Most Popular “Non-Christmas” Christmas Songs
It’s that time of year again. It’s cold, dark, you’ve started eating chocolate for breakfast, thanks to your advent calendar, and Christmas songs have flooded the airwaves. These songs help us count down the days to Christmas, and give us all an excuse to link arms and belt out Mariah Carey’s All I want for Christmas, after a couple of pints.
Although there are some Christmas staples that we hear every year, it’s becoming more and more difficult to predict the Christmas number 1 odds . There are some songs that are classed as Christmas songs, even though they have nothing to do with the season, other then being released around that time of year. We have hand picked a list of the sometimes weird and wonderful, most popular “non-Christmas” Christmas songs. Read on to find out more, and perhaps add a hidden gem to your Christmas party playlist.
Chris DeBurgh – Lady in Red
This classic ‘80s love song has nothing to do with Christmas. Well, unless Christmas is all about dancing with a lady wearing a red dress, which for the majority of us just isn’t the case! The classic lines of –
“I’ve never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight, I’ve never seen you shine so bright”
– will forever live on in our hearts as a popular song, but why it’s considered a Christmas song is well beyond us!
Schubert – Ave Maria
This beautiful masterpiece was released back in 1825, and the closest reference we can find between the song and Christmas is still a bit of a stretch! The song literally translates to “Hail Mary” who is the mother of Jesus, whose birthday is believed to be Christmas day. The song has had many re-records by pop stars and actors aplenty, and has been consistent with its Christmas rereleases year after year. Although a bit of a head scratcher, this is undoubtably one of the more famous “non-Christmas” Christmas songs out there.
Julie Andrews – My Favourite Things (The Sound of Music)
For many, it’s near impossible to sing this song and not think of Christmas, whilst Julie Andrews frolics around stating her favourite things – think of it as her list to Santa! The song has even been reimagined by singer Jade Williams for the supermarket Aldi back in 2015. The song was made to fit around some of the products they had on offer and brought the classic song back to the forefront of our minds, and the charts.
Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name
This heavy rock song was released back in 1992. The song is probably as far from Christmas as you could possibly get, with its punchy riffs and explicit lyrics, it definitely doesn’t have a direct connection to Christmas!
A Facebook campaign started by 35-year-old British DJ, Jon Morter, coupled with a smart marketing crusade, saw the song top the charts, even going as far as beating X-factor winner Joe McElderry in sales, and re-emerging as a staple tune during Christmas time.
