plug them in in a fun way. That’s not the case when it comes to writing a regular song.” Listen here.

Enough with snow white Christmases, flying reindeer and holly jolly Santa. Spencer Smith, who has proven herself to be an extraordinary pop songwriter, has a whole different take on the holiday – a financial take where you don’t have enough money to buy presents (or anything) because you spent all your money in June. And she does it all at a rapid pace, clocking in at 1:47. Listen here.

Most Christmas albums are filled with classics like “Silver Bells” and “O Holy Night,” but season 6 winner Sparks went in a different direction. Cider & Hennessy features all original compositions, each one written or co-written by her, including the lead-off track, “Merry Christmas to Your Face.” Sparks told reporter Kadeem Lundy how she came up with the title of the album: “Cider is a little bit classic and Hennessy is a little bit lit. And that’s how the album is and that’s how I am. I’m a little bit classic and a little bit turnt….The song ‘Cider & Hennessy’ actually came after I came up with the title of the album.” Listen here.

A year after his season 10 victory in 2011, McCreery released a holiday album, Christmas With Scotty McCreery, consisting mostly of standard Xmas tunes. Flash forward 12 years and McCreery recorded the original “Feel Like the Holidays,” a non-album track that feels like a Christmas classic. At the time, McCreery said, “Christmas is my favorite time of year and I sing Christmas songs every day. When I first heard ‘Feel Like the Holidays,’ I knew I wanted to record the song. It has that timeless, classic Christmas music vibe and is so much fun. It feels like something that Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole or Michael Bublé would sing.” Listen here.

Underwood’s multitude of fans had to wait a long time for the star’s inevitable Christmas album. Her debut set Some Hearts was issued in 2005; the seasonal My Gift was her seventh studio album, released in 2020. The original edition was fairly solemn, mostly filled with traditional and religious songs. Then came the Amazon Music original track, “Favorite Time of Year,” later appearing on a deluxe edition of My Gift in 2021. The uptempo pop song could hold its own against Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Underwood performed it live in the 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the song peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart. Listen here.

Clarkson’s fans also had a long wait for her first Christmas album. Ten years after her 2003 album debut with Thankful, RCA released Wrapped in Red, an album inspired by the holiday sounds of Phil Spector, Reba McEntire and Mariah Carey. The lead track, “Underneath the Tree,” is clearly a chip off the block of Spector’s Wall of Sound.

In October 2013, Clarkson told Billboard, “I’ve been dying to make a Christmas album. I always get asked what genre I’m in: ‘Is this country or pop or rock? What are you?’ And what’s cool about making the Christmas album was, ‘Oh, there are no limitations! We can do whatever we want!’” Listen here.

When he was a child, Archuleta would go Christmas caroling with his parents in his home state of Utah. “I was doing that even before I could talk,” he says. “We’d sing ‘Feliz Navidad,’ ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas.’”

Archuleta released his first holiday album, Christmas from the Heart, in 2009. Nine years later he recorded a second Christmas-themed set, Winter in the Air, with three original songs nestled among familiar standards. Two months before the album was released, Archuleta talked to Billboard and explained the origin of his co-write, “Christmas Every Day.”

“It was inspired by Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ and Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Underneath the Tree’,” he said. “Music usually comes out of me at a slow tempo but I wanted an uptempo song.” The song features backing vocals by fellow American Idol alum Melinda Doolittle. “I had lunch one day with Melinda and Kris Allen. Then I ran into a couple of Melinda’s friends while I was salsa dancing, and then saw another friend of hers on an airplane. So week after week, Melinda was on my mind. When we needed background vocals, I thought Melinda would be up for it. It’s the first time I’ve had a friend do backing vocals for me.” Listen here.