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Have you ever wanted your Christmas tree to reflect your music taste? If so, you’re in luck.
ShopBillboard is getting into the holiday spirit by sharing our favorite musician-themed ornaments so your tree can finally reflect some of the greats on your playlist, from Taylor Swift and BTS to Elvis Presley and Freddy Mercury. Each ornament chosen is extremely expressive and detailed, depicting its respective artists in colorful hues, sometimes with glittering accents.
Kurt Adler Grateful Dead™ Glass 60th Anniversary Ornament
$30.20
$32.40
7% off
A Grateful Dead-themed glass ornament
If you’re looking to decorate your tree with a little music flair, this Grateful Dead glass ornament is for you. The piece features the iconic skull and rose imagery accompanied by glittering accents and vibrant hues of blue, red and silver. This ornament was released for the band’s 60th anniversary in August, and makes a great keepsake for the Grateful Dead fan in your life.
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Elvis Presley Blow Mold Christmas Ornament – White Suit with Red Cape Holiday Decoration
$8.28
$8.87
7% off
An Elvis-themed ornament.
The King just got a whole lot cooler with this new decor. Clad in his iconic white bedazzled jumpsuit, this Elvis Presley ornament is the spitting image of the “Burning Love” singer down to his bright red cape and coiffed hair.
Zilker Home Taylor Swift Era-Music Tour Christmas Ornament
A Taylor Swift-themed ornament.
Ready to get into your Christmas Era? This Taylor Swift-themed ornament will surely get you on your way. Retailing for $13.99, this ornament is made of durable ceramic that can withstand drops and comes affixed with a motif of Swift in a Santa costume on the front, strumming a guitar with the phrase “In my Christmas Era” on the front. A gold string is looped through a hole on the top of the ornament, making it easy to hang.
Kat + Annie Ornaments The Beatles Drum, Silver and White
A The Beatles ornament.
The Beatles were very serious about Christmas, so much so that they released their very own holiday album in 1970, aptly titled The Beatles Christmas Album. If you want to get into the spirit, throw on that album and hang this Kat + Annie The Beatles Ornament on your tree. Retailing for $26.95, this ornament is made of glass and comes with a hook to attach to the tree. The front is equipped with black and white motifs of members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, along with their signatures. The back and front read “The Beatles.”
David Bowie Ziggy Stardust Christmas Tree Ornament Merchandise Decor
A David Bowie ornament.
David Bowie was another musician who was pretty active during the holidays. As far as Christmas is concerned, the star once collaborated with Bing Crosby on a track titled “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” in 1977. The song features Crosby singing the 1941 standard “The Little Drummer Boy” while Bowie sings the counterpoint tune “Peace on Earth.” In any case, this ornament of Bowie is a keeper, depicting the ever-popular Ziggy stardust, Bowie’s alter-ego, in the center of a metal snowflake-shaped motif. This is one of the more intricate entries on our list, and one that we’re sure would look great alongside your more traditional ornaments.
Cody Foster 4.75 In George Michael Christmas Tree Ornament, Christmas Music Wham 80’S
A George Michael ornament.
You can’t possibly celebrate the holidays without hearing George Michael’s sweet voice. Alongside Wham!, Michael produced some of the most iconic Christmas tracks to date like “Last Christmas,” which was released in 1984. With his contribution to the holidays, or at least your holiday playlist, in mind, we’ve included a George Michael ornament from Target retailing for $29. The ornament depicts Michael in glittering glory with a gold string attached to his head.
BTS Christmas Tree Ornament | K-Pop Holiday Decor
A tree-shaped ornament with the members of BTS on it.
We’ve always thought that Christmas was heavily lacking in K-Pop. Thus, we’ve included this cute BTS ornament from Etsy, retailing for $12.99. This ornament is shaped like a Christmas tree and comes in purple. The shape of the tree is created with each member’s name stacked on top of one another, all adorned with a star at the tippy top.
Cody Foster 4.75 In Freddie Mercury Christmas Tree Ornament
A Freddie Mercury ornament.
If you can believe it, Queen has a song called “Thank God It’s Christmas.” It was a B-side of the single “A Winter’s Tale” from the 1995 album Made in Heaven. While he doesn’t scream Christmas spirit, this Freddie Mercury ornament for $30 was too good not to include in this list. Like our George Michael pick, this ornament is a glittering bust of Mercury with a crown sat atop his head, along with a string to attach the ornament to your tree.
Trending on Billboard Beliebers and ENGENE, unite! ENHYPEN is getting hyped up for the holidays with a festive cover of Justin Bieber‘s enduring seasonal hit, “Mistletoe,” which the K-pop boy band released exclusively through Apple Music on Tuesday (Nov. 11). The rendition of the Biebs’ 2011 classic — which reached No. 11 on the Billboard […]
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
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The holiday season is fast approaching, which means it’s time to start thinking about decking your halls.
While you could go the classic garland and holly route, we’d suggest going the music fanatic route this season with Grateful Dead holiday decor available on Amazon now. The best part? The holiday offerings are on sale. The band’s official Amazon storefront includes two holiday pieces, although there are a bunch to choose from. Our picks? A nutcracker in the shape of a dancing bear, the band’s unofficial mascot, for $50.71 and a decorative glass ornament for $30.20.
The bear nutcracker stands at 10 inches and depicts the band’s dancing bear in blue wearing a festive holiday costume. An ornament is clutched in the bear’s hand. If you didn’t know, the dancing bear is meant to represent the band’s sound engineer and counterculture figure, Owsley “Bear” Stanley, who was nicknamed “bear” for his hairy chest.
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Kurt Adler Wooden 10″ Grateful Dead™ Bear Nutcracker
$50.71
$53.25
5% off
A Grateful Dead-themed nutcracker.
The cheerful and psychedelic dancing bear motif was first featured on the back cover of the band’s 1973 live album titled History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear’s Choice) and was created by artist Bob Thomas, paying homage to Stanley’s nickname. The bear motif has become synonymous with Grateful Dead, following the band even after the group disbanded in 1995. In short, not only is this nutcracker aesthetically pleasing, it also helps you snack on nuts with ease.
If you’re looking to decorate your tree with a little music flair, the aforementioned Grateful Dead glass ornament is for you. The item is made of glass and features the iconic skull and rose imagery accompanied by glittering accents and vibrant hues of blue, red and silver. This ornament was released for the band’s 60th anniversary in August, and makes a great keepsake for the Grateful Dead fan in your life. It’s also just a beautiful ornament, what with all the sparkling aspects that catch the light with every move.
Kurt Adler Grateful Dead™ Glass 60th Anniversary Ornament
$30.20
$32.40
7% off
A Grateful Dead-themed glass ornament
Both the nutcracker and ornament were created in collaboration with Kurt S. Adler, a company that specializes in creating holiday goods. The brand’s official Amazon storefront also includes a whole host of Grateful Dead merch for fans and followers of the brand to choose from, including string lights, ornaments and even stockings cast in rainbow hues and full of holiday flare. While we are all for traditional Christmas decor, these pieces are a great way to change it up if you’re tired of the same old tinsel and red and green color scheme.
Shop More Grateful Dead Holiday Decor Below
Grateful Dead™ Van Ornament
$11.72
$18.80
38% off
A Grateful Dead-themed ornament.
Kurt S. Adler Kurt Adler 10 Grateful Dead Skull Light Set
A string of skull lights.
Grateful Dead™ Van Ornament
$11.72
$18.80
38% off
A Grateful Dead-themed ornament.
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Look out, Mariah! The Elf on the Shelf is coming for your Christmas music crown.
Below, Billboard Family is debuting “The Elves Went Over the Mountain,” the first music video from The Elf on the Shelf preschool YouTube series Scout Elf Squad, which finds Frostina, Shiver, Snowdrop and Blizzard making their way over the snowy hills to “see what they can see.” The brand-new song, out now, is part of the upcoming 10-track Scout Elf Squad: Sing & Play Nursery Rhymes album, which arrives Nov. 21.
“We’ve seen a wonderful surge in families wanting content created for our youngest fans—some as young as 2—whose parents are eager to share the Scout Elf they grew up with as part of their own holiday traditions,” Chanda A. Bell, The Lumistella Company’s co-founder and co-CEO (and Santa’s Chief Storyteller) tells Billboard Family of the pivot to music. “As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we’re delighted to introduce 10 new songs and a new pilot season of The Elf on the Shelf Scout Elf Squad on YouTube for fans of all ages to enjoy.”
Bell co-wrote the 2005 children’s book The Elf on the Shelf with her mother, Carol Aebersold, and helped bring their family’s annual Christmas tradition to a worldwide audience. Now, to celebrate two decades of the holiday staple, The Elf on the Shelf “Santaverse” is expanding to include the YouTube series and new music. According to a description of Scout Elf Squad, which arrives Nov. 24 on YouTube, “Four Scout Elves – Frostina, Shiver, Snowdrop and Blizzard – join forces for play and adventure after Scout Elf School each day! When they share the power of teamwork, imagination and their magical skills, they create a North Pole Power-up, enabling the squad to fix, help and save the day as they play along with other North Pole characters.”
As for the new music, Bell tells Billboard Family: “Christmas and music go hand-in-hand, and we’re excited for our merry band of The Elf on the Shelf Scout Elf Squad members, featured heroically in our new preschool show, to make the season a little brighter with these 10 delightful new songs. We hope they will inspire families and bring joy during this most wonderful time of the year.”
The full track list for The Elf on the Shelf Scout Elf Squad: Sing & Play Nursery Rhymes, out Nov. 21, is below:
“The Elves Went Over the Mountain”“One, Two, Cheers to You”“Adventure Time”“Santa’s Sleigh”“Three Elf Pets”“Teamwork Makes The Dream Work”“Frost Pips Lullaby”“Frosty, Fluffy Snow Cones”“Oopsie, Yeti, Did You Burp?”“North Pole Birthday Boogie”
Trending on Billboard Billboard’s Top Holiday Albums chart returns for the 2025 season, with familiar favorites among the top 10 of the Nov. 1-dated list, including Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, Michael Bublé’s Christmas and Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas (at Nos. 2, 3 and 5, respectively). Leading the tally is the Christmas-meets-Halloween […]
As of sundown on Wednesday (Dec. 25), Hanukkah 2024 was in full swing — bringing with it eight straight days of family, prayers, candle-lighting and, yes, music. The canon of songs associated with the holiday is already vast and layered, from classic odes such as “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah” and “I Have a Little Dreidel” to […]
Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner‘s daughter, Stormi Webster, joined her father to lend a helping hand at his foundation’s annual holiday charity event.
On Saturday (Dec. 21), the superstar rapper’s Cactus Jack Foundation hosted the fifth annual Winter Wonderland Park toy and food drive in Houston, where Scott grew up.
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Held at Texas Southern University, a historically Black institution, the event saw Scott, 33, and his 6-year-old daughter, Stormi — who wore an adorable red Santa hat and cozy white coat — handing out presents to families ahead of Christmas. Scott also brought along his siblings and parents to support the cause.
Stormi made a special appearance in a video montage shared by the Cactus Jack Foundation on Instagram on Monday (Dec. 23). “The Cactus Jack Foundation’s 5th Annual Winter Wonderland Toy & Food Drive served over 1,000 Houston residents on the Texas Southern University campus for the first time in honor of the Cactus Jack Waymon Webster HBCU Scholarship Program, launched in 2019,” the caption read.
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Scott teamed up with the Houston Food Bank to distribute more than 2,000 toys and bikes, People reports. The giveaway also included 200 pairs of Nike Cactus Jack sneakers, along with merchandise from the Houston Astros, Fanatics, Space Village, and more. Additionally, 1,000 bags of food were provided to local families in need.
The event, which featured a winter wonderland-themed park, also included a surprise appearance by Santa Claus, as well rapper Don Toliver and Love Island USA star Serena Page.
Earlier this year, Scott’s Cactus Jack Foundation organized an emergency relief drive in Missouri City, Texas, to support those affected by the devastation of Hurricane Beryl. In partnership with the Houston Food Bank, the foundation provided water, ice, food and other essential supplies to residents in Texas communities hit hard by the storm. The deadly storm caused severe flooding and widespread power outages, impacting more than three million Texans.
‘Tis the season to be a little petty. Kelly Clarkson shared her official album visualizer for her 2021 holiday project, When Christmas Comes Around… Again on Wednesday (Dec. 18), and the cozy fireplace display in the clip features a lineup for four stockings. Clarkson and her two children, River Rose and Remington Alexander, all have […]
The holidays are here, which means Christmas music has fully infiltrated the charts, radio and mall speakers alike. Most of that music precedes this year, from traditional classics sung by Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Brenda Lee to contemporary hits from Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson and Michael Bublé — all names that regularly appear […]
Jennifer Hudson is no stranger to covering songs and making them her own, after getting her start on American Idol and continuing through her Emmy-nominated daytime talk show. So when she started work on her first-ever holiday album, The Gift of Love, Hudson understood the assignment: She would need to Jennifer-ize some of the most beloved Christmas classics of all time.
