Holiday Albums 2025: The War is Not Over, When Will it End
Nothing but love for this 2025 review of the holiday albums being released, so we won’t bring up a certain reissue of a certain singer banking on her misguided choice to SURVIVE. Instead, lets talk about the long list of albums that have graced the 2025 holiday album season this year. Reissues make the majority of this seasons long list. For example on October 10th, 7 albums were released, unheard choice for of this early in the holiday season. Five of the seven releases were re-issues of previous albums. Even the amazing Kylie Minogue couldn’t resist reissuing her 2015 Holiday album release. Over the past twenty years, many artists and their families have been using reissues to drum up more sales/income. Most of the time these reissues are labeled as Deluxe versions, with two to three new songs added to the track list. Sometimes there are a good song or two added, but it’s not common.
A lot of times, the songs added to the deluxe albums are lesser hits compared the original tracks. I’ve always read that as, some record exec paid for the song to produced, they’re going to milk sales by adding the song, whether it’s good or not. And sometime artists just record new tracks. Then there are artist like Ingrid Michaelson. Her 2018 holiday album Songs of the Season is still in my top 10 holiday albums of all time. She reissued the album in 2021 with 5 new tracks added to the album. Initially I had 7 songs on my playlist from the original trackless, that number bumped up to 9, thanks Marshmallow World and Christmas Valentine with Jason Mraz. Thanks to Ingrid, I was introduced to Christina Perri, who reissued her 2012 album with a few new tracks in 2019. Perri’s version Merry Christmas Darling is the most perfect version of the Carpenters classic. Michaelson returned the Xmas music market this year with a new single, A Song for Winters Night, while not a xmas song, it’s perfect for the season. It’s right up there with Joni Mitchell’s River.
Ingrid Michaelson - A Song for Winters Night
There were quite a few single drops this holiday season, another great single that I jumped at adding to my holiday playlist is Khalid’s synthetic hip hop beat version of Sir George’s classic, Last Christmas. The synthesized backing vocals almost sound like instruments playing. This is probably one of the best takes of this song that I’ve heard in the last 20 years. I have to give a shout out to Taylor Momsen for releasing her first holiday album, The Pretty Reckless Christmas, named after her band. She is celebrating 25 years since the release of the live action movie, The Grinch, staring Momsen along side Jim Carey. I’ve had Where Are You Christmas? on my holiday playlist since 2000. While she has great hard rock songs on the album, her rerecording of her signature xmas song was a dud. There is hope though, country singer Gabby Barrett had Where Are Your Christmas? on her new holiday album titled Carols and Candlelight, which I added to my holiday playlist.
Gabby Barrett - Where Are You Christmas?
Our youngest in the family is entering their second year on the middle school choir, and running across Ann Lapwood’s single release of her orchestrating the The Chapel Choir of Pembroke College singing Silent Night was simply magical. The arrangement of this track is perfect for quite xmas eve playlist or even dinner. On the fun side of the singles released is UMI’s slow This Christmas, which is paired with acoustic arrangement. Both of these songs were added to my holiday playlist.
Ann Lapwood &The Chapel Choir of Pembroke College - Silent Night
While reissues are the rage these days, the song that seemed to be repeat from track list to track list this season is John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War is Over). At least a dozen the albums I listened to this season had this recognizable song. Going back to the topic about kicking off the season early, Lady A kicked off the season on September 26th, with a new album filled with some great songs. Lady A released the second volume of their holiday album titled On This Winter’s Night, Volume 2. In 2012 they released the first volume with great success and some pretty amazing holiday tracks like, Holly Jolly Christmas and Let It Snow, Let It Snow”. In listening to the 2025 release of volume 2, I noticed some key songs connected to 2012 post for holidays. They released four singles to kick off the albums release in late September. I added Little St. Nick to my playlist because I’ve always wanted an alternative to The Beach Boys version of the song. Mainly because I’m not a huge fan of beach boys as much as I was as a kid thanks to my parents, mostly because of they’re political views. One of the highlights of the song is the saxophone arrangement.
Another great single release that added to my holiday playlist which has been riding high on the charts for the past three years, Wonderful Christmastime, a modern classic. Written by Paul McCartney and released in 1979. This is definitely one of my all-time favorite songs. The third single was Christmas Through Your Eye which should not be confused with the Gloria Estefan 1993 hit. Overall, the album has some interesting arrangements. For example, Winter Wonderland turned into a calypso song. I wanted to add Last Christmas to my playlist, but turning it into a slow dance ballad, kind of robs the song of its Christmas feeling. Something about taking a song about heartache and moving on in an upbeat tempo kind of balance the song out. Silent Night a solid B. Until the singer broken into spoken word reading. I recently just wrote a post on the song of silent night and not too crazy of people taking the hymn biblical. They took liberty by including scripture into the song on their album. But that’s my personal taste. Overall, I think the album has some key notes, but the somber sound of all the songs released after the singles is my favorite. I think they’re previous album. Had a lot more keepers on it. One last song that I did add to my playlist was Ray Charles. That spirit of Christmas, which is a constant reminder of the amazing National Lampoon’s Christmas vacation. I have to give them a gold star for adding this song to their album and giving it a slight country twist on it.
There was one album I was looking forward to this holiday season was Trisha Yearwood first holiday album, Christmastime. Yearwood is another great country singer jumping into the holiday album cycle, on the heels of Amy Grant’s success last year. We are seeing more and more country singers coming out with albums, and many are even choosing to keep the arrangements a little more traditional. Have to call out Leann Rhimes reissuing the same day as Yearwood. Shady! I wish I could say this is a banner year of big names releasing album in the holiday genre, but the list is lacking. Other than the Jonas Brothers, that’s a short list. That doesn’t mean we be seeing a small crop of great songs to add to your holiday playlist. There were many for sure.
Yearwood’s Cool Yule was an instant add, since it’s rarely seen on track lists these days. Ms. Yearwood delivered a great jazz arrangement. Overall I was impressed with her album. While the arrangements don’t scream country, with songs like Santa Clause is Coming to Town, you can hear a little country in Yearwood’s vocals. That was another addition to the playlist, along with You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch. Last year, Griff kicked off a new track tradition of Pure Imagination becoming a holiday song. I liked Yearwood’s classic arrangement, but very vocals were off. On the flip side, Trisha introduced me to a New Year’s song, I’ve never heard before, and oddly is rarely recorded. Her version of It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve, was a great finish to her album. As I started looking for other recordings of the New Year’s song, I was pleasantly surprised that it was written Barry Manilow in the mid-1970’s and recorded in a studio in 1990. On the studio album, he arranged it as a mashup with We Wish You A Merry Christmas. There is a live concert recording in 1977, which I prefer did add to my holiday playlist. While searching, I also ran across Sharon Cuneta’s 1990 version, also released in 1990 and it’s the perfect addition to your New Year’s playlist.
Trisha Yearwood - You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch
Trisha Yearwood - It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve
Natalie Grant’s Christmas album artwork is an explosion of red and that explosion reverbs into the vocals and arrangement of her first holiday album. She did however, two songs on a LP in 2005. Banking on the big band sound for most the album, she does touch us with a choral accompaniment here and there. One such song was Winter Wonderland which I did add to my holiday playlist. I also added Jingle Bells and I’ll Be Home For Christmas because they were the perfect examples of doing a song justice, they also were the yin and yang of her range on the album. Sadly, I have to give her Silent Night a sharp C+, it lacked the finesse of the other songs I added to my playlist. Overall, I think it’s a great album.
Before we dive into Matthew West’s Come Home for Christmas album. I just have to give him props for his hip-hop Gobble-Gobble Thanksgiving songs he just re-released, from his 2020 single. The single has two versions and I added the Children Chorus version to my Turkey Day playlist, better late than never. No judgment here for sure, even when grandpa’s passing gas. Now, West is holiday album alum, with Come Home for Christmas being his 4th studio holiday album. West keeps with classic arrangements for most of the album but I did add It’s The Most Beautiful Time of Year to my holiday playlist, which reminds me Brett Eldredge version that was released a couple years back. I did enjoy his nod to the Four Tops arrangement of White Christmas. I’m a firm believe of one Bethlehem song on a album, two is too much. They both do blend into each other. While he offered a short tracking list, I think West really did a great job with his selections. Dysfunctional Family Christmas is a great song. While I didn’t add it to my playlist, I think anybody who’s considers themselves a great country, music fan, will enjoy this song. The song was written by West himself and in searching for it online, one of the images that popped up was The Family Stone cast photo. A nice little ringing of the bell by Diane Keaton.
Broadway star Darius de Haas first holiday album titled Let Me Carry You for Christmas kicks it right out the gate with a fun medley. I wish artists would do more medleys on their albums these days. It was such a big thing to have medley’s back in the 1950s and 60s and even 70s. His first medley built multiple songs like Deck the Halls with classic hymns, in the second Track We Need A Little Christmas Medley. I certainly added that medley onto my holiday playlist for its fast paced and fun nature. The rest of the album does have a few strong renditions of classics, but I have to give props to de Haas for adding several hymns to his track list. I would give his silent night as solid C minus. Have Yourself A Merry Christmas is nice and slow, along with many other spiritual songs throughout the album and I did enjoy his interlude opening to the album. Just wish there was a longer version. Overall, I think this is a good freshman album, just wish I had a few more selections to add to my playlist. I look forward to him, releasing a second album. I could really see him doing jazz arrangements for holiday Classics.
Mickey Guyton goes for gusto, by firmly saying Do You Want to Build A Snowman is a Holiday song. He made me think a little bit at first, but in listening to her beautiful version of the song. It’s pretty clear that it’s a holiday track. While Guyton is fairly new to the music industry in the last five years, this is her first holiday album and I hopefully not her last. The song selections throughout the track list are spot on and unique. The first song I added to my holiday playlist was Save A Little Christmas For Me. The song headlines as the number one track, and I think this is probably going to be one of the top holiday hits of the season. I’m definitely gonna push it. Another fun track was Sugar Cookies, which is already topping the charts on iTunes. I added that song as well as It Won’t Be Christmas and a song I rarely find on my holiday playlist, I love it so much, Oh Holy Night. The arrangements for both of those songs. I pretty much placed half of the album onto my holiday playlist. Then we have Do You Want to Build A Snowman, this was a happy little surprise from the album, I think this is the first time I’ve seen an artist add this song to a holiday album, I added it along with It Won’t Be Christmas and Mistletoe Kisses were perfect R&B/Pop versions of the song. Making Mickey Guyton the question of the great add to my holiday playlist this year!
Mickey Guyton - Save A Little Christmas For Me
Mickey Guyton - Well It Won’t Be Christmas
Mickey Guyton - Do You Want to Build A Snowman
Straight No Chaser's Holiday Road album could’ve been out a whole new level. Pretty much the entire album seems to be orchestrated on a sound deck. Virtually all of the songs are overly synthesized. Which when you’re working with an a cappella style group singing. It’s just emphasizing the overall sound, sounding over processed. I was really excited to see Under The Christmas Tree on the album because I haven’t heard a good version since Kelly Clarkson’s release back in 2013. They also tried to give a classic 1980s song, Holiday Road, famously sung by the amazing and legendary Lindsey Buckingham. This song like so many of the songs on the album just suffer from poor arrangement. I think that they would have worked better, with an actual studio band or Orchestra. They could really put together an amazing holiday album next time. Some of the solos did seem off key, while their grouping vocals where spot on. But all was not lost with this album. Straight No Chaser teamed up with the amazing Mickey Guyton on the Blue Christmas track. It’s the only song that I added to my holiday playlist this season. Still a little over synthesized, but Mickey’s vocals added more depth to the song look forward to their sophomore holiday album in the near future. If you would like to hear another great song by this group, check out the Nutcracker Medley they recorded with Joshua Bell in 2013. That one made my playlist for sure.
Ukulele artist Jake Shimabukuro’s first holiday album of Christmas standards with several famous artists providing duet vocals and instrumental accompaniment. What I love about his Tis The Season album, is the number of hymns on the track list. Of course I was delighted to see Michael McDonald was featured on the album in Winter Wonderland. This is a rare moment with McDonald accompanying Shimabukuro on the piano, and no vocals. I added Winter Wonderland and his duet with Justin Kawika Young of Oh Holy Night. I also enjoyed a popular song season on many artists track list, Happy Xmas (War is Over). The track was a duet with Yo-Yo Ma. Overall I enjoyed Shimabukuro’s mix of classics and calypso arrangements of several classics.
Jake Shimabukuro - Winter Wonderland
Irish soprano Alex Sharpe has released her first holiday single, The Secret of Christmas, and I am sold. The song was added to my playlist, and then I started to read up on Sharpe and her career. Sharpe began her singing career in musicals in the early 90’s and has such amazing shows as Follies, Les Miserables and The Beautiful Game. She’s even played Janet, in Rocky Horror Picture Show. In the late 2000’s, she was tapped by the founder of The Celtic Women, to replace the founder while she was maternity leave. She would continue to work with the group for almost a decade.
While we are on the subject of Celtic Women, the Irish vocal group has released nine holiday albums since it was formed back 2008. For this holiday season they’ve released their 10th holiday album. Titled Nollaig, has a track list of popular holiday standards. I’ve listened to their albums over the years and there have been some good tracks, but nothing I’ve ever added to my holiday playlist. I am happy to report that I found one on this 2025 album. The instrumental version of Silent Night gets a solid A+ from me. I loved how the song open with a Irish Folk arrangement and then leads into the classic arrangement for Silent Night. There are several note combination interlaced into the piece. I could have swore some of the last notes in the song, came from the Tonight Quintet from West Side Story. There other great songs to check out on this album, I enjoyed Little Drummer Boy,The Bells of Dublin medley and Auld Lang Syne is a good add to your New Years celebration playlist, bagpipes and all. Lastly I went back and forth listening to Don Oíche Úd i mBeithil (feat. Sibéal) and whether to add it to holiday playlist. There was something familiar to the sound, and when I search the song title, its literally That Night in Bethlehem. The group wrote and recorded the song back in 2006, and when I listened to the original recording I remember hear several times before. Their 2025 version has a lot more energy and the instruments chosen helped with that arrangement. In the end, I added it to my playlist.
Jonas Brothers, there I said it. Now let me preface, never got in to them, nor Hanson. This holiday season they are going for a double trouble and giving us a holiday movie, but also a holiday album featuring the movie music. With only 10 tracks, the album is pretty interesting. I will write about the movie in my Holiday Movies/TV post later this month. The first single, Coming Home for Christmas featured the Christmas legend, Kenny G, sadly they really didn’t use Kenny till about 3/4 way through the song. I found it very interesting that for that track the songwriter credited were the three brothers along with Kenny G and David Stewart of the Eurythmics. Turns out that Stewart has been working with the Jonas Brothers for years on several singles. Now, while I do admit that the Jonas Brothers sound is not quite my cup of tea. There are some pretty interesting songs on this album. Part of me wondered if I should actually be showing the kids the movie, I ended up stopping the movie 10 minutes at the end to watch it with them. I enjoyed their Home Alone, track featuring Andrew Feldman and Nick Jonas singing showstopper song form their fictional Home Alone Musical. One can wish! Maybe there is something to the song? Well I did at it to my playlist, it pairs nicely with Carol of the Bells and The House from the soundtrack. Overall, I think the album is pretty lacking. I get it’s a soundtrack to their Christmas movie which is more themed Christmas rather than heavily tracked music for a Christmas movie. In researching the Home Alone track, I learned that In the end, there’s only three tracks on the album that are holiday related. The third one, Like, It’s Christmas, was released by Jonas Brothers back in 2019. Maybe some day they’ll record some standards for their fans. BTW did you know there is a fourth Jonas brother? I didn’t! I also didn’t know that Chloe Bennet could sing!
JJ Heller has been very busy in the studio, and a releasing few Interesting arrangements, for example the Beach Boys sound used in O’ Holy Night. The album is a little all over the place when it comes to references. I did like Best Time of Year and I did add it to my playlist, I especially likes the Indie rock sound of the song. I think this album is a valiant effort in the studio, but I think a couple of the songs could’ve been edited off the album. I do commend her for 13 tracks, I think somewhere between track 7 and track 12. The producer got a little too relaxed in the overall sound from track to track. To round out her third holiday album, Heller finished the album with another great song, O Come, All Ye Faithful.
