The Christmas Music Business: What Makes Christmas Songs So Popular?
- Martina
- 19 December 2024, Thursday
The Christmas music business is a fascinating phenomenon. In the U.S. alone, it generates an estimated $177 million annually. Some artists, like Mariah Carey or Michael Bublé, have become synonymous with holiday music, proudly embracing the genre as part of their legacies. In this article, we’ll dive into the origins of the Christmas music madness and explore what makes the songs so loved and popular.
The origins of Christmas music
Let’s start by taking a quick look at the history of Christmas music, a journey rooted in religion, tradition, and cultural evolution.
Initially, the term “carol” referred to a type of dance song rather than holiday hymns performed by groups of people, aka carol singers. The earliest known recorded Christmas carol, the Latin Hymn “Veni redemptor gentium” (“Come Redeemer of the Earth”), dates back to the 4th-century Rome AD. Due to the holiday’s religious beginning, Christmas-themed songs were further developed under religious guidance.
By the 13th century, regional Christmas songs in local native languages emerged. The first Christmas carols in the English language appeared in a 1426 work by English poet and priest John Awdlay, who documented twenty-five “caroles of Cristemas” (Christmas carols). Those were most likely performed by wassailers — groups traveling from house to house, singing and offering a drink from a wassail bowl in exchange for gifts. This tradition continues today as caroling.
The 16th century marked the genesis of the first classic Christmas carols, some of which are still performed and beloved today. These include “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” and the German carol “O Tannenbaum” (“O Christmas Tree”).
It’s important to mention that not all periods embraced Christmas carols. During England’s Puritan era, the Commonwealth of England government prohibited the practice of signing Christmas carols. Puritans generally disapproved of celebrating Christmas, a trend that would continually emerge across Europe and the US throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
The Baroque music era, known for its energetic and flamboyant sound, added a sense of grandeur to the holiday repertoire. During this time, George Frideric Handel composed its iconic oratorio set “Messiah,” which narrates the Biblical story of Christ. Featuring its widely recognized “Hallelujah” chorus, the composition has become a cherished part of the Christmas repertoire for many orchestras and ensembles worldwide.
The Victorian era introduced industrialization and technological innovations, like the gramophone, making music, including Christmas hymns, more accessible. This period saw the creation of many holiday classics, including “O Holy Night” (1847), “Jingle Bells” (1857), and “Deck the Halls” (1862).
Meanwhile, in the Russian Empire, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the absolute masterpiece, “The Nutcracker.” The two-act ballet, which follows the plot of Alexander Dumas’ 1844 eponymous short story, has become one of the most popular and widely performed ballet works around the globe. Over time, both the ballet and its story, in various adaptations, have become inseparable from the holiday season each year.
The ‘Golden Age’ of Christmas music
The 20th century marked a transformative era for Christmas music, shifting it away from its traditional religious character. The “golden age” of Christmas music began in the 1940s. In 1942, Bing Crosby changed the world’s perception of Christmas music — and its lucrative potential, too — when he released “White Christmas.” To this day, the song remains “the best-selling single of all time," with estimated sales of 50 million copies.
Crosby’s major success was likely a turning point for music magnates and entrepreneurs, making them realize that Christmas is not only a religious celebration or a retail opportunity. It has been, and continues to be, a gold mine for the music industry.
In the following decades, beloved originals emerged, including “Let It Snow” (1945), “The Christmas Song” (1945), "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas” (1952), “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” (1963), “A Holly Jolly Christmas” (1964). In 1971, Canadian-American singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell released her poignant song “River” (1971), which offered a somber contrast to the typically joyous holiday music.
Beyond composing original songs, the trend of covering popular Christmas hits was on the rise. Seeing how fruitful the holiday time could be, many record companies began encouraging artists to release more seasonal tracks.
Many stars of the era, such as Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and even Elvis Presley, embraced the trend, releasing Christmas songs (mostly covers) and often entire holiday albums. Many of these releases have become enduring holiday staples. For instance, “Elvis’ Christmas Album,” released originally in 1957, remains the best-selling Christmas album ever.
Christmas music became so profitable that it inspired an industry formula among artists: gain popularity, and when your career begins to diminish, release a Christmas song or album to climb back up the charts.
Carey, Bublé, and more: The modern Christmas music business
By the 1980s, Christmas had grown into a billion-dollar industry, with holiday music alone generating around $300 million. From the 1980s through the new millennium, Christmas music began to mirror broader cultural trends. Contemporary pop music, in particular, has become intertwined with modern Christmas music.
In 1984, the British band Wham!, led by the wonderful George Michael, released their lasting hit “Last Christmas.” A decade later, Mariah Carey released her mega-hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” which revolutionized the Christmas music landscape once again.
The song’s success not only highlighted the immense profitability of Christmas music but also set a benchmark for many twenty-first-century artists like Michael Bublé and Justin Bieber. Carey’s influence on the genre is so profound that she is often crowned the "Queen of Christmas."
Perhaps surprisingly, Bublé’s 2011 "Christmas" album, which mainly features covers of holiday classics, has become a modern cornerstone of the Christmas music industry. Alongside Carey, Bublé is also a wonderful example of how a successful Christmas album can significantly enhance an artist’s career and profitability.
To date, the album remains Bublé’s most successful, with more than 16 million copies sold worldwide. It is also among the best-selling albums of the 21st century and a top-selling Christmas album globally.
Bublé has also jokingly addressed the album’s financial success as well as its remarkable popularity in Australia. The album has been the best-selling album every Christmas in Australia since its release in 2011.
Let’s go back to the Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey, for a moment. Carey is also credited with breaking away from the previously mentioned formula with holiday music. Unlike her music predecessors, she released a Christmas album featuring her iconic hit relatively early into her already stellar career. At the time, it was almost unheard of for an artist at her level of success to release a Christmas song, let alone an entire dedicated album, so soon.
This has likely inspired a new wave of artists, including contemporary pop stars like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Meghan Trainor, George Ezra, and Demi Lovato, to embrace holiday music while at the height of their careers.
Today, it’s safe to say that Christmas music has established itself as a standalone genre. Every year, we get new, fresh interpretations of holiday classics, which reflect the genres’ adaptability and widespread appeal. Beyond that, artists compose and release new originals, some of which are likely to become the new timeless hits we will play for years to come.
Why is Christmas music so beloved and successful?
We might already know a lot about the history of holiday music and the rise of the Christmas music industry. But the lingering question is: What makes Christmas music so enduringly popular and commercially successful?
Experts point to a few factors:
Emotional and nostalgic appeal
Upbeat tunes with catchy, simple melodies
Connection to joyful, nostalgic memories
First, emotional resonance is typically a hallmark of holiday music. These songs usually carry nostalgic and emotional elements, which evoke the spirit of the holiday and foster a deep connection with listeners.
Additionally, most Christmas songs — apart from a few ballads — are cheerful, fun, and upbeat. Their catchy and usually simple melodies make them memorable and easy to sing along with. On top of that, such songs get easily stuck in people’s heads — something that music producers hungry for money dearly appreciate.
Finally, nostalgia plays a significant role. Many traditional Christmas songs are tied to warm, joyous memories of past celebrations. These songs are not only about stirring emotions; they often reinforce people’s connections to the festive season and the joyous times often spent with loved ones.
Christmas, as a holiday, is commonly associated with themes like love, togetherness, and gift-sharing — moments that people often cherish and remember fondly. Music can be an integral part of such events. Christmas songs, which are often light and reflect the holidays, love, snow, and gifts, tend to be powerful triggers for reliving these memories.
Can new original Christmas songs compete with the classics?
As we mentioned before, many contemporary artists not only cover timeless holiday classics but also compose and create their own original Christmas songs. However, can these original songs truly compete with the hits that originated 30, 50, or even 70 years ago? Why is it that the holiday classics continue to thrive and, as Billboard once pointed out, even outlive their original performers?
Nate Sloan, a musicologist and co-host of the popular music podcast Switched on Pop, argues that the oldness of Christmas music is part of its charm. This ties back to the nostalgic appeal Christmas music evokes. During the holidays, people seek familiarity and comfort — and the song they’ve been listening to since childhood offer exactly that.
Jon Caspi, a professor at Montclair University and lead vocalist of the band Jon Caspi & The First Gun, has perfectly described the power of older Christmas songs:
“Why the old music endures is because Christmas – not for everybody – but for most people, is a very positive association. It’s a time like when you’re little, you’re all excited because Santa is coming, and then you’re going to get gifts and family members are there, and there’s lights everywhere. It’s this magical experience and hearing the soundtrack to that warm time in our lives takes us right back.”
What has made some relatively newer songs, like Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas, popular is usually a combination of factors. Sloan attributes the success of Carey’s track to the singer’s standout vocals and songwriting and its nods to many traditional Christmas songs in its instrumentation.
However, one should also not forget that the song was featured in Richard Curtis’ film Love Actually, which definitely helped the song rise in popularity. This suggests that timing, cultural moments, and a bit of luck may play significant roles in creating lasting holiday hits.
While competing with timeless holiday classics might be very difficult, it’s not impossible. Now and then, a new song has the potential to break through and join the very exclusive club of Christmas hitmakers.
After all, a new generation of listeners is born every year, growing up with both timeless hits and brand-new holiday songs. Chances are that the fresh holiday tracks eventually become staples in their holiday repertoire, ready to be passed down to the next generation.
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