This Is Christmas, Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Holiday Hits

by Annie Zaleski, Darling Clementine (Illustrator)

Celebrate the merriest season of the year with award-winning author and music journalist Annie Zaleski's collection of the 100 most popular and beloved holiday songs of all time.

'Tis the season! Break out the eggnog, hang the mistletoe, blast those Christmas songs, and settle down in your favorite armchair with this beautifully illustrated volume exploring well-known and lesser-known behind-the-scenes stories of the 100 most cherished holiday songs of all time and their everlasting impact. From artists such as Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald all the way up to Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande, this all-encompassing collection of holiday favorites is sure to warm your heart during the merriest season of the year.  

What song was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling single of all time? Which popular Christmas tune was reportedly written to commemorate Thanksgiving? What holiday song led to a special meet-and-greet between the song's 10-year-old singer and a 700-pound hippopotamus? 
Spanning musical genres and decades of classics and modern hits, some of the featured songs And many more!

Including full-color illustrations throughout, this gorgeously packaged compendium is the perfect gift for you and your loved ones to experience the holiday magic year after year. 

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Christmas, Holiday, Adult, History, Pop Culture

224 pages, Hardcover

Published October 17, 2023

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised at the almost total absence of Christmas carols and hymns from this book, given that the subtitle includes the words "Holiday Hits". I am surprised, though, that they found 95 Christmas songs that *weren't* traditional carols. (Am I the only one who has never heard of "Suzy Snowflake", "Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto", "The Snow Miser Song", "Another Lonely Christmas", and "Mistress for Christmas"?)

Given that what I was looking for was the origin stories of our best-beloved Christmas carols (and given that I genuinely don't care about the inspiration behind the Beach Boys' "Little Saint Nick" or David Bowie's and Bing Crosby's collaborations or that Queen's "Thank God it's Christmas" didn't originally have a music video which is blamed for its poor reception) this is one book I flipped through casually and then put down.

[Dusty Shell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book in 2024 with my children. and finished it in the 2025 Christmas season. It was fun to learn the back stories to so many songs that we listen to yearly, hear about new (to us) songs, and enjoy a more nontraditional Christmas read aloud. A few of the songs weren't fully appropriate to listen to their stories in front of the small ones, so I edited, but my tween and teen did fine.

I adore Christmas music, so this was completely up my alley. I also created a Spotify playlist as we read each song, so we could listen after hearing it's origins: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1y6...

From The Muppets to Bing Crosby, Michael Buble to Pentatonix, this book has them all!

[Amy Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers a wide variety of Christmas songs, from traditional British carols to current day pop singles. Whether or not you enjoy this book depends on what you're looking for. I recognized most of the songs up until about 2000, but there were a couple dozen I wasn't familiar with, which is fine (I learned a lot!). It's not strictly traditional or American or even representative of what you might hear on a top 40 or easy listening station during the holidays, but it does include a spectrum of genres and styles. Each entry includes the song's authors, history of the specific recording, mentions of covers, and context.

Annoying to me: just a few entries in, the author writes that the film "White Christmas" was a remake of "Holiday Inn." Anyone who's seen both movies knows that the only thing they have in common is that they both feature an inn. In Holiday Inn a singer & stage performer quits his career to run an inn that will be open only on holidays. In White Christmas two musical performers and former WWII soldiers follow two musical sisters to Vermont & find that their Major General is about to lose his inn to bankruptcy & try to come up with a plan to save it. Why the author states this, I don't know, but it made me question the veracity of her research overall.

[Jacqui Busch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Under-researched and arbitrary

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book that started out fun....but then towards the end, I got lost a little bit. I thought this book was going to be about the history of famous holiday songs, ones that people know and their origins. The book started as such...each entry covered a popular holiday song, in a short but sweet entry. The book starts with songs such as Rudolph and White Christimas...but as the book goes on, it covers songs that I have never even heard of; this losing my interest. I would have preferred the book go into detail about how the songs came to be, and covered older songs, such as Silent Night, or Joy to the World.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've known Annie Zaleski for nearly 20 years, and it never occurred to either of us to talk about Christmas music before she wound up writing a book about a subject about which I'm passionate.

