13/12/2023
Phoebe Tucker

The 10 Best Christmas songs of the 21st century

With best-selling Christmas songs of all time like Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid, White Christmas by Bing Crosby, Fairytale of New York by The Pogues, and who can forget Mariah Carey’s single All I Want For Christmas… what about the festive hits from this century? 

Keep reading for some of the best Christmas songs of the 21st century that deserve a place on your playlist this holiday season!

In this blog:

8 Days of Christmas

In 2001, Destiny’s Child put their own R&B spin on the original 12 Days of Christmas with their version, 8 Days of Christmas. If you’re looking for a Christmas song with a twist, its early 00s references make it the perfect festive throwback. 

Forget about five golden rings or a partridge in a pear tree, Queen Bee was singing about keys to a CLK Mercedes and a candle-lit dinner… we know the millennials out there will be secretly happy that 8 Days of Christmas made our list (you’re welcome!).

Believe

One of the best holiday films has got to be The Polar Express, so it’s no surprise that a song from the film’s soundtrack is up there as one of the best Christmas songs of the 21st century (in our opinion anyway). The ballad Believe by Josh Groban won a Grammy in 2006 and it was even nominated in 2005 for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards. 

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Released in 2011, Christmas is Micheal Bublé’s most successful album to date, including renditions of It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (originally sung by Bing Crosby in 1951), Santa is Coming to Town, and Jingle Bells. Featuring jazz and elements, Christmas has sold over 16 million copies worldwide and is one of the best-selling Christmas albums.

Mistletoe

Love him or hate him, Justin Bieber dropped his Christmas single in 2011 and at the time of its release, Mistletoe set the record for the highest debut Christmas song in the history of Billboard Hot 100. 

It’s catchy and upbeat and if you’re looking for a song to get you well and truly in the festive spirit, it’s one to turn up and sing along to… however much you don’t want to admit that you like it.

Christmas Lights

It seems nowadays that nearly every artist has had a go at a Christmas track, and Coldplay is no exception. The British band threw their hat in the ring back in 2010 and released Christmas Lights.

The song did relatively well in the US, with a spot in the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, reaching number 12 on Billboard’s Hot Digital Songs.

One More Sleep

The British X-Factor winner Leona Lewis released her first Christmas album in 2013 and the single One More Sleep has become extremely popular throughout the holiday season over the years, entering the UK Top 40 numerous times and even peaked at number 20 on the US Holiday Digital Songs Chart.

Underneath the Tree

Kelly Clarkson never ceases to amaze us with her vocals and does just that with Underneath the Tree. This single has been praised countlessly and it reached number 8 on the Billboard Global 200.

It re-enters the charts a lot around the holidays and if you haven’t heard about it up until now, make sure to add it to your Christmas playlist ASAP (think of it as a gift from us to you).

Santa Tell Me

Ariana Grande dropped the Christmas banger Santa Tell Me in 2014 and it’s definitely what we needed. Ariana knocked it out of the park with this song and it became iconic for the 2010s.

It has been included in Billboard’s revision of their Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs and in December 2020, it re-entered the Hot 100 at number 39.

It is a modern-day Christmas song that we can’t help but listen to every year… well done Ariana, well done.

Baby It’s Cold Outside

Micheal Bublé and Elsa (Idina Menzel) came together in 2014 to duet on Baby It’s Cold Outside. It is a Christmas classic, originally written back in 1944 by Frank Loesser but we’ve got to admit with love this version just as much.

Merry Christmas

Created by a duo we didn’t know we needed, Elton John and Ed Sheeran gave us the single Merry Christmas in 2021, part of Elton John’s album, The Lockdown Sessions. It is Ed Sheeran’s first Christmas single and peaked at number five on the Billboard Digital Song Sales.

Rock around the Christmas tree with your favorite festive tunes and find everything you need in our Christmas collection, with 100s of CDs to choose from at the Decluttr Store.

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