Yoko Ono’s is the original version and Galaxie 500’s rendition is more celebrated, but Thea Gilmore gets the perfect ratio of iciness to wonder – it sounds like a Christmas tree, if such a thing were possible. The 2009 album Strange Communion is highly recommended. 26. The Temptations Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Joni Mitchell is bereft, too, on this gorgeous piano ballad, when Christmas just makes her mourn her relationship and flee Laurel Canyon for her home in Canada, where there might be a frozen river she could skate away on, away from everything. 21. David Banner The Christmas Song Truthfully, this version is only here because the Fountains of Wayne original – an homage to the Kinks’ Father Christmas – isn’t on Spotify. But what a perfect, sad song: “And he’s a big red cherry / But it’s hard to be merry / When the kids are all laughing / Saying: ‘Hey, it’s Jerry Garcia.’” 38. The Everly Brothers Christmas Eve Can Kill You Blank-faced and affectless, here’s Christmas for the shoegazers from the duo briefly toasted at the start of the last decade. Kevin Shields and David Holmes produced, and you can bet Beach House were listening. 39. Neil Halstead The Man in the Santa Suit With British arranger/conductor Robert Farnon handling the transatlantic sessions, Tony Bennett's 1968 Christmas album turned into a swinging affair, from the version of "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music (how did this song become associated with Christmas?) to seasonal standards like "White Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Bennett's warm style was especially winning on this kind of material, making an inevitable assignment a winning combination of singer and songs.

Bublé's Christmas has sold a whopping 2.78 million in the UK according to Official Charts Company data, has spent over seven months in the Top 10 in total over the last seven years and is the UK's 20th biggest selling album since 2000. The record features 14 covers of Christmas classics plus two new songs - the most popular are his takes on It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas and Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).Here's AllMusic's countdown of the 30 most essential Christmas albums, from Ray Charles to Bing Crosby to James Brown and even Charlie Brown. Unwrap these albums early and get ready for the Yuletide season.

The Staple Singers are worried: too many wars, too much space exploration means people are “searching for light and can’t seem to find the right star”. Jesus isn’t just another baby boy, they warn. So show some respect. Glorious. 16. The Watersons Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy

Reviews

Elsewhere, there are strong showings for more recent releases including Kylie Minogue's Kylie Christmas (Number 15, 139k sales) and Leona Lewis' Christmas, With Love (Number 18, 122k sales). The Top 20 biggest Christmas albums of the 21st Century POS There's a deep sense of comfort that comes from a well-curated Christmas playlist, with finely-aged classics following one after the other and invoking all the cozy holiday memories of the past. Der Bingle" in two distinctly different moods: from the solemnity of "Silent Night" and "Adeste Fidelis" (sung in Latin and English) to the playfulness ("gonna have a lotta fun") on "Jingle Bells," with the Andrews Sisters providing some smiles with their "Ji-ji-jingle" vocals. They duet on two more, including "Mele Kalikimaka." It also includes a remake of "White Christmas." Gorgeous and stern, and undoubtedly the best adaptation by an Americana band of any poem written by Henry VIII. The horns bloom, like the flowers of the song, turning something indisputably English into a desert lament. 30. Jimmy McGriff Winter Wonderland Like Cristina’s Things Fall Apart, Christmas Wrapping was originally written for the Zé label’s 1981 compilation – the most punching-above-its-weight Christmas comp ever. It’s a fabulous stream of consciousness, during which Patty Donahue talks herself from wanting to miss Christmas to knowing she can’t miss Christmas, that bursts into joy at its horn refrain. 3. Low Just Like Christmas

Autry, the singing cowboy, had the original recording on three of the most popular Christmas songs of the 20th century: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman” and “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane).” Autry co-wrote the last song and sang them all with his languid, disarming tenor. Autry released a Christmas single every year during his peak years, and this anthology offers 26 different songs, all of them a pleasure to hear. —Geoffrey Himes Roy Wood’s enduring contribution to the season owed a huge debt to Phil Spector – there’s almost certainly a kitchen sink section at work somewhere in the mix – but it transcends imitation by its sheer verve. It was recorded in summer, with the studio air conditioning turned down to make everyone feel wintry. Attention to detail, right there. 8. Slade Merry Xmas EverybodyA Christmas Gift to You from Phil Spector codified the sound of Christmas: maximal, filled with signifiers of the season (there is nowhere sleigh bells can’t be draped). Darlene Love’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) was the standout on a record on which the quality didn’t drop from start to finish. 9. Wizzard I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday