From ‘Last Christmas’ to ‘Jingle Bell Rock,’ Some of the Biggest Holiday Hits Have Outlived Their Performers
Bing Crosby has seven songs on the current Holiday 100, more than any other departed artist.
George Michael, Judy Garland and Nat King Cole Dave Hogan/Live 8 via Getty Images; Courtesy Everett Collection; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Holiday music is one area of pop music where being dead isn’t a hindrance. A slight majority of the songs on Billboard’s Holiday 100, which relaunches this week, are by artists who have passed on. (The exact tally is 52 out of 100 – and six of the top 10.)
Several of the artists who provide the soundtrack to holiday specials, parties and trips to the mall have been dead longer than most of the current pop audience has been alive. Bing Crosby, who sang the Oscar-winning “White Christmas” in the 1942 film Holiday Inn, died in 1977. Elvis Presley, who gave us “Blue Christmas” in 1957, also died that year.
Vince Guaraldi, whose music for A Charlie Brown Christmas has been a part of every holiday season since that Peabody-winning TV special first aired in 1965, died in 1976. Judy Garland, whose “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” has made us misty she introduced it in her 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis, died in 1969. Nat “King” Cole, who introduced “The Christmas Song” in 1946 when he was fronting The King Cole Trio, died in 1965.
Crosby has seven songs on the current Holiday 100, more than any other departed artist. Cole is tied for second place with Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams, with four songs each.
Holiday music has greatly extended these and many other artists’ era of relevance. Williams’ last non-holiday song to crack the Hot 100 was in 1976. Martin last charted with a non-holiday song in 1969; Crosby in 1957, the year before the inception of the Hot 100.
When it comes to holiday music, whether an artist is alive or dead doesn’t matter very much. In a way, that’s fitting. Family members who are no longer with us are still frequently part of our holiday traditions. You may serve your holiday dinner on your Grandma’s treasured china, or always make your aunt’s special cranberry sauce, or make a point of playing your mom’s favorite Johnny Mathis Christmas album. You may remember these departed family members when you say grace before dinner – or even bother to say grace at all because they would have wanted it that way.
More than any other time of the year, it’s a time for tradition. And music is very much part of those traditions.
Here are all the artists on the current Holiday 100 (dated Dec. 7, 2024) who are no longer with us. They are ranked in order of the current chart position of their highest-charting song, with other charted songs by the same artist grouped with them. Songs by duos and groups are included if the lead singer on that song has died. We also include the departed leaders of two mostly instrumental acts – Guaraldi, the leader of the Vince Guaraldi Trio, and Paul O’Neill, the founder, instrumentalist and composer of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The year shown in parentheses is the year the song was first released by that artist. (Some were re-recorded by the same artist multiple times.)
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George Michael
No. 3, “Last Christmas” (Wham!, 1984)
Died: 2016
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Bobby Helms
No. 4, “Jingle Bell Rock” (1957)
Died: 1997
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Burl Ives
No. 5, “A Holly Jolly Christmas” (1964)
No. 53, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1964)
Died: 1995
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Andy Williams
Image Credit: CBS/courtesy Everett Collection No. 6, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (1963)
No. 21, “Happy Holiday / The Holiday Season” (1963)
No. 74, “Silver Bells” (1965)
No. 87, “The First Noel” (1963)
Died: 2012
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Dean Martin
No. 7, “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” (1959)
No. 36, “Baby It’s Cold Outside” (1959)
No. 85, “Silver Bells” (1966)
No. 88, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1959)
Died: 1995
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Ronnie Spector
No. 9, “Sleigh Ride” (The Ronettes, 1963)
Died: 2022
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Nat “King” Cole
No. 12, “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)” (The King Cole Trio, 1946)
No. 18, “Deck the Halls” (1960)
No. 54, “O Come All Ye Faithful” (1960)
No. 93, “Joy to the World” (1960)
Died: 1965
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Perry Como
Image Credit: CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection No. 14, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” (Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters With Mitchell Ayres And His Orchestra, 1951)
No. 47, “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays” (1959 recording) (Perry Como With Mitchell Ayers and His Orchestra, 1954)
No. 80, “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays” (1954 recording) (Perry Como With Mitchell Ayers and His Orchestra, 1954)
Died: 2001
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Frank Sinatra
No. 15, “Jingle Bells” (Frank Sinatra with the Orchestra & Chorus of Gordon Jenkins, 1948)
No. 46, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (Frank Sinatra With the Ken Lane Singers / Axel Stordahl, 1948)
No. 73, “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” (Frank Sinatra with the B. Swanson Quartet, 1950)
No. 94, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” (1948)
Died: 1998
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Chuck Berry
No. 17, “Run Rudolph Run” (1958)
Died: 2017
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Bing Crosby
Image Credit: George Rinhart/Corbis/Getty Images No. 19, “White Christmas” (Bing Crosby with Ken Darby Singers & John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra, 1942)
No. 45, “Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas)” (Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters, 1950)
No. 49, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (Bing Crosby With John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra, 1943)
No. 75, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” (Bing Crosby With Jud Conlon’s Rhythmaires & John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra, 1957)
No. 78, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” (Bing Crosby With Ralph Carmichael Orchestra & Chorus, 1963)
No. 89, “Winter Wonderland” (1962)
No. 92, “The Little Drummer Boy” (1962)
Died: 1977
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Gene Autry
No. 20, “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)” (1949)
No. 27, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (Gene Autry & The Pinafores) (1949)
No. 83, “Up on the Housetop (Ho! Ho! Ho!)” (Gene Autry with Carl Conter’s Orchestra, 1952)
Died: 1998
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Elvis Presley
No. 22, “Blue Christmas” (1957)
No. 81, “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)” (1957)
Died: 1977
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Eartha Kitt
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection No. 23, “Santa Baby” (Eartha Kitt with Henri Rene and His Orchestra, 1953)
Died: 2008
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Thurl Ravenscroft
No. 24, “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” (1966)
Died: 2005
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Michael Jackson
No. 30, “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” (The Jackson 5, 1970)
No. 42, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (The Jackson 5, 1970)
Died: 2009
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Vince Guaraldi
No. 31, “Christmastime Is Here” (Vince Guaraldi Trio, 1965)
No. 32, “Linus and Lucy (Peanuts Theme)” (Vince Guaraldi Trio, 1965)
No. 62, “O Tannenbaum” (Vince Guaraldi Trio, 1965)
Died: 1976
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Donny Hathaway
No. 33, “This Christmas” (1970)
Died: 1979
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Paul O’Neill
No. 35, “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)” (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 1995)
No. 72, “Christmas Canon” (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 1998)
Died: 2017
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John Lennon
Image Credit: Frank Barrett/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images No. 37, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” (John & Yoko/The Plastic Ono Band With the Harlem Community Choir, 1971)
Died: 1980
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Jimmy Durante
No. 66, “Frosty the Snowman” (1950)
Died: 1980
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Clyde McPhatter and Bill Pinkey
No. 69, “White Christmas” (The Drifters Featuring Clyde McPhatter and Bill Pinkney, 1954)
Died: 1972 (McPhatter); 2007 (Pinkey)
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Judy Garland
No. 97, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (Judy Garland With Georgie Stoll & His Orchestra, 1944)
Died: 1969
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Karen Carpenter
No. 98, “Merry Christmas, Darling” (Carpenters, 1970)
Died: 1983
Link to the source article – https://www.billboard.com/lists/christmas-songs-by-late-artists/
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