10 Christmas songs that never fail to turn up the holidays

Whether you want to rock around the tree, make out under the mistletoe or chill by the fireplace sipping spiked eggnog, Christmas just doesn’t jingle all the way without a sleighing soundtrack to the season.From Nat King Cole and Bruce Springsteen to Brenda Lee and a certain Queen of Christmas — Mariah Carey — these 10 yule tunes never fail to turn up the holiday spirit.If you’re going to anoint a song as the Christmas song, you better be able to bring all the holiday feels.And whether or not you’ve ever roasted a chestnut in your life — really, who has? — this is the definitive version of the definitive Christmas song.When it comes to hanging under the mistletoe, nothing beats the old-school R&B romance of Hathaway’s 1970 classic.

And although it’s been covered by everyone from Patti LaBelle and Aretha Franklin to Christina Aguilera and Chris Brown — who sang it for the same-named movie in 2007 — the original still blazes brightest.Forty years ago, George Michael — well on his way to leaving Wham! for solo superstardom — gave us his heart with this holiday ditty that still stands as one of the last original Christmas classics.It even inspired a 2019 movie named after it.

But the song took on a sad sentiment when Michael had his “last Christmas” when he died on the holiday in 2016.From the moment that the Boss commands, “You better watch out, you better not cry,” about the imminent arrival of Saint Nick, it’s enough to make kids of all ages be good, for goodness sake.Honorable mention to the Jackson 5’s version for a more youthful and soulful spin on the seasonal standard.It only took 65 years of twirling around that evergreen, but Lee’s 1958 Christmas chestnut finally hit No.

1 in 2023.That gave the 80-year-old legend just the third-holiday single ever to jingle all the way to the top, following Alvin and the Chipmunks’ “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” in 1958 and, of course, Mariah Carey’s “A...