The holiday music playlist you need, want and deserve
Alicia Keys performs onstage at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Event Center on Sept. 18, 2022, in Tampa, Florida. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times/TNS)
Holiday music is a big business that generates $170 million a year, according to Billboard.
The rulers of the season are Mariah Carey (whose 1994 “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is again topping the charts), Michael Buble (whose 2011 “Christmas” is the biggest selling holiday album of 2022), and the vocal group Pentatonix, who have released their sixth seasonal album, “Holidays Around the World.”
Holiday music has also become a streaming service battleground. Which means if you want to hear Lizzo’s new take on Stevie Wonder’s “Someday at Christmas,” you’ll need Amazon Music. Alicia Keys’ complete “Santa Baby” album is only available on Apple Music.
The playlist annotated here includes songs that are available on Spotify (and, in most cases, other streaming services). It highlights the best and most notable holiday songs released in 2022. Everything is new, with the exception of songs by Louis Armstrong and Ray Charles that have been reissued this year.
