Top L-R: Tori Kelly (Capitol), Dan + Shay (WMG); Bottom L-R: Leslie Odom, Jr. (S-Curve), Carly Rae Jepsen (Interscope)

We’re barely into the middle of November and already the season has been filled with a plethora of new Christmas musical arrivals! So many performers are either releasing their first-ever holiday albums, returning with a follow-up, or sharing a Christmas song or two that they recently recorded to help fill an otherwise anxious season with some extra cheer.

I’ve compiled a list of some new festive songs, which I anticipate to be updating throughout the season. All songs listed are available to stream or buy on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Enjoy!

Photo: CBS

If you’ve been bopping along to Dolly Parton‘s latest holiday album, A Holly Dolly Christmas, you’re going to love this news… Dolly is getting a Christmas television special this year!

The country music superstar (and GLOBAL ICON), will share in the spirit of the season with a one-hour holiday special, “A Holly Dolly Christmas”! The special is set to broadcast on Sunday, December 6th at 8:30 pm (8:30-9:30 PM, ET/8:00-9:00 PM, PT) on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live and on demand on CBS All Access.

“I am so proud to be a part of the CBS family this holiday season with my new Christmas special,” the singer said in a press statement.

“When Dolly Parton calls and tells you she wants to do a Christmas show, you don’t hesitate,” said Jack Sussman, Executive Vice President, Specials, Music & Live Events/Alternative & Reality for CBS. “A special with the multi-Grammy Award-winning, prolific song-writing, epic live performer of all time? She had us at hello. There’s only one Dolly Parton, and we are so excited to be bringing her to viewers this holiday season.”

No word yet on whether or not any of the singers she collaborated with on the album, such as Michael Bublé, Miley Cyrus and Willie Nelson, will be a part of it. Although, I imagine they will find a way to make it happen.

“A HOLLY DOLLY CHRISTMAS” is produced by Sandollar Productions and NOZ Entertainment. Executive producers are Dolly Parton and Danny Nozell.

Stay merry!

Photos by David Cotter/NBC

If “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is part of your annual Christmas traditions, then you’ll be thrilled to know that NBC has announced that the network will be bringing the classic Dr. Seuss story to life this holiday season with a two-hour production of “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical!“

This musical version, with book and lyrics by Tim Mason and music by Mel Marvin, will feature the hit songs “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas” (by Albert Hague & Dr. Seuss).

Broadway and television veteran Matthew Morrison, famously known for his role on “Glee”, will take on the lead role as the curmudgeonly Grinch. “In what has been an extremely challenging year for us all, it is an honor to bring some holiday cheer into viewers’ homes this December,” Morrison said in a press statement. “My wish is to bring some Who-ville magic to this holiday season and, while the pandemic presents some challenges in bringing a stage production to life, we are excited to present a unique version of this seasonal favorite in a new creative and imaginative way.”

Photos: RCA

This year we need a little Christmas more than ever, and Pentatonix is here to deliver! In what has become a holiday music tradition, the a cappella group has announced that they will be releasing a brand-new Christmas album this week.

PTX, who recently debuted a music video for their rendition of “Amazing Grace”, will release We Need A Little Christmas — the follow-up holiday album to last year’s The Best of Pentatonix Christmas.

On Instagram today, the group unveiled the tracklisting, one by one, via their IG stories. I compiled the list for you, which features many classics, and even a special covers of “Seasons of Love,” the opening hit song from the 1996 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Rent; Ariana Grande‘s 2013 single “Santa Tell Me” and “Once Upon a December” from the 1997 animated classic, Anastasia.

Photos: The CW

It may not even be Halloween yet, but The CW has already announced their upcoming holiday programming slate…and you don’t hear any complaints from me!

In the midst of their regular primetime offerings, The CW will also be airing many festive events and movies, including the animated classic “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,“ the specials “Penn & Teller: Merry Fool Us”, “The Christmas Caroler Challenge”, the annual iHeartRadio Jingle Ball concert, which will be a virtual event given the pandemic, and the all-new musical film documentary, “Silent Night – A Song for the World”, starring Kelly Clarkson, Joss Stone, David Foster, Kathrine McPhee, Randy Jackson, Josh Groban, and many more!

Get a full breakdown of what’s to come below!

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer | Friday, November 27 at 8-9 p.m.
Based on the hit song that became a worldwide holiday phenomenon, this goofy and heartwarming adventure features young Jake Spankenheimer on the quest of a lifetime to track his missing Grandma down on Christmas Eve to prove that Santa Claus is indeed real. Michele Lee (“Knots Landing”) provides the voice of Jake’s greedy Cousin Mel and recording artist Elmo Shropshire provides the narration. An encore presentation of GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER will air on Monday, December 21 (8:00-9:00pm ET).

Photos: Word Entertainment

for KING & COUNTRY just released A Drummer Boy Christmas, their brand-new holiday album!

This is the first ever full-length Christmas album from the top Christian/Pop recording duo, which is comprised of Australian brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone.

It all started on a dreary winter’s night in our American hometown of Nashville, TN. It was the end of 2012, the year the band began. We piled ourselves into an old factory- cellos, brass, bass, guitars and of course, a load of drums. We began to frantically rehearse and prepare for an incumbent Christmas tour that we frankly, due to the fact that we’d yet to release a Christmas album or song, had no right to embark on. Yet, from that shotgun rehearsal (where we naively dreamt up our rendition of ‘Little Drummer Boy’) to today, the beauty, drama, and ultimately the miracle of Christmas has caught our musical imagination and therefore been laced into the DNA of the band.

Photos: Warner Records

Calling all Goo Goo Dolls fans! The award-winning rock band is gearing up to release their first-ever holiday album later this month, It’s Christmas All Over. The album will contain a selection of super festive Christmas classics and renditions of modern hits, including a cover of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers “Christmas All Over Again”, which inspired the title of the record.

Co-produced by front-man John Rzeznik, It’s Christmas All Over will also include “Let It Snow”, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, a fully-instrumental and jazz-infused medley, two new original songs and a re imagined version of their song “Better Days”, off of 2005’s Let Love In.

It’s Christmas All Over will release on October 30th; pre-order or pre-save wherever music is sold and streamed, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Stay merry!

Photo: Interscope Records/Crown Media/Photographer: Jamie Nelson

Gwen Stefani surprised fans when she announced yesterday that she was releasing a brand new holiday song, “Here This Christmas”, which would be part of a special reissued edition of her 2017 album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas.

The festive tune, which is co-written and produced by Grammy®-Award winning recording artist Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, also serves as the official Countdown to Christmas theme for Hallmark Channel this year!  “Here This Christmas” is available on all music services, including Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also listen to it from Stefani’s YouTube page below!

Photos: S-Curve Records

Leslie Odom Jr., known for his Tony Award-winning role as Aaron Burr in the Broadway musical “Hamilton”, made a very special announcement on his Instagram today… he’s releasing a new Christmas album next month!

Appropriately and simply titled The Christmas Album, you can expect to hear it in its entirety when it releases on November 6th.  Not only will this album include many classic and modern hits, like Leslie’s rendition of Wham!‘s iconic “Last Christmas”, but he also collaborated with fellow Tony-winner, Cynthia Erivo, on a new version of “Winter Song”. Leslie previously recorded a version of the Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson-penned track for his 2016 holiday record, Simply Christmas.

Leslie has also promised collaborations with his wife Nicolette Robinson (Broadway’s “Waitress”), the Mzansi Youth Choir, and The Walls Group & Michea Walls.

Photos: Schoolboy Records/Capitol Records

Tori Kelly is ready to take us to church this Christmas with her upcoming soulful holiday album, A Tori Kelly Christmas, which is also the award-winning singers first Christmas album ever.

“This is something I’ve been wanting to do for so long and now I get to finally share these songs with you (some classic, and maybe a few originals,” she wrote on her official Instagram.

Kelly collaborated with 11-time Grammy winner Babyface, who serves as executive producer, with a duet of the classic “Let It Snow,” which was the first song released prior to the October 30th release date of the album. “I’m so grateful to Babyface for helping me create an album that I am so proud of. I still can’t believe that I got to work with such a legend on my first-ever Christmas album,” Kelly said in a press release. “He really brought my vision to life and made every song so special.”

Pre-save A Tori Kelly Christmas at Spotify and Amazon Music today!

Stay merry!