If you’re like us, you wait all year to start listening to your favorite holiday tunes on repeat. (Any time after Halloween is fair game, right?) Unlike all the other aspects of the holidays, from gift-giving to family drama to festive overeating (and subsequent Santa Claus-like weight gain), Christmas songs are pure joy .
Somehow, holiday music never gets old, no matter how old the recordings actually are. In fact, some of our most beloved numbers date back to the 1940s! And no matter when they were released, these tunes transport us to our most cherished Christmas memories.
That’s why, this year, we decided to revisit all of the holiday songs we love, whittled them down to 21 of the best, ranked them, and put them in a handy-dandy Spotify playlist for your listening pleasure.
Our No. 1 pick will be no surprise, but perhaps there’s a hidden gem among these tunes that you’ve never heard that will quickly become a new holiday standard in your own Christmas music rotation.
Happy listening — and even happier holidays!
Cover Photo: (Getty Images)