Photos: NBCUniversal

It’s time to celebrate an iconic holiday tradition … lighting the giant Christmas tree in New York City’s Rockefeller Center for the season!  This is one of the most beloved moments of the year, and some of your favorite names in music will be there rockin’ around the Christmas tree for NBC’s 89th Annual “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” special — airing tonight!

Viewers will be treated to festive performances by Alessia Cara, Harry Connick Jr., Mickey Guyton, Norah Jones, Brad Paisley, Rob Thomas, Carrie Underwood and more.  The evening will include a duet featuring Paisley and Thomas, and a special performance by the Radio City Rockettes.

Gabby Barrett and Carly Pearce(Photo: ABC/Sami Drasin)

Celebrate the holidays with “CMA Country Christmas” this year as award-winning country music stars Gabby Barrett and Carly Pearce host the 12th annual heartwarming special filled with the sounds of the season performed by some of your favorite names in music!

The holiday special blends one-of-a-kind performances of holiday classics with original favorites from Barrett, Pearce, Jimmie Allen, Carrie Underwood, BRELAND, Lady A, Pistol Annies, Brett Eldredge and Lainey Wilson during an intimate at-home setting that invites viewers to bask in the joy of Christmas with the whole family.

“CMA Country Christmas” airs on Monday, November 29th at 8pm/7c on ABC!

Check out the full performance and song lineup below:

(L-R, Top-Bottom) Dan + Shay, Khalid, Mariah Carey, Kirk Franklin, John Legend and Meghan Trainor.
Photos: Warner Music Nashville, Columbia, Epic)

There aren’t too many full holiday album releases this year, but there are many new songs!  Quite a few artists have re-released their Christmas records with bonus tracks too, and there were some new singles and music videos of old favorites that dropped here, which have us boppin’ around our Christmas tree!

We have compiled a list of some stand-out tracks that we wanted to share with you all! Each song is also available to either stream and/or buy on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Photos: NBC/Macy’s

There is no holiday kick-off quite like the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and this year the tradition is ringing in its 95th year! You can expect to see ‘a spectacle like no other’ when 15 giant character balloons, 28 floats, 36 novelty and heritage inflatables, more than 800 clowns, 10 marching bands and 9 performance groups, a host of musical stars — and, of course, Santa Claus — march their way down the streets of New York City on Thanksgiving morning.

“Today” show anchors Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker will host the three-hour telecast; viewers nationwide can catch all the action via the special broadcasts on NBC and Telemundo, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. in all time zones, and for the first time fans can also livestream coverage on Peacock. NBC will air an encore of the Parade from 2-5 p.m. ET.

The Spanish-language simulcast on Telemundo will be hosted by “En Casa con Telemundo’s” Ana Jurka and Carlos Adyan, accompanied by Freddy Lomelí live from Sixth Avenue, and will feature a special appearance by current Miss Universe, Andrea Meza.

Check out the lineup of performers below!

Photos: Capitol Nashville

Grammy winner Carrie Underwood released her first-ever Christmas album, My Gift, last year but she has more merry in store for us with a special edition of the critically acclaimed holiday album.

My Gift: Special Edition is available now digitally and on CD and pre-orders have begun for vinyl, which will be available on November 5th.

When the original album released in September 2020, it topped Billboard charts for Country, Christian and Holiday albums, and it ranked #1 on the UK and Canadian Country album charts as well. On the deluxe version you’ll find three additional tracks, including “My Favorite Time of Year,” which you can listen to below, as well as favorites from the original tracklist like Underwood’s duet of the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah” with Grammy winner John Legend.

Photo: Capitol Records Nashville

Carrie Underwood will be bringing her brand-new Christmas album right into your homes with her own holiday special that will exclusively stream on HBO Max towards the end of the year!

The seven-time GRAMMY® Award-winning country singer will perform holiday classics and modern favorites and, of course, songs from her newly-released first ever full-length Christmas album, My Gift, alongside an orchestra and choir.

“The journey of writing and recording this album started last year when I finished my tour and we could have never anticipated the circumstances we would be in this year,” she in a press release. “Creating this album has been good for my heart, and I’m thrilled to get to share it with the world and to bring it to life with Playtone and HBO Max.”

The special is produced by Gary Goetzman and Tom Hanks for Playtone, in conjunction with Underwood and her manager Ann Edelblute.

An official premiere date has not been released yet.

(Updated: 11/17/20) – Apple TV will stream the music special, My Gift: A Christmas Special From Carrie Underwood, beginning December 3, 2020!

Stay merry!

Photos: Capitol Records Nashville

There had been some chatter about Carrie Underwood finally releasing a Christmas album over the past few weeks, and the singer officