holiday
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Back catalogs are big business in this music industry. It seems as though every couple of months you read about another artist selling their music to an outside source, like Neil Young going to U.K. investment firm Hipgnosis Songs Fund (run by music industry veteran Merck Mercuriadis) with 50% of his song catalog or Bob Dylan selling the masters of his works to longtime label Sony Music.
But when you consider how busy the catalog divisions of such revered companies as Sony, Universal and BMG are, it’s gauging out to be a symbiotic relationship where the fan wins out in the end. Especially when it comes to emptying out the vaults.
This year, in particular, seemed to teem with catalog-based titles from some of the biggest names in the industry. And not just rote ‘Greatest Hits’ collections, but immersive experiences that allow fans to explore inside the creation of favorite LP with audio rarities and visual ephemera. Sometimes it doesn’t even have to be a fave, but rather an album so deep in an artist’s discography you forgot how much you dug it in the first place.
It wasn’t easy choosing just 10 box sets to include in this roundup. There was so much that came out this year from which to pick, given the grand carousel of Complete Recordings, Super Deluxe Editions and Bootleg Series-styled lost treasures on display. This carefully curated selection, however, will hopefully give you a good idea of the wealth of product available in 2022.
The days are shorter, the nights are colder and the trees are bare. Inside, fireplaces are crackling to shield loved ones from the chilly air. When winter makes its way back around, sunny days can sometimes feel like distant, made-up memories.
While the gloom can lead to long hours inside as you avoid muddy snow and frostbitten fingers, those languid evenings can transform into quite the cozy affair, given the right soundtrack. That’s why Billboard has put together a list of 26 essential tracks for your wintertime listening pleasure.
We know December marks the beginning of celebrations for “the most wonderful time of the year.” But a good winter playlist goes beyond Christmas trees and jingling bells. The mix should be one you’d listen to all season long — weeks and months after unwrapping your final gift. So no, you won’t find Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” nor any of your holiday favorites below (for that, you can check out Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 list based on our charts).
Keep reading to discover tunes consistent with the mood shift that — for many of us — rolls in with the cold front. The increased time spent with our own thoughts brings on a brooding self-reflection that can feel as comforting as it can feel overwhelming. Artists from Taylor Swift to Bob Dylan to The Weeknd have captured that feeling, crafting riveting wintery melodies ideal for introspection, whether you’re curled up with your favorite blanket or venturing out into the snow.
Kelly Clarkson is back in the studio for her eponymous talk show and kicked off Tuesday’s episode (Dec. 13) with her very own “Merry Christmas (to the One I Used to Know).”
Wearing a glamorously festive red gown and her hair up in a messy bun, the host crooned the melancholy tune from her 2021 holiday album When Christmas Comes Around… “The rush of us and all that was, right now it’d be so nice/ But I know when Christmas comes around/ And the snow falls like a fresh start on the ground/ You aren’t the one I’m missing, he left long ago/ For my Christmas Eve, my gift to me is dancing with your ghost/ So Merry Christmas to the one I used to know,” she sang before launching into the song’s forlorn bridge.
The number marked Clarkson’s return to her stomping grounds after filming virtually for several episodes due to coming down with COVID. Earlier this week, she enlisted Jewel to step in for a “Kellyoke” cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” before interviewing the Season 6 winner of The Masked Singer about her holiday traditions growing up in rural Alaska.
Later on Tuesday, the original American Idol champ is set to make an appearance during part two of The Voice‘s Season 22 finale, where she’ll be performing a solo version of her holiday single “Santa, Can’t You Hear Me” sans collaborator (and fellow former Voice coach) Ariana Grande. While the track appeared on the same album from last year as her latest “Kellyoke” pick, Clarkson released a live recording of the duet earlier this holiday season.
Watch Clarkson perform “Merry Christmas (To the One I Used to Know)” below.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year for Jewel to take the reins at The Kelly Clarkson Show. With Kelly Clarkson home sick, the pop star stepped in to deliver a “Kellyoke” cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” on Monday (Dec. 12).
“As always, we’re gonna dive straight in with music,” the host announced via satellite from her home, “except this is a little different — I’m very excited. Instead of a standard ‘Kellyoke,’ I have a good friend and super talented singer, she’s right there to lift you up with a signature song of the season.”
From there, Jewel launched into a wistful, jazz-tinged rendition of the holiday standard, singing, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas/ Let your heart be light/ From now on, our troubles will be out of sight/ Through the years, we all will be together/ If the fates allow/ So hang a shining/ Hang a shining star upon the highest bow/ And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.”
(Billboard can confirm that Jewel’s episode was taped on Dec. 2 and a fully recovered Clarkson is now back on set.)
Right after Jewel’s performance, Clarkson interviewed her fellow singer remotely about holiday traditions, music, Dolly Parton and more. “We grew up without television, without radio,” The Masked Singer champ said. “And so singing was, like, our main tradition. So tons of Christmas songs and folk songs and Swiss-German songs, all kinds for the holidays.”
Watch Jewel soar through “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” below.
TORONTO — At her first live concert since the pandemic, the Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey, brought out her princess, Monroe, to duet with her at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on Friday night on the 19th-century carol “Away in a Manger,” and the 11-year-old is cut from the same tulle cloth as her mom. In other words, she can sing.
Both mom and daughter, resplendent in sparkly white dresses and tiaras, sat for the song on a set that included Christmas trees, presents and toy soldiers.
“This is my baby girl, here,” Carey said in her introduction. “Eleven years ago, I got the greatest gift. You know what, I don’t have birthdays, but the birthing day was the greatest gift ever, when I had my twins Roc and Roe [Moroccan and Monroe], and once again I’d like to introduce you to my daughter, Monroe.
“This is our first duet,” Carey told the sold-out crowd, before asking her daughter if her dress is OK. “Alright, this is a beautiful, beautiful hymn called ‘Away in a Manger.’ We’ve been working on this one for a minute,” she says, gently patting her daughter’s back.
Carey started the song with some notes showing off her inimitable upper range before Monroe — not looking the least bit nervous — started with the lyric, smoothly and indeed beautifully, to roars of approval from the impressed audience of 13,000. “My daughter, Miss Monroe,” she said proudly at the end of the 90-second song.
The family-friendly Merry Christmas to All! Concert was Mimi’s first of four, two in Toronto and two in New York City at Madison Square Garden, Dec. 13 and 16. On Saturday (Dec. 10), her stage has been dismantled for the night’s Maple Leafs vs. Flames game and will go back up again for Sunday night.
Carey kept referring to the show as a dress rehearsal and trial run, but with her killer band and dancers, and festive stage design, there were no lumps of coal in this hour and 45-minute set.
She was also funny, endearing, self-deprecating, gracious and warm, discussing the hardships of the lockdown, soaking in the audience, telling a fan she would keep the handmade pillow embroidered with her likeness, praising her band, and playing up her vanity by blotting her face with tissues and bringing her makeup artists out on the stage to do touch-ups.
The setlist was mostly comprised of Christmas songs, including the highly anticipated finale of her perennial Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” for which she received a diamond-certification plaque onstage.
And for those unable to catch any of the four shows, Carey’s two-hour concert special Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to All! airs Dec. 20 on CBS and Paramount+.
Watch a fan-shot video of the moment below:
The Nat King Cole Trio recorded “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)” back in 1946 and turned it into a Christmas classic, one year after it was written by Bob Well and Mel Torme. The song is also commonly subtitled as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” due to its opening lyrics.
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Multiple arrangements of the song have been recorded throughout the years, but the most notable version has to be Cole’s, which includes the warm sounds of a small string section. The lyrics are filled with warm Christmas feelings and sweet holiday imagery, including: “Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe/ Help to make the season bright…Yuletide carols being sung by a choir/ And folks dressed up like Eskimos.”
The popular Christmas song has been covered by many artists, including Christina Aguilera for her 2000 album, My Kind of Christmas, and Michael Bublé on his Let it Snow EP.
Check out the full lyrics below to get in the Christmas spirit.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fireJack Frost nipping at your noseYuletide carols being sung by a choirAnd folks dressed up like Eskimos
Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoeHelp to make the season brightTiny tots with their eyes all aglowWill find it hard to sleep tonightThey know that Santa’s on his wayHe’s loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleighAnd every mother’s child is gonna spyTo see if reindeer really know how to fly
And so I’m offering this simple phraseTo kids from one to ninety-twoAlthough it’s been said many times, many waysMerry Christmas to you
And so I’m offering this simple phraseTo kids from one to ninety-twoAlthough it’s been said many times, many waysMerry Christmas to you
Lyrics licensed & provided by LyricFind
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Mel Torme, Robert Wells
Follow along with the lyrics to Andy William’ 1963 holiday hit.
Check out the lyrics for the beloved holiday tune.
The opening electric guitar riff followed by the steady beat of jingle bells marks the opening of Bobby Helms’ classic hit “Jingle Bell Rock.” The 1957 track makes reference to other similar-sounding songs, including “Rock Around the Clock” and the original “Jingle Bells.”
Helms’ tune made it to the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016, where it peaked at No. 29. It then peaked at No. 3 in 2020. The song, which has a country swing to it, has been covered by many artists in Nashville throughout the years, including George Strait, Rascal Flatts, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton.
Check out the lyrics and stream the song below to get into the jingle bell rock groove.
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rockJingle bells swing and jingle bells ringSnowin’ and blowin’ up bushels of funNow the jingle hop has begun
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rockJingle bells chime in jingle bell timeDancin’ and prancin’ in Jingle Bell SquareIn the frosty air
What a bright time, it’s the right timeTo rock the night awayJingle bell time is a swell timeTo go glidin’ in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feetJingle around the clockMix and a-mingle in the jinglin’ feetThat’s the jingle bell rock
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rockJingle bell chime in jingle bell timeDancin’ and prancin’ in Jingle Bell SquareIn the frosty air
What a bright time, it’s the right timeTo rock the night awayJingle bell time is a swell timeTo go glidin’ in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feetJingle around the clockMix and a-mingle in the jinglin’ feetThat’s the jingle bellThat’s the jingle bellThat’s the jingle bell rock
Lyrics licensed & provided by LyricFind
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Joseph Beal, James Boothe
Brenda Lee recorded her hit “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” in 1958 when she was only 13 years old. The song didn’t gain traction until Lee rose to fame in 1960, allowing the track to peak at the No. 14 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during that holiday season.
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This year, the song returned to the Hot 100, hitting No. 3 on the all-genre chart dated Dec. 10. Notable artists have recorded their own versions of the song, including Cyndi Lauper, LeAnn Rimes, Toby Keith and, this year, Ingrid Michaelson and Pentatonix for their Christmas albums.
The bluesy rock song includes a walking bass line, its famous saxophone solo and, of course, Lee’s raspy yet melodic voice singing the famous lines, “Rockin’ around the Christmas tree/ At the Christmas party hop/ Mistletoe hung where you can see/ Every couple tries to stop.”
Check out the lyrics for this Christmas classic below.
Rockin’ around the Christmas treeAt the Christmas party hopMistletoe hung where you can seeEvery couple tries to stopRockin’ around the Christmas treeLet the Christmas spirit ringLater we’ll have some pumpkin pieAnd we’ll do some caroling
You will get a sentimental feeling when you hearVoices singing, let’s be jollyDeck the halls with boughs of hollyRockin’ around the Christmas treeHave a happy holidayEveryone dancin’ merrilyIn the new old-fashioned way
Oh you will get a sentimental feeling when you hearVoices singing, let’s be jollyDeck the halls with boughs of hollyRockin’ around the Christmas treeHave a happy holidayEveryone dancin’ merrilyIn the new old-fashioned way
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Lyrics © ST. NICHOLAS MUSIC INC.
Written by: Johnny Marks