My Top 10 Modern Christmas Songs

Hello!

So...my last post focused on classic Christmas songs that I felt deserved to be in a top 10, which you can view here. Now, it's all about those modern hits that already could be seen as classics.

As before, my top 10 is in no particular order.

10.  Leona Lewis- One More Sleep

Back in 2006, Leona Lewis won the third series of The X Factor. Having released 3 albums, in 2013, she decided to release a Christmas album, called Christmas, with Love. One More Sleep was the lead single from this album.

One More Sleep tells the story of a protagonist waiting for her partner to come home, with her counting the days within the chorus. One More Sleep earned Leona a place on the Singles Chart at number 3.

9. Kelly Clarkson- Underneath the Tree

Kelly Clarkson burst onto the scene with her classic song Miss Independent. After tons of other hits, such as Since U Been Gone and My Life Would Suck Without You, She decided to release a Christmas album, with the lead single of this album being Underneath The Tree.

The music video is just as christmassy, which involves Clarkson performing on the set of her Christmas special, Kelly Clarkson's cautionary Christmas Music Tale, dressed in a beautiful red dress. The song itself became Clarkson's 14th top 40 hit. It reached number 78 on the Billboard top 100.

8. Gabriella Cilmi- Warm This Winter

2008 was the year of Gabriella Cilmi. Following the success of her top 10 hit, Sweet About Me, she decided to release a Christmas song, in the form of Warm This Winter.

A cover of 1962's I'm Gonna Be Warm this Winter, by Connie Francis, Cilmi's version reached 22 on the UK singles chart. It was actually recorded specifically for the Winter season campaign of The Co-operative supermarket but it was since announced in November 2008 that it would be an addition to the deluxe edition of her top 10 album, Lessons to be Learnt. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be played much nowadays because it is a good song.

7. George Michael- December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)

Okay...everyone has heard of the Christmas classic Last Christmas but did you know that George Michael released another Christmas song? Yep...in 2009, without the support of his Wham bandmate, Andrew Ridgley, George released December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas).

There was a surprise in that originally it was going to be for the Spice Girls and less surprisingly, due to the fact it's a Christmas song, it was also a possibility that it was to go to the King of Christmas himself, Michael Buble. However, George Michael kept it.

In fact, keeping it was the best thing George did. After performing it on The X Factor, the physical copies of the single sold out within a day. It debuted at number 14 on the UK singles chart.


6.  Sam Smith- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Yes...I know that Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is a classic song but considering that Sam Smith had a big comeback in 2017, I thought it was only right that his version should be included.

Originally sung by Judy Garland in the classic film, Meet Me in St. Louis, this melancholic song is perfect for Sam's voice.  Smith's version fared better than the original, reaching the Billboard 100 for the first time, at number 90. In the UK, he reached number 65 on the singles chart with this song.

5. The Darkness- Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)

Let's be honest, The Darkness are only known for two songs: I Believe in a Thing Called Love and this one.  In fact they both had the same success as well...they both hit number 2 in the UK singles chart. Christmas Time... was beaten to Christmas number one in 2004 by Gary Jules' Mad World (seriously...a Christmas song was beaten to number one by this?).

Anyway, despite this issue, Christmas Time is still getting regularly played and it has since become a Christmas classic, 13 years after it was released.

4.  Justin Bieber- Mistletoe

I think we can all agree that Justin Bieber is not to everyone's taste, including mine. However, what some of you may not know is he released a Christmas song.

Yep,  at the age of 17, Bieber released his first Christmas single, Mistletoe and later, he released a Christmas album, Under the Mistletoe. Mistletoe is a typical Bieber song, about him kissing someone under the mistletoe. Cue loads of young girls screaming at this blog post "That should be me!"

Mistletoe debuted at number 21 on the UK singles charts, selling 280,000 copies and being streamed 9m times. It fared a bit better in the US, entering the Billboard chart at number 11.

3. Sia- Santa's Coming For Us

Sia's had a great career so far since she burst onto the scene with David Guetta to sing on Titanium. Following on from other successful hits, such as Cheap Thrills and Chandelier, Sia decided it would be her turn to crack the infamous Christmas market. The result? This catchy little number.

Describing a typical Winter season, with the protagonist singing "Nights are getting shorter now/Hot chocolate fills the air." It is also hinted that the protagonist is singing about spending Christmas with a loved one, singing to this loved one "You're the angel at the top of the tree," and that "Santa's Coming For Us," after the loved one is encouraged to write and send a letter to Santa.

It was the lead single off her new album Everyday is Christmas, which just entered the top 40 in the UK albums chart. It did better compared to Santa's Coming For Us, which only entered the UK singles chart at 65.

2. Coldplay- Christmas Lights

Chris Martin had already tried his hand at releasing a Christmas song, by being part of Band Aid 20 in 2004. However, in 2010, he joined his fellow band members and Coldplay released their first (and as far as I know only) Christmas song, Christmas Lights.

This song is a typical Coldplay song. Featuring a beautiful piano melody, the song depicts Christmas gone wrong; "Christmas night, another fight," with the protagonist saying that because of this, "it doesn't really feel like Christmas at all."

The song was very popular in both the UK and USA.  In the UK, it reached number 13 in the singles chart and in the US, it hit 23 in the Billboard top 100.

1. Michael Buble- Cold December Night

Let's be honest...Michael Buble is the King of Christmas. You don't here from him all year and then suddenly, in December, his Christmas songs start playing and he gets at least one Christmas special.

This particular song features on his Christmas album and describes a typical christmas with stockings hung up on the fire place and children waiting for Santa. It's also a chance for the protagonist of the song to pour their heart, begging their crush 'Please fall in love with me this winter" and "Kiss me on this cold December Night."

Buble's album, Christmas, beat Snow Patrol's album Fallen Empires to the number 1 on the UK album charts in the winter of 2011. It has featured in the album chart during the Christmas season ever since.