Best Christmas Album Ever Views

Music

Do you all want a treasure hunt? The best Christmas album I've ever come across is from a band called the Rotary Connection, which featured a young Minnie Ripperton as one of the vocalists. I can't remember the title of this album for the life of me, but it was a double album and featured a song about Santa being able to reach every house in one night because he smokes mistletoe. Happy Hunting!!

Here's a list of the best Christmas albums of the oldies era (approximately from 1945-1975), as hand-picked by your Guide (me!). It's subjective, of course, but it covers the early days of rock and roll in search of what I consider the greatest holiday oldies compilations. If you have a suggestion for upcoming lists, e-mail me!

At the peak of his success on the pop charts with his trademark wall of sound production technique, Phil Spector put together this Christmas collection by four of his top recording acts. The Crystals, Ronettes, Darlene Love, and Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans each contributed their versions of mostly secular Christmas songs. The album had the misfortune of being released the same day as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was a relative failure upon initial release peaking at #13 on the album chart. However, over time it has been recognized as perhaps the top Christmas album and one of the top overall pop-rock albums of all time. Darlene Love's Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) is particularly revered.

Pop-classical singer Josh Groban had already released three multi-platinum top 10 albums before putting together Noel, his first Christmas collection in 2007. The result was the sleeper hit album of the year. It was produced by David Foster, known for his big pop productions with such stars as Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. Noel hit #1 on the pop album chart in the US seven weeks after its initial release. It became the first Christmas album to ever spend five weeks at #1 on the album chart. By the end of 2007, the album had sold over 3.5 million copies making it the biggest selling album of the year.