The Golden Elephants: Best Christmas Songs of the Decade

When nearly every artist who records a Christmas album chooses tracks from the same limited selection, it’s difficult to narrow a list down to the best made over the past 10 years.  Looking at a quick sampling of Christmas albums will show you that classics like “Silent Night” and “What Child is This” abound.  Look below at some of the more innovative and special Christmas tracks from the past 10 years:

• “Angels”, by: Kristen McNamara
  • Budding star Kristen has the prestigious honor of finding herself not only on this list, but also on the “Best Christmas Albums of the Decade” list for her 2009 Christmas album, Smile. “Angels” was written by Kristen and features her beautiful vocals over a piano.  It’s simple and intriguing, and that’s refreshing in a time of over-production and obnoxious drum beats.
• “Oh Holy Night”, by: Carrie Underwood
  • While “Oh Holy Night” is nothing new, Carrie Underwood’s soaring version is too good to pass up.  The hidden gem of Underwood’s short but highly successful career is the Christmas edition of her sophomore album, Carnival Ride. Amid covers of the classics is “Oh Holy Night”, which gives the greats like Celine a run for their money.  Not only is the studio track impeccable, but the live performances Carrie has given are among the best this song has ever seen.  In fact, of the 20 Golden Elephant panel members, 11 choose her version as the best version they’ve heard, compared with 5 for Celine, 3 for Maria, and 1 for David Phelps.
• “Silent Night”, by: Sugarland
  • What’s so special about “Silent Night”?  Nothing.  What’s so special about “Silent Night” sung by Sugarland with some verses in Spanish?  A lot.  If that combination sounds weird to you, we’re right there with you.  If you can get past the weird thoughts of Jennifer Nettles wearing a sombrero and a poncho that are swirling in your head, you’ll surely see that this actually works.
• “Winter Song”, by: Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Micbaelson
  • Sara Bareilles may or may not be a one-hit-wonder, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t tear up the Christmas-time Adult-Contemporary charts with pal Ingrid Michaelson with this slow and wintery original song. Why this song isn’t dominating the Christmas-time charts is a mystery to us; it’s haunting, it’s cold, and it embodies everyone’s mood at about this time of year when they’re stuck inside due to incessant snow fall.
• “The First Noel”, by: Josh Groban and Faith Hill
  • For most of The Golden Elephant panel members, a Christmas song duet is the ultimate way into our hearts.  Faith Hill has been pretty quiet over the past few years, but she steps out in a big way on this duet with Christmas music staple Josh Groban.  Hill’s mildly husky tone molds beautifully with Groban’s operatic wail, and gives “The First Noel” a blast right into the top of any Christmas playlist.
• “Blue Christmas”, by: Elvis Presley and Martina McBride
  • As we said in our “Christmas Albums of the Decade” countdown, the Christmas Duets album “by” Elvis is one of the coolest things we’ve ever seen.  And the most downloaded song from the disc is pretty cool in itself.  Martina is and always will be one of the greatest female country vocalists of all time, so hearing her paired with “The King” is a match made in, well… Heaven.

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Thanks for reading!

Rick

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