Give Your Christmas Playlist A Makeover With 2021's Best New Holiday Songs

It’s time to update your seasonal playlist because new holiday songs are here — starting with a brand-new track from queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey .

Her latest, “Fall in Love at Christmas,” features Khalid and Kirk Franklin: 

If Carey is pop’s reigning Christmas queen, the king is almost certainly Michael Bublé. His latest seasonal effort, “The Christmas Sweater,” is complete with a video from the sweater’s point of view: 

One of the season’s more unusual tracks is “Come Some Christmas Eve (Or Halloween)” by Tall Poppy Syndrome, a band featuring early Bee Gees guitarist Vince Melouney and Blondie drummer Clem Burke. The group also features guitarist Jonathan Lea, bassist Alec Palao and Paul Kopf on vocals.

“The song is an obscure number written by Vince’s former bandmate Robin Gibb and reimagined here in a ‘The Who performing The Zombies’ ‘Odessey And Oracle’-style,” reads a description on the band’s YouTube page .

Artist Bryson Tiller told USA Today  he just wants to make someone’s holiday playlist with his new EP, “A Different Christmas.” It includes the track “lonely christmas” featuring Justin Bieber and Poo Bear.

“The thing about music, when you make a song it becomes the soundtrack to somebody’s life,” Tiller said.

Norah Jones has released her first Christmas album, bringing her instantly recognizable voice to a mix of holiday standards and original tracks, including the new tune “You’re Not Alone.”

“Last year I found myself listening to James Brown’s ‘Funky Christmas’ and ‘Elvis’s Christmas Album’ on Sundays during lockdown for a sense of comfort,” she said in a statement to Rolling Stone . “In January 2021, I started thinking about making a Christmas album of my own. It gave me something fun to work on and look forward to.”

Want to celebrate something a little different this season? 

Hawaiian punk rockers El Sancho used Christmas to pay tribute to Joey Ramone, with the aptly titled song “Merry Christmas Joey Ramone.”

The track was spotted by the Christmas A Go Go blog , a great source of offbeat Christmas music. It also highlighted this catchy new Ramones-tinged track, “Cocktails and Candy Canes” by Geoff Palmer:

ABBA’s first album of new studio material in 40 years also features the iconic Swedish band’s first-ever Christmas tune: 

British indie band The Lathums released a dark take on the holiday called “Krampus,” with upbeat music accompanying some pretty ominous lyrics:

Taylor Swift dropped a fresh version of her 2019 holiday hit “Christmas Tree Farm.” The new one, “Christmas Tree Farm (Old Timey Version),” was recorded with an orchestra at London’s Abbey Road Studios for Amazon Music. 

“This new version is amazing because it feels like it’s that more, sort of laid-back Christmas feel of doing all your shopping and relaxing by a fire,” Swift said in a video promo. “Y’know, it’s definitely a little bit more of that old-school Christmas song feel.”

British singer Leona Lewis got some help from Ne-Yo for her new track “Kiss Me It’s Christmas.” It’s one of two new songs on the rerelease of her 2013 holiday album, “Christmas, with Love” — now called “Christmas, with Love Always.”

Christian rocker Zach Williams’ new album “I Don’t Want Christmas to End” is a collection of reimagined holiday favorites along with the soulful original title track.

Williams said in a news release that he wanted to give the album a Southern rock feel by recording it at the iconic FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. 

“We got down there and all the original gear is still there from the Sixties,” he said. “The original rooms, the original console. Recording there really made the songs come alive even more than I thought it was going to.”

The Goo Goo Dolls updated last year’s holiday album by adding two new tracks, including the original song “One Last Song About Christmas”: 

Kelly Clarkson kicked off the holiday season extra early by releasing the breakup anthem “Christmas Isn’t Canceled (Just You)” in September. 

The title was picked “to bring forth a sense of reality to the fact that we are probably all in very different places emotionally ‘when Christmas comes around,’” she said in a press release, according to Billboard .

The track is on her new holiday album, “When Christmas Comes Around…,” and it’s not the only seasonal breakup tune. 

Amanda Shires who is part of the Highwomen supergroup, as well as husband Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit has a blunt message in “Gone For Christmas” featuring the McCrary Sisters. The song is on her holiday album, “For Christmas.” 

And finally, Pistol Annies aka Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley put their perfect harmonies to work in service of the season with their new album, “Hell of a Holiday,” including the title track: