Let’s cut to the chase: We love Christmas music in every one of its corny, goofy, haunting, haunted iterations. And at a time when our lives may feel like they’re falling apart—maybe your connection to the true spiritual nature of the holiday itself is askew, no matter what religion you do or don’t necessarily practice—perhaps something designed to bring us closer, communally and/or romantically, under the rubric of Santa, elves, reindeers, and mistletoe isn’t bad after all.
Despite being an unseasonably quiet moment for standout new holiday tunes, we uncovered 12 festive gems worth spinning below.
Laufey, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
Everyone’s favorite Icelandic-Chinese jazz vocal diva Laufey gets into the holiday fray with a cello-heavy take on the Christmas seasonal classic that picks up the pace and swings handsomely throughout its brisk rumination on elves and reindeer. Because marketing is a thing every gift-giving season, the animated version of Laufey’s single features her plush toy mascot Mei Mei the Bunny prominently so that your significant other will be asking for that rabbit toy (and maybe Laufey’s new A Matter of Time album) for Christmas. Plus, you can YouTube this year’s Christmas in Rockefeller Center live NBC show and hear Laufey croon the cover along with her own holiday original, “Christmas Magic.”
Various artists, Oh. What. Fun. [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
If an R-rated family Christmas dram-com starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Dennis Leary reads as dreary as you think it does, maybe you’re better off listening to its alt-every-genre soundtrack. From The Bird and the Bee (Greg Kurstin and Inara George’s ensemble) doing the mock-adoration 10cc hit “The Things We Do for Love” and Weyes Blood singing a Thom Bell–worthy “Snowqueen of Texas” to Madi Diaz and Andy Shauf’s “Walk-on-the-Wild-Side”–like duet “Christmas Eve Can Kill You (When You’re Tryin’ to Hitch a Ride to Anywhere),” this album is way more fun than the film. Plus, St. Vincent, Uwade, and Fiona Apple sing Christmas favorites like they mean it.
The Two Lips, “Santa Baby”
After finally rolling out their own debut EP this November, the new toast of Filipina/Latina Los Angeles dream-pop, Lips’ Andrea and Jewlz, remove the cattiness from Catwoman—Eartha Kitt and her exaggerated kitsch—for their own breathy rendition of this 1953 holiday hit.
Kylie Minogue, Kylie Christmas: 2025 Edition
Every holiday should have a plush, slushy electro-pop diva album, especially one where Lady Minogue re-ups the tracks from her 2015 original with new tinsel-coated sparklers such as “Xmas” and her naught/nice duet of “Christmas Wrapping” with Iggy Pop. Yes, hearing Ig and Kylie is almost as great as when Minogue paired with Nick Cave. Seriously.
Dead Boys, “(It’s Gonna Be A) Punk Rock Christmas”
Most of the original Dead Boys are, indeed, dead—even this holiday single’s session drummer, Clem Burke from Blondie, is gone. That didn’t stop Cleveland rocker and Dead Boys’ co-founder Cheetah Chrome from hiring a new singer (Mark Thorn) to rival the late-great snot-nosed punk king Stiv Bators, bringing on Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols and promising tots, hots, sluts, and scumbags that this Christmas would be a punk-ish one, or else.
The Futureheads, Christmas
One of the sleekest and most harmony-driven of the 21st century’s angular, danceable post-punks (think LCD Soundsystem without the cowbells and James Murphy’s gray stubble), The Futureheads tackle old carols, newly self-penned holiday fare (their apt-titled “Christmas Was Better in the 80s”), and a freshly forlorn new number “The Coldest Winter in 100 Years” that’ll bring up a lump in your throat rather than the coal in your stocking. Sultry, sad stuff.
Willie Nelson, “Christmas Love Song”
At 92, Willie has been good for a slew of holiday baubles in his time. This year, it’s a slow-handed, crinkled country ballad written mostly by another Nashville old-timer, Bill Anderson, for a smoked-ham (and smokier bourbon) warmth and a patented Mickey Raphael harmonica solo.
Various artists, Slow Xmas 5
There’s a lot of chilly, Philly-based, lo-fi heartache in this collection of seasonally disaffected disorderly artists—all available here on vinyl. Philadelphia-based drummer-turned-songwriter Eric Slick from the shambling Dr. Dog and The War on Drugs bassist Dave Hartley’s spooky solo ensemble Nightlands join King Garbage’s craggy Zach Cooper and the not at all Kris-Kringlesque occult Death Valley Girls for some un-merry Christmas melancholy. Luckily, Heavenly Peace brings some goofball cheer to the proceedings with the childlike wonder of “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells.”
Poppy, “Last Christmas”
Robo-bubblegum diva Poppy brings back the ghost of George Michael for a less smooth (but certainly salty) rendition of the classic ’80s Wham! single “Last Christmas.” Her take has both the crunching feel of Filter and the holly-jolliness of Brenda Lee.
John Waters, John Waters Covers “Little Cindy” b/w “A Pig Latin Visit from St. Nicholas”
Little Cindy was a kid vocalist who, in 1959, made a very heartfelt, sincere, limited-edition album titled Happy Birthday, Jesus. Because John Waters is everyone’s favorite dirty uncle and prone to blasphemy as good fun, he’s recorded this parody of her record for Sub Pop—minus any sort of childlike wonder—with a backwards-spoken-sung rendition of the poem most often read by grandparents to their broods. It’s not pretty.
Various artists, Verve Remixed Holiday 2025
Every several seasons, the jazzhaus that Norman Granz built welcomes a new crop of remixers, producers, DJs, and elves with big ears to re-jigger its historic catalog for the sake of the winter holidays. And while Louis Armstrong’s bugging-out blues “’Zat You, Santa Claus?” is always a sassy, welcome treat, Nina Simone’s bitter “Chilly Winds Don’t Blow” (as remixed by Bolden) and her more open-hearted “I Am Blessed” (as done over by Glinton) are less obvious, and therefore more uniquely haunting electronic experiences. You can’t spend the whole of Christmas with a smile on your face.
Frank Sinatra, Christmas on the Air
Just in time for the big birthday celebration (I mean Christ and the Chairman of the Board), and after the release of the SING label’s rough, beautiful Live at the Hollywood Bowl, comes this holiday-season rarity stocking-stuffed with tracks recorded on radio broadcasts across the 1940s and early 1950s. While the entirety of Christmas on the Air finds a swaggering Sinatra at his cocksure best—the coy “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” the sensualistic “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm”—remember that the latter-day radio recordings on this collection were captured toward the end of his career and marital slump, and into his mega-successful, neo–Rat Pack run at Capitol. This gives Sinatra’s Christmas cheer a dose of deep, abiding melancholy just perfect for sitting by the fire, sipping a good bourbon, and heaving a holiday sigh. Plus, there’s Frank doing Christmas radio promo bits for buying US Savings Bonds.
