# What was the last "Christmas" song to become a standard? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 25, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627 "2008-12-25T05:23:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/1 "2008-12-25T05:23:11Z")
During the month of December we get to hear a lot of Christmas music whether we like it or not. Most of it is variations of what we consider “standards”. In asking this question I am not sure how a “standard” should be defined. As a starting point, maybe it is a song that has been recorded and released by at least 10 known recording artists. Maybe that is too low. A “standard” is a popularly recognized song and we all recognize Christmas standards. Those songs hit it big, get played year after year and must reap in a ton of royalties. So, what’s the last Christmas standard to hit it big? What’s the last one that, 10 years from now we will still recognize. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/2 "2008-12-25T06:10:34Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > During the month of December we get to hear a lot of Christmas music whether we like it or not. Most of it is variations of what we consider “standards”. > > In asking this question I am not sure how a “standard” should be defined. As a starting point, maybe it is a song that has been recorded and released by at least 10 known recording artists. Maybe that is too low. A “standard” is a popularly recognized song and we all recognize Christmas standards. Those songs hit it big, get played year after year and must reap in a ton of royalties. > > So, what’s the last Christmas standard to hit it big? What’s the last one that, 10 years from now we will still recognize. Any ideas? Seems like there is a lot of room for debate on this one, but I’m gonna go with Barenaked Ladies’ version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman,” which only came out a few years ago but seems to have some staying power. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/3 "2008-12-25T06:56:09Z")
I think the question is not about a specific artist, but the song as a song. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen has been around for many, many years. I’m thinking the answer to the OP may be something along the lines of Feliz Navidad, or the Chipmunks’ Christmas Song. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/4 "2008-12-25T07:07:53Z")
Two Christian songs that are becoming Christmas standards in those circles- “Breath of Heaven” and “Mary, Did You Know?” To the OP- “Do You Hear What I Hear?” perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/5 "2008-12-25T07:16:15Z")
The most recent “standard” that comes to mind for me is John Lennon’s _So This Is Christmas_. There are a number of currently popular covers of more traditional Christmas fare, like Madonna’s _Santa Baby_. But a decade from now, it may well be someone else’s cover that is popular, while Lennon’s composition will still be THE standard for that song. IOW, that’s the latest original Christmas tune (AFAIK) that has become a standard in the sense of being widely known, popular and played countless times per day from November through December each year. Any other, newer nominees? ETA: to **FriarTed** , since I’ve never heard of either of those songs, I’m going to say they’re disqualified as standards on the grounds of not being known to everyone (yet). ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/6 "2008-12-25T07:19:13Z")
Fairytale of New York? [Wikipedia link, including cover versions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fairytale_Of_New_York). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/7 "2008-12-25T07:33:30Z")
How about John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”? It’s one year newer than “Feliz Navidad”. José Feliciano released Navidad in 1970, while Lennon’s song came out in 1971. BTW, these songs are among the rare Christmas songs that I am not thoroughly sick off. Can’t think of any others off hand, but there are one or two. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/8 "2008-12-25T07:39:55Z")
Rats! Rhubarb beat me to it. But at least I got the title right. “So this is Christmas” is the first line of the song, but not the title. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/9 "2008-12-25T07:50:46Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Rats! Rhubarb beat me to it. But at least I got the title right. “So this is Christmas” is the first line of the song, but not the title. You also knew the year of its release. My hat’s off to your superior knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/10 "2008-12-25T08:22:10Z")
How about “ **All I Want For Christmas Is You** ” by Mariah Carey? It has become very popular since its release in 1994. [From the Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_I_Want_for_Christmas_Is_You): > [@](#): > > It is Carey’s most successful song worldwide. It became the first holiday ringtone to go gold and platinum in the U.S., and every Christmas season, it reemerges in the top 10 in many charts worldwide. According to The New Yorker, it is “one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon”. It has been covered by many artists (listed in the Wiki link) and is the song sung on stage by the girl near the end of the movie _Love Actually_. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/11 "2008-12-25T08:30:01Z")
> [@Rhubarb](#): > > You also knew the year of its release. My hat’s off to your superior knowledge. Gotten from Wikipedia: [Happy Xmas (War Is Over)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Xmas_(War_Is_Over)). I certainly don’t retain that level of trivia in my head. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/12 "2008-12-25T10:35:40Z")
Well, just keeping it within the family, Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” came out in 1979, eight years after “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” and it certainly seems to me that these days I hear it a lot more often than Lennon’s song. [According to Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_Christmastime) it has been covered 13 times, and (unlike John’s song) it is, just, on the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers list of “[the top 25 most-performed Holiday [i.e., Xmas] songs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_music#ASCAP.27s_Most-performed_.27Holiday.27_songs)” (I put that in quotes because the list apparently excludes out-of-copyright songs, like “Jingle Bells,” and those not composed by members of ASCAP). Mind you, although I do not normally align myself with the anti-McCartneyist faction within the Beatleist International, I feel compelled to state that I think the Lennon song is _vastly_ superior (and, indeed, it has been covered, if not given airplay, much more often). Indeed, it is about the only Christmas song I can think of that is truly worth listening to (or is bearable to listen to) at other times of year (and there are plenty of other Christmas songs I would rather hear at Christmas before “Wonderful Christmastime”). Incidentally, Wikipedia says that the most recent song on the ASCAP list is “Mark Lowery’s ‘Mary, Did You Know’ from 1984,” but (a) I have never heard of it, and (b) it does not actually appear on the list as Wikipedia gives it! Nevertheless, t[his Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_music) may be the best place to look for an answer to the OP’s question. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/13 "2008-12-25T10:41:04Z")
> [@](#): > > There are a number of currently popular covers of more traditional Christmas fare, like Madonna’s _Santa Baby_. _Santa Baby_ is about the least ‘traditional’ Christmas song imaginable (and no, I haven’t forgotten _Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer_). ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/14 "2008-12-25T10:44:51Z")
How about “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984. (Wikipedia knowledge, not mine). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/15 "2008-12-25T16:33:05Z")
Damn it, it’s always the last post that has what I came in to say. 🙂 I’d say “Do They Know It’s Christmas” over, say, “I Believe in Father Christmas”, because I’ve heard somebody else cover “Do They Know It’s Christmas”. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/16 "2008-12-25T19:08:30Z")
My vote is also for ‘Do they Know It’s Christmas?’ While it may not have been covered by any other artist (none that I know of), I hear it quite often on the radio during the Christmas season every year and many random people I’ve talked to know this song. Some other candidates mentioned here I’ve not heard (or may have and didn’t know it, I’m not a big fan of Christmas music), so the fact that Band-Aid’s song sticks out to me gets it my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/17 "2008-12-25T19:20:04Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > How about “ **All I Want For Christmas Is You** ” by Mariah Carey? It has become very popular since its release in 1994. > > It has been covered by many artists (listed in the Wiki link) and is the song sung on stage by the girl near the end of the movie _Love Actually_. Totally agreed. I’d have to check Billboard, but I think this song is on top of the top holiday songs again this year. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/18 "2008-12-25T19:40:46Z")
> [@Horseflesh](#): > > My vote is also for ‘Do they Know It’s Christmas?’ > > While it may not have been covered by any other artist (none that I know of), I hear it quite often on the radio during the Christmas season every year and many random people I’ve talked to know this song. > > Some other candidates mentioned here I’ve not heard (or may have and didn’t know it, I’m not a big fan of Christmas music), so the fact that Band-Aid’s song sticks out to me gets it my vote. Well if we are going for one artist songs that are played frequently during the holiday season, I have to go with [Christmas Eve/Sarajevo - 12/24](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9lmbrExvAI) by The Trans Siberian Orchestra. Part of an awesome album, and these guys put on an excellent show during the holiday season. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/19 "2008-12-25T20:02:14Z")
How about a new candidate? [It’s Christmas Time,](http://doorbell.net/sounds/xmas_time.mp3) performed by Marcus Ryle and Susan Wolf. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627/20 "2008-12-25T20:08:28Z")
> [@legalsnugs](#): > > How about “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984. (Wikipedia knowledge, not mine). Sidenote (for those who do not mind the hijack): I heard this song maybe four times when I was out doing last-minute shopping yesterday, and every time it came on, I reminded myself: “Must play [freerice.com](http://freerice.com) when I get home” (in response to the line: “Feed the world: let them know it’s Christmas time”) I play freerice on an almost daily basis, but it _is_ easy to forget such things in the light of preparing for holiday busy-ness. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-christmas-song-to-become-a-standard/478627.md?page=2)