Kylie Minogue is ready for the holidays after a 10 year hiatus. For 2025 it’s Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped) and it’s a reissue with at least three new tracks. While reviewed the album in 2015, one of which is the first single of the album, At Christmas which has slow kick off but you will enjoy the build up, it was a quick add to my holiday playlist. The other two new tracks on this re-release is Hot in December and This Time of Year. From her 2015, I already had three songs on my playlist Christmas Isn't Christmas 'Til You Get Here, Let It Snow, and Christmas Wrapping (w/ Iggy Pop). This time around, I took a liking to her rendition of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
I always fall down a path of discovery when I run across an album that leads me to a plethora of other albums that were released either there in the previous holiday season that I overlooked or didn’t get a lot of press upon its release that holiday season, the Down East Boys first holiday album An Irish Christmas falls in this category. They’ve journeyed to Ireland for what looks to be their first holiday album. Well the album is filled with classic Irish Folk with classic hymns and standards. They saved the best for last. Now Danny Boy is not a commonly regarded holiday song. It does have a rich history but in terms of holiday subject matter, it does not. Now some artists have adapted the song to have holiday lyrics, but Down East Boys opted to complete remove the second section of lyrics about death and repeated the first section. While on repeat, I did add Danny Boy to my playlist for the holiday season and I almost added another song that rarely gets added to track lists these days. The Holly and Ivy is one of my favorite songs, but unfortunately, their version started up strong, but lost me with the baritone member of the group solo. It might be somebody else’s cup of tea, but I felt like I was hitting the brakes while listening to the song. Overall, the album is it good listen if you enjoy Irish folk arrangements.
Heading back into the choral world to round out this years reviews, The Choir of King’s College returns to holiday album season with All The Stars Looked Down: A John Rutter Celebration. I think they have surpassed the Vienna Boys Choir for most holiday albums released. Of course I added five songs to my playlist. I could go into each and everyone on this post but, I think the whole album is beautiful listen. The five below stood out most to me because of the vocal range of the choir. While I was not a fan of the Daniel Hyde’s solo vocals use on a few of the songs on the albums. It’s worth determining if you feel the same way. Lastly, I did add their rendition of Silent Night, and give it a solid A.
Heading back into the choral world to round out this years reviews, The Choir of King’s College returns to holiday album season with All The Stars Looked Down: A John Rutter Celebration. I think they have surpassed the Vienna Boys Choir for most holiday albums released. Of course I added five songs to my playlist. I could go into each and everyone on this post but, I think the whole album is beautiful listen. The five below stood out most to me because of the vocal range of the choir. While I was not a fan of the Daniel Hyde’s solo vocals use on a few of the songs on the albums. It’s worth determining if you feel the same way. Lastly, I did add their rendition of Silent Night, and give it a solid A.
The Choir of King’s College - Sussex Carol
The Choir of King’s College - Nativity Carol
The Choir of King’s College - All Stars Looked Down
Last I went through all of the classic releases and came across Welsh harp artist Alis Huws, and her Cosy Nights By The Fire holiday album. I thouhgt I had seen her but didn’t notice any major album releases except for one release last year. I fell in love with her version of the Joni Mitchell classic, River (It’s Coming on Christmas). I added the sogn to my list, and also almost added Candelight Carol, but skipped it. Reading into the album, I noticed River was initially released as a single in 2024.
Aiis Huws - River (It’s Coming on Christmas)
Overall this was a season surprises from artists who don’t get a lot of press. Mickey Guyton and The King’s College Choir take my top spots for the most songs added to the holiday playlist this year. It was interesting to see a handful of artists dabble in Irish Folk and I was happy to see artists were broadening their track lists past the usual standards. I am posting this years review early because, while there are about 6-7 more albums scheduled for release, the bulk of those new releases have singles out, that didnt capture my attention. I’ll still give them a listen and maybe post about the album for my 2026 review. For now, this post is long enough and I’ve been writing a lot the two months, and I already have 3 other holiday posts scheduled to be releasred later this December. I hope you find a few to add to your holiday playlist this 2025 holiday season. Stay tuned. Later this month, I will be posting my 2025 Holiday Movie/TV reviews.