While there is some crossover - maybe a third of her choices would be among my favorites - I still have a whole lot of great songs sitting in my back pocket for the purpose of similar edification. But whether I love the songs she chose or hate them, or whether I knew them well or had never heard them, Zaleski's research into their creation as songs and as records, and their impact on American (and sometimes British) culture is impeccably told here.

Christmas music is a significant part of music culture in the West. By telling the stories of 100 songs - just a fraction of the great and interesting recordings of the season - Zaleski is doing great work at opening up interest to a subject most people don't take seriously, even if they enjoy the music. It's a bright and cheerful holiday read.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting historical relevance behind classic Christmas songs, but instead this focused mostly on current people revamping the songs. I also did not know any of the songs after the 80’s except “Last Christmas” and “All I want for Christmas is You.”

Just not what I was expecting.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read! Could have used a little more detail on some songs, but overall was impressed by the depth and breadth of song selections here.

[Melissa Joulwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read for anyone who loves holiday music and the nitty gritty of how it gets made.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love Christmas music and want to know more about the history behind the songs, this is for you.

I personally am a big lover of Christmas music (secular or not), and Annie Zaleski has definitely done research into what could figuratively be known as the Top 100 Christmas songs. From Bing Crosby to Justin Bieber, big name stars' covers like Whitney Houston's Do you hear what I hear, to old favorites like Frank Sinatra's Jingle Bells, all of them here.
Each song is given a snippet of its backstory, the artist, the composer/lyricist, and the back of the book even gives you a "if you're looking for the song by this artist, here is the album and year to be on the lookout for".

To Zaleski's credit, they do a great job of trying to include as much of the song's backstory as possible while still keeping the songs to a page and a half of information max. Some of the songs do have more history, but that was kind of my let-down (since a lot of the information on some of the older songs was more known to me, due to my love of Christmas music and/or the artists who made them famous). If you don't know anything about them, they have some fun and interesting tidbits of information about them.
So whether you want to be home for Christmas or Rocking around the Christmas tree, take a read and find the stories behind the songs that make for an iconic holiday season.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another example of a book that is bogged down by its own premise. By the author choosing "100 Holiday Hits," she has to reach for songs most people have never encountered. She also arranges the songs by when a popular version of it came out and overlooks other well-known early versions. It makes it awkward to read about a classic song like "The First Noel" well buried in the midst of trendy songs.

I gravitate towards books like this because I love trivia, and I grew up with my Columbia and RCA record collections of Christmas songs. I feel like the few fun facts I learned were buried in the style of the book. I ended up skimming the songs I didn't know and hunting and pecking to read for others.

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Started skipping around after the 2nd entry. Not what I was hoping for, sadly. The intro says the songs are arranged chronologically but that is NOT by when the first occurrence of the song is known but rather by some arbitrarily chosen "hit" version of the song (for example Carol of the Bells is under 2014 for the Pentatonix version). The entries do have some history of previous version of a song but all told, unless you're REALLY into the nitty gritty details radio-knowledge about who "cut" the first record and the names of the publishers, etc, etc, this book will likely leave you a bit disappointed.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was more of what I was expecting when I picked up The Carols of Christmas: A Celebration of the Surprising Stories Behind Your Favorite Holiday Songs. I loved the stories behind each song. It was interesting to hear about copyright disputes as well. I found several Christmas songs I'd never heard of.