“Any time I do a classic — which I get to do a lot — I always want to stay true to the base but then allow space for my artistry to come through, which made making this album the most fun I have ever had recording an album,” the EGOT winner tells Katie & Keith on our special Christmas episode of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below). “Whether it’s me lyrically or musically, my expression is there in some form, in my interpretation. … So it was fun to reimagine the classics, Jennifer Hudson-style. I call it ‘Jennifer-izing’ them.”
How did she choose which holiday hallmarks to tackle? “I picked what was most personal to me. Like ‘The Christmas Song,’ for instance, my grandmother used to love that song, so I recall hearing that as a little girl throughout each and every holiday of her playing that song — Nat King Cole with the satin voice — so that made me want to pay tribute to her in that way,” Hudson says. “Or ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain,’ I grew up singing that in church during the holiday season and ‘Carol of the Bells’ in high school. ‘Hallelujah,’ that’s my favorite song; that’s the heart of the album. And ‘O Holy Night’ is my favorite Christmas song.”
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She was also conscious of bringing a diversity of sounds, styles, genres and tempos to the project, because, according to Hudson: “There are different Christmases. Some years it’s a winter wonderland Christmas, it’s a big-band Christmas, it’s a North Pole Christmas with the reds and the greens and the candy canes for the kids, a ‘Jingle Bells’ type of Christmas. It can change through each year — which is why my album has a lot of variety in it, because it’s like: Is your Christmas the icicle Christmas? Is it a green Christmas? Is it a white Christmas? What type of Christmas do you want, baby?”
Hudson spoke with Katie & Keith from the set of The Jennifer Hudson Show, and she said it was her tightknit work family that was the original “inspiration towards why the time is now to do a holiday album. Our [show] theme is ‘Choose Joy.’ And on the Christmas album is the song ‘Let There Be Joy.’ So that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what I love to do. And the best gift and the best way I know to do it is through music. And it’s just a blessing to come in here every day and work with such beautiful people. And it’s like a party every day. We call it The Happy Place.”
The 15-song project also includes a half-dozen originals, all co-written by Hudson. Below, J-Hud breaks down the messages behind four of those brand-new holiday songs.
“Santa for Someone”
“My assistant inspired it because he he’s a scrooge. [Laughs] And I was like, ‘What is it about the holidays you don’t like?’ He’s like, ‘Getting gifts for everybody and trying to figure it out.’ So that’s where ‘Santa for Someone’ came from. Because we all can get frustrated looking for those gifts. Will we get it in enough time? Will we get them what they want? … I can’t think of too many men, like uncles and brothers, that are listening to ‘Jingle Bells,’ so how about I give them something to bop to throughout the holiday season? So I was trying to think of everyone, as we do during the holidays.”
“Find the Love”
“It meets the times that we’re in, and I feel like it’s a song that could be played throughout the year. … We’re in such a difficult time as a people, and it’s like, what unifies us? Music. We’re all human. We all have to go through a season no matter what — no matter if it’s the holiday season or life has seasons in itself. But that one thing that can bring us together on one accord is music, and that’s why the album is called The Gift of Love. And a song like ‘Find the Love’ is on there because it doesn’t just sit within the holiday season; it’s something you can carry throughout your life, and it can speak to you and it can speak to the times.”
“Make It to Christmas”
“‘Make It to Christmas’ is my son’s favorite song. It speaks to like, we all work all year, right? But we are waiting to get to the end of that tunnel, where the lights are red and green, to that holiday season, where we can go home at that one time of year and enjoy each other and our families.”
“Go Tell It on the Mountain”
“‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’ is for the mourners, those who may have lost. It’s kind of like a remake of that song, but from a personal perspective.”
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Also on the podcast, we’ve got chart news on how Taylor Swift spends a 17th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with The Tortured Poets Department; how Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” nets a 16th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, tying “One Sweet Day” as her song with the most weeks atop the list; and how Sabrina Carpenter’s “Fruitcake” flies into the top 10 for the first time on the Billboard 200 with the single-largest sales week in the modern era for a holiday album on vinyl. Plus, Madonna announced new music with her longtime collaborator Stuart Price coming next year, and we’ll hear from the Queen of Pop’s biggest fan, Keith, about why this is especially exciting news.
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard’s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard’s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
