<\/p>\n
Jim Harrington<\/span> We love those classic Christmas recordings.<\/p>\n And we cherish the chance to hear Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, the Beach Boys, Darlene Love and other greats sing these standards each and every Christmas season.<\/p>\n Yet, we also like to spice things up and add some new voices to our holiday playlist.<\/p>\n Thankfully, we never have any shortage of contenders trying to make the cut. That\u2019s because there are dozens upon dozens of\u00a0new Christmas albums\u00a0released each season.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve combed through the offerings and have come up with what we consider to be the best of the bunch.<\/p>\n Here are our picks for the top 10\u00a0new Christmas albums\u00a0for 2025:<\/p>\n The country act\u2019s first seasonal offering, 2012\u2019s \u201cOn This Winter\u2019s Night,\u201d was a joyous affair that included sparkling versions of such Christmas classics as \u201cThe First Noel\u201d and \u201cLet It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!\u201d<\/p>\n Thirteen years later, the platinum-plus-selling Nashville trio \u2014 consisting of lead vocalists Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley as well as the multi-talented Dave Haywood \u2014 returns with an equally good follow-up record.<\/p>\n This second installment, in what hopefully will grow into a lengthy series, includes solid takes on \u201cO Holy Night,\u201d \u201cWinter Wonderland\u201d and other favorites. It also features guest appearances from Ricky Skaggs on \u201cWhy We Sing Noel\u201d and Chris Tomlin on an absolutely gorgeous version of \u201cSilent Night.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to: \u201cSilent Night\u201d (featuring Chris Tomlin)<\/p>\n The holidays are about to get heavy \u2014 but in the right way \u2014 as powerhouse metal act Stryper finally releases its first-ever Christmas album.<\/p>\n The SoCal outfit, best known for the platinum-selling \u201880s offering \u201cTo Hell with the Devil,\u201d thoroughly rocks us around the Christmas tree as it thunders through a mix of holiday classics and originals.<\/p>\n As far as the latter goes, we are really enjoying turning up the volume on \u201cStill the Light\u201d \u2014 which features some blistering guitar work from Michael Sweet and Oz Fox \u2014 and the Black Sabbath-esque \u201cOn This Holy Night.\u201d<\/p>\n Truly great stuff from Christian metal\u2019s most legendary band.<\/p>\n Listen to: \u201cStill the Light\u201d<\/p>\n The country crooner \u2014 blessed with one of the finest singing voices in the history of the genre \u2014 has a long history with holiday recordings. It began in the mid-\u201890s when she recorded \u201cPut a Little Holiday in Your Heart\u201d as a promotional\/bonus single for her blockbuster major-label debut, \u201cBlue,\u201d and has continued through the years.<\/p>\n This generous collection, which is big enough to warrant a double-LP release for vinyl fans, gathers up so many of her classic Christmas recordings \u2014 \u201cRockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree\u201d to \u201cI Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas\u201d \u2014 as well as three new cuts.<\/p>\n Collectively, these songs serve to underscore that Rimes stands among the greatest Christmas music interpreters of the last 30 years.<\/p>\n Listen to: \u201cLittle Drummer Boy\u201d<\/p>\n The versatile vocalist has quite a track record in the theater world, having appeared in Broadway productions of \u201cRent,\u201d \u201cKiss of the Spider Woman,\u201d \u201cCarousel,\u201d \u201cMarie Christine\u201d and other plays. He\u2019s also fashioned an impressive career as a concert\/recording artist, performing with both the Boston and Cincinnati pops orchestras and releasing a number of albums.<\/p>\n Now, he\u2019s making his mark in the seasonal music realm with this 11-track outing. He\u2019s blessed with a beautiful voice \u2014 which many know from him doing the singing parts for the character of Shy Baldwin on Amazon\u2019s \u201cThe Marvelous Mrs. Maisel\u201d \u2014 and he puts it to great use on \u201cThe First Noel,\u201d \u201cSilent Night\u201d and other holiday tunes.<\/p>\n Listen to: \u201cWho Would Imagine a King\u201d<\/p>\n The contemporary Christian singer-songwriter, who gave voice to such chart-topping hits as \u201cMore,\u201d \u201cYou Are Everything,\u201d \u201cHello, My Name Is,\u201d \u201cGrace Wins,\u201d \u201cBroken Things\u201d and \u201cThe God Who Stays,\u201d is inviting music lovers to \u201cCome Home for Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n This eight-song offering is yet another Christmastime delight for West, who previously recorded \u201cThe Heart of Christmas\u201d in 2011 and \u201cWe Need Christmas\u201d in 2021. The set is a mix of original tunes and holiday standards. And, as an added bonus, it even includes a \u201ckids version\u201d of West\u2019s excellent Thanksgiving ode \u201cGobble Gobble.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to: \u201cBecause of Bethlehem\u201d<\/p>\n These PBS favorites originally came together for a one-off performance in Dublin, Ireland, in 2004 and are still going strong 21 years later. And now they are embarking on \u201cA Christmas Journey.\u201d<\/p>\n It is not \u2014 to put it mildly \u2014 their first such journey. Celtic Woman, which some have described as \u201c\u2019Riverdance\u2019 for the voice,\u201d has released approximately 215,334 seasonal albums over the years.<\/p>\n Or it could be 215,335 \u2014 since the group might have released another since I started writing this.<\/p>\n The reason the collective keeps releasing holiday platters \u2014 and the reason we keep buy them \u2014 is that it does a really good job with the Christmas songbook.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s certainly the case, once again, with this fine collection of wintery tunes.