The 25 Best New Christmas Songs of 2024: Staff Picks
The holidays are here, which means Christmas music has fully infiltrated the charts, radio and mall speakers alike.
Most of that music precedes this year, from traditional classics sung by Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Brenda Lee to contemporary hits from Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson and Michael Bublé — all names that regularly appear on the Hot Holiday Songs chart each year. But like every year before it, 2024 is closing with a bevy of new Christmas recordings from modern artists spanning pop, R&B, hip-hop, K-pop, jazz and rock.
Some of those artists — Lady Gaga, RAYE and Laufey, to name a few — put their own inventive spins on famous carols that originated long before this year. Others — such as FIFTY FIFTY, Coco Jones and GloRilla and Kehlani — released brand-new anthems celebrating love, light, mistletoe, snow, presents, family and all the good stuff we know and love about the best time of year. Meanwhile, a few musicians like Bleachers, Jessie Reyez and Conan Gray went the complete opposite direction with their original tracks, spurning festive stereotypes and tapping into the more melancholy parts of the holidays that people sometimes struggle with.
If you’re ready to stir something new into your Christmas playlists, Billboard presents the 25 best new seasonal tracks from artists of all genres and backgrounds ready for playback as we bid adieu to 2024. And who knows? Some or all of these tracks might just end up becoming new favorites that you’ll return to for yearly listening.
Keep reading to see our staff picks below.
Hannah Dailey
Billboard