Christmas means festive get-togethers, long car trips to see family, and school holiday parties that need a great musical soundtrack. Instead of scrolling through someone else’s playlist every year, we’ve put together a list of our favourite Christmas songs so you can build your own, on whatever app you use.
Just search for each song and add it to a playlist. Takes ten minutes, and you’ll have a Christmas music playlist ready for years to come.
Christmas Classics Everyone Knows
These are the songs you’ll hear in every shopping centre from November onwards, but they’ve earned their spot for a reason. Great for background music while you’re wrapping presents or setting the table.
- It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Andy Williams
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Frank Sinatra
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Pretenders (a rougher, warmer take on the same classic)
- Jingle Bell Rock, Bobby Helms
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, John Denver
- Winter Wonderland / Here Comes Santa Claus, Snoop Dogg and Anna Kendrick
- Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (Live), Bruce Springsteen
- Do They Know It’s Christmas?, Band Aid
- White Christmas (Live), Lady Gaga
- Silent Night, Stevie Nicks
- Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy, David Bowie and Bing Crosby
- Wonderful Christmastime, The Shins
Michael Bublé’s Christmas Songs
Bublé’s Christmas album gets requested every single year for a reason. If you’re building a playlist from scratch, these are the ones worth grabbing.
- It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
- Santa Baby
- Holly Jolly Christmas
- Blue Christmas
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Contemporary Christmas Hits
If you want something with a bit more energy for a family party or a car trip with older kids, this is where to start.
- All I Want for Christmas Is You, Mariah Carey
- Last Christmas, Wham!
- Mistletoe, Justin Bieber
- Santa Tell Me, Ariana Grande
- You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton
- Christmas Lights, Coldplay
- The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), Whitney Houston
- Calling It Christmas, Elton John and Joss Stone
- Baby, It’s Cold Outside, Brett Eldredge featuring Meghan Trainor
- Single All the Way, Dan Finnerty
- DJ Play a Christmas Song, Cher
Aussie Christmas Songs for the Family
A local Christmas playlist isn’t complete without a few songs that actually make sense for a Southern Hemisphere summer.
- How to Make Gravy, Paul Kelly
- Aussie Jingle Bells, Colin Buchanan
- Christmas Island, Christine Anu
- Christmas Where the Gum Trees Grow, a well-known Aussie carol that swaps snow and sleighs for gum trees and summer heat
How to Make Gravy has become such a fixture of Australian Christmas that December 21 is now known as Gravy Day by a lot of families.
Fun and Upbeat Picks for Kids
These are the ones that get requested on repeat by the younger crowd. Good for a school holiday craft session or a Christmas Eve dinner where the kids need something to dance to.
- Jingle Bell Rock, Bobby Helms
- 8 Days of Christmas, Destiny’s Child
- Santa’s Coming for Us, Sia
- Little Saint Nick, The Beach Boys
- My Only Wish (This Year), Britney Spears
- Early Christmas Morning, Cyndi Lauper
Slow and Cosy Christmas Songs
For the quieter moments. Christmas Eve after the kids are in bed, or a slow morning before everyone wakes up.
- Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Mariah Carey
- One More Sleep, Leona Lewis
- Miss You Most (At Christmas Time), Jessica Mauboy
- Fairytale of New York, The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl
- Driving Home for Christmas, Chris Rea
- What Christmas Means to Me, Stevie Wonder
- From a Distance (Christmas Version), Bette Midler
- Believe, Josh Groban
- Merry Christmas Baby (Live), Sheryl Crow and Eric Clapton
- This Christmas, Seal
- Christmas All Over Again, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
- Please Come Home for Christmas, Jon Bon Jovi
- Thank God It’s Christmas, Queen
- 100 Degrees, Kylie Minogue and Dannii Minogue
- 2000 Miles, Pretenders
- Christmas in Hollis, Run-D.M.C.
- Carol of the Drum / Peace on Earth, Christine Anu and Jay Kingham
- Happy Xmas (War Is Over), John Lennon
For Teens Who Want Something Heavier
If you’ve got teenagers who roll their eyes at Bublé, there’s a whole side of Christmas music in hip-hop and metal that most family playlists skip over entirely. These picks keep the energy without anything you’d need to preview first.
Hip-hop:
- Christmas in Hollis, Run-D.M.C. (already above, still the genre’s best-known pick)
- Christmas Rappin’, Kurtis Blow
Metal and rock:
- Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24, Trans-Siberian Orchestra (instrumental, a great one for teens who think Christmas music is naff)
- You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, Small Town Titans
- We Three Kings, Rob Halford
Beyond this list, a lot of well-known hip-hop and metal Christmas tracks carry explicit or MA-rated content, so if you’re building a playlist for teens only, it’s worth previewing anything outside these picks before adding it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Around 40 to 60 songs works well. That’s roughly two to three hours, enough to cover a full afternoon or a long drive without repeating.
Yes, everything on this list is safe for family listening. If you’re building a playlist for a school event, it’s still worth previewing each song first.
Yes. Every song on this list is widely available, so you can search for them and add them to a playlist on whichever streaming service you use.
Keep the Christmas Spirit Going
Once your playlist is sorted, check out our Christmas Guide for everything happening across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Hunter this December, from Santa photo spots to family-friendly Christmas events. And if you’re planning the school holidays around Christmas, our School Holiday Guide has you covered for the weeks either side.