<\/p>\n Listen to: \u201cGod Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen\u201d<\/p>\n The legendary trumpeter \u2014 who turned 90 earlier this year \u2014 has delivered such a gorgeous set of Latin-flavored holiday songs with \u201cChristmas Time Is Here.\u201d<\/p>\n The collection of mostly instrumentals kicks off with a true jaw-dropper \u2014 with Alpert pouring such emotion and feeling into a softly held version of \u201cFeliz Navidad\u201d \u2014 and then continues to shine through such Christmas classics as \u201cWhite Christmas,\u201d \u201cWinter Wonderland\u201d and \u201cSleigh Ride.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, this is not the first holiday rodeo for Alpert, who achieved massive success with 1968\u2019s \u201cChristmas Album\u201d \u2014 recorded with his Tijuana Brass band \u2014 and then followed up with the well-received \u201cChristmas Wish\u201d some 50 years later.<\/p>\n Listen to: \u201cFeliz Navidad\u201d<\/p>\n A lot has happened since this Seattle native released her first seasonal offering \u2014 \u201cBelieve\u201d \u2014 in 2005. For starters, she won a mind-blowing four consecutive Dove Awards for female vocalist of the year from 2006-2009. (And then she\u2019d add a fifth such trophy to her collection in 2012.)<\/p>\n Twenty years after \u201cBelieve,\u201d Grant returns with \u201cChristmas,\u201d another gorgeous set of holiday favorites (\u201cHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,\u201d \u201cWinter Wonderland,\u201d etc.) and other tunes. We especially love her work with MercyMe\u2019s Bart Millard on \u201cSilent Night.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to: \u201cSilent Night\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBrad Paisley Christmas\u201d was a fine holiday affair, filled with cool covers of seasonal staples (\u201cSilent Night,\u201d \u201cWinter Wonderland,\u201d etc.) as well as a few more unorthodox selections (notably, the PC-diss-track \u201cKung Pao Buckaroo Holiday\u201d).<\/p>\n The country music star\u2019s long-awaited follow-up \u2014 coming 19 years after that first 2006 Christmas outing \u2014 is another intriguing platter that mixes tradition and novelty.<\/p>\n Paisley, a decent vocalist and excellent guitarist, sounds like he\u2019s having a blast on \u201cThat Crazy Elf (On the Shelf),\u201d \u201cA Marshmallow World\u201d and other fun tunes. Yet, listeners are likely to enjoy his work on the slower numbers even more.<\/p>\n Listen to: \u201cThe First Noel\u201d<\/p>\n The R&B crooner, responsible for such top 10 hits as \u201cSpiritual Thang,\u201d \u201cFemininity,\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s Stay Together\u201d and \u201cSpend My Life With You,\u201d returns with his 10th full-length studio outing \u2014 which also happens to be his second offering of 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s Christmas,\u201d which follows the release of \u201cThe Co-Star\u201d in June,\u201d is warm and smooth from start to finish, as Benet brings his equally sophisticated and soulful approach to \u201cPlease Come Home for Christmas\u201d and other favorites.<\/p>\n When Benet sings a song like \u201cChristmas Time Is Here,\u201d it feels like you\u2019re both in the same room, tipping back cups of eggnog and enjoying a softly glowing fire.<\/p>\n Listen to: \u201cOh Holy Night\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.detroitnews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jim Harrington \u00a0|\u00a0 Mercury News We love those classic Christmas recordings. And we cherish the chance to hear Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, the Beach Boys, Darlene Love and other greats sing these standards each and every Christmas season. Yet, we also like to spice things up and add some new voices to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2180906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[39915,382144,22220,21941,419987,419988,22116,41226,6297,21741,22034,373659,390780,345132,345135,25632,239349,339770,21911,41044,384605,348594,21739,298114,345133,21800,307678,360386,357175,309368,239343,239347,23759,147314,340809,399597,69477,239344,408487],"class_list":["post-2180905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-affiliate","tag-amazon-com","tag-arts","tag-audio","tag-celtic","tag-celtic-woman","tag-christmas","tag-cole","tag-eamotion","tag-entertainment","tag-events","tag-hillary","tag-hillary-scott","tag-holiday","tag-holiday-marketplace-hub","tag-holidays","tag-holidays-u0026-seasonal-events","tag-hub","tag-inc","tag-king","tag-leann","tag-leann-rimes","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-marketplace","tag-music","tag-music-reference","tag-music-u0026-audio","tag-nat","tag-nat-king-cole","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-positive","tag-reference","tag-rimes","tag-scott","tag-seasonal","tag-u0026","tag-woman"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-10-best-new-Christmas-music-albums-for-2025-holiday.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2180905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2180907,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180905\/revisions\/2180907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2180906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2180905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2180905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2180905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u00a0|\u00a0 Mercury News<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n1. \u201cOn This Winter\u2019s Night: Volume 2,\u201d Lady A<\/h3>\n
2. \u201cGreatest Gift of All,\u201d Stryper<\/h3>\n
3. \u201cGreatest Hits Christmas,\u201d LeAnn Rimes<\/h3>\n
4. \u201cLet Me Carry You This Christmas,\u201d Darius de Haas<\/h3>\n
5. \u201cCome Home for Christmas,\u201d Matthew West<\/h3>\n
6. \u201cNollaig \u2014 A Christmas Journey,\u201d Celtic Woman<\/h3>\n
7. \u201cChristmas Time Is Here,\u201d Herb Alpert<\/h3>\n
8. \u201cChristmas,\u201d Natalie Grant<\/h3>\n
9. \u201cSnow Globe Town,\u201d Brad Paisley<\/h3>\n
10. \u201cIt\u2019s Christmas,\u201d Eric Benet<\/h3>\n