It’s THAT TIME again! The time I’ve been waiting for all year long… Time for Christmas music all day, every day!
Nothing makes me quite as giddy as the day we flip the switch to all-Christmas programming, it comes after weeks of planning and preparation and we do it because we want to sprinkle the magic of Christmas music over some part of each and every day.
Maybe it helps to put you in a festive mood as you leave the office and head home each day, or perhaps it gets you into a holiday cookie baking spirit. Hopefully too, it helps you to remember the reason for the season.
Along with the massive collection of holiday favorites we’ll be playing over the airwaves, I’ve got a few recommendations for your personal playlists. Here’s my ‘Merry Music Musts’ for 2022:
SIA: Everyday Is Christmas
I wont stop telling you about Sia’s “Everyday Is Christmas,” until each of you have added it to your holiday music collection!
It’s a fun, whimsical album, chock-full of original music like the mega-hit “Snowman” which has over 980 million streams and is on it’s way to becoming one of the biggest holiday songs of all time! This year “Everyday is Christmas” is available for the first time on vinyl, with an Amazon exclusive Snowman White vinyl and the 5 year anniversary Deluxe album available on 11/11/22.
If I had it my way, everyday would be Christmas.
Pick up (one or more copies of) the Deluxe Edition of Everyday Is Christmas
REBA McENTIRE: The Ultimate Christmas Collection
Brand new to the Christmas music scene this year is Reba McEntire’s just released, "The Ultimate Christmas Collection”! It’s comprised of top picks from her previous Christmas releases and includes the stirring track “I Needed Christmas,” featured in the Lifetime movie “Reba McEntire’s Christmas In Tune.”
Says Reba:
“I’m excited to share this newly packaged collection of my all-time favorite Christmas songs. It was so hard to narrow down to just twelve songs, but I hope my fans enjoy this journey through time!”
I love me some Reba, and her Ultimate Christmas Collection is going to help me get through my to-do list and yours too - promise!
Get The Ultimate Christmas Collection and add it to your collection!
LAUREN DAIGLE: Behold
“Behold” by Lauren Daigle is another LP that you definitely want to get your hands on.
Lauren has a uniquely beautiful voice, and a spirit to match! She’s as delightful and she is talented, and it all comes through on the 13 tracks that make up “Behold” which also brings the reason for the season to the front of the line!
Her super fun version of “Jingle Bells” is also fabulous gift-wrapping music that I, for one, will be employing in the wee hours of Christmas morn!
Treat yourself and fill a few stockings with Behold
PENTATONIX: Holidays Around the World
Pentatonix, our favorite pop acapella group, has done it again! They’ve just released their 6th full studio Christmas album, “Holidays Around the World” and the world is going ga-ga over it!
It contains 12 tracks including "Kid On Christmas" , ft Meghan Trainor, the new original track, "Star on Top" , "Love Came on Christmas (Joy To The World x Kumama Papa)" ft Grace Lokwa, "Last Christmas" ft HIKAKIN & SEIKIN and the oh-so-needed"Prayers for This World".
You don’t just want it, you NEED Holidays Around the World
BACKSTREET BOYS: A Very Backstreet Christmas
It’s beginning to look a lot like a very Backstreet Christmas! The Backstreet Boys’ very first Christmas album ever is out now! “A Very Backstreet Christmas” brings the holiday cheer!
It features numerous timeless holiday classics including “White Christmas”, “Silent Night”, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Last Christmas,” The album also features three all new original holiday songs “Christmas In New York,” “Together,” and “Happy Days.” Exclusive formats include a 15-track CD at Target which includes two bonus tracks “Feliz Navidad” and “It’s Christmas Time Again” and limited edition red-vinyl on the group’s official store.
Backstreet Boys will continue to spread holiday cheer this year with more exciting gifts and surprises for fans in the coming weeks. In December, they will perform at five iHeart Radio Jingle Balls in major cities such as Detroit, New York City, Boston, Tampa and Miami. Stay tuned for more Christmas surprises from Backstreet Boys soon!
“A Very Backstreet Christmas” is the addition to your Christmas catalog you didn’t even know you needed, and now you can’t do without!
It’s A Very Backstreet Christmas this year!
KELLY CLARKSON: When Christmas Comes Around
Kelly Clarkson is the first artist ever to top each of Billboard’s pop, adult contemporary, country, and dance charts. And there's a sampling of each of those genre's in her holiday album, “When Christmas Comes Around. “
Featuring many Christmas classics, the album also includes original co-penned tracks and duets with Chris Stapleton,and Brett Eldredge. I love the fun breakup power anthem, “Christmas Isn’t Cancelled (Just You)”, and the soaring duet with Ariana Grande, " Santa, Can’t You Hear Me”. It also includes previously released singles "Christmas Eve", "All I Want for Christmas Is You", and "Under the Mistletoe", as bonus tracks.
Don’t wait, download it today! When Christmas Comes Around
ED SHEERAN & ELTON JOHN: Merry Christmas
Know what doesn’t happen every day? Ed Sheeran and Elton John collaborations, but it did last year when they released the oh-so-holly-jolly single “Merry Christmas”!
This marked Ed Sheeran’s first Christmas recording and only the second for Elton John. They pulled out all the stops, and made this over-the-top everything Christmas the merriest it could possibly be.
Hang up the mistletoe, put up the tree, light the yule log,
and get yourself a copy of Merry Christmas
ROB THOMAS: Something About Christmas Time
Rob Thomas released his first Christmas album last year and I’ve been waiting for months to be able to start playing “Something About Christmas Time” once again.
It is a beautiful mix of the new, like “Small Town Christmas”, the old, with covers of Bryan Adams and Ray Charles recordings, and some really lovely collaborations with friends.