My one caveat was that 99% of these songs were secular, and that, in my opinion, defeats the whole point of Christmas songs.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept of the book must have been a quite intriguing pitch for publishers. The actual product is less stellar. I was drawn to this book since I have always been a lover and aficionado of Christmas music. However, the book is just one droll template copied and pasted for over a hundred songs. Call out the songwriters, highlight whichever artist sang the version being touted, make a joke about how funny it is that Christmas music is often recorded in hot summer months, lol! Quote recent interviews, spit out chart stats. Repeat. Ad nauseam. Save your time, just listen to the music itself -- you'll have a better time.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Christmas and history, making this book ideal for this time of year. While not all popular Christmas songs are in the book, as that is somewhat a matter of opinion, many well-known songs are included with histories of who wrote, sang, recorded and released them. Old songs, such as God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, have histories going back centuries with ties to other countries. Newer songs, like Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You," are truly American and more relevant personally to the writer. This is a light, fun read for the holiday.

[Coicoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great, especially because it actively avoids and/or diminishes any sort of religious elements, especially the hymns/carols which are common even at the mall and within pop radio and film, while highlighting trashy songs (AC/DC? but no Pavarotti??? are you sure about that??). Plus, it obfuscates the history of pop culture and society.

In addition, the entries are typically too short to provide much content. Feels like a VH1/MTV entry from back in the day, or a watch mojo/buzzfeed kinda listicle.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like lists, lists of all kinds. I also really like Christmas songs. So shoot me.

Once beyond the late 60s, I thought the author was stretching. I kept having to YouTube songs in order to know what she was talking about. Also, she just couldn't help inserting a few political statements every now and then.

Note: not everything is political.

It was all right, up to a certain point. If you like lists, then you should get this book.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Christmas music fanatic (shameless plug for my Ultimate Christmas Chestnuts playlist on Spotify)...this book had some great nuggets that were new information (hello - AC/DC's inspiration for Mistress for Christmas), but less informative overall than I had hoped. I could also have done without where each the song maximally charted, and instead would have liked to have more intriguing tidbits for some of the songs.

[Mamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun reference for the holidays. I made the mistake of trying to read it in big chunks, like a novel, and that doesn’t work. Each song reference follows a specific formula, who wrote it, where did it go on the charts, what was the artist doing at that time in their career, etc. Read a few each day during the Christmas season, or save it to answer trivia questions. And note that it’s pop holiday music, not traditional Christmas carols unless they were covered by a pop star.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was so disappointing.

I am giving it two stars instead of one because some interesting facts seeped in, but the song selections and ordering was weird and a lot of the wording was really trite.

I thought it would be good reading for Christmas cheer but the main result was annoyance. I can do that on my own.

[Michael Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. It's okay and some of the information is interesting. It's a well-written and entertaining read. It's just hardly a list of the most beloved or cherished melodies of all time. Maybe the rankings come from the billboard charts, but it misses a lot. And some of the choices should be nowhere near a "best" Christmas song list.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn’t make it very far in this one; like a Cracked listicle in hardcover form with fast and loose conjecture.

Ex: The “White Christmas” entry has a lot of somber talk of families separated by WWII yet mentions nowhere Berlin’s opening verse about Beverly Hills just not cutting it for a Christmas vibe.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun facts about well known songs. It was hard to resist this book, even in the spring, because it has illustrations by “Darling Clementine”. Two songs that were not included: The Christmas Shoes and The Cat Carol. Not as well known, I guess.

[Ryan Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, easy overview of Christmas tunes.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5

[Leila Jaafari · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Christmas coffee table book what else is there to say? Readers learn about the top 100 Christmas songs in the last century in tiny vignettes.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just okay. I thought there was too much extra that didn't need to be there. And there were just too many I had never even heard of.

[Mary Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for getting in the holiday mood. Read each blurb about,songs such as Blue Christmas by Elvis or Christmas Tree Farm by Taylor,Swift and then listen to each artist on YouTube,

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read, and I learned some interesting facts about the holiday classics, but I was left wanting more. Feels like my time would have been better spent reading the songs’ Wikipedia pages.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting tidbits about popular Christmas songs, but after a few, the descriptions of the artist's "sound" became pretty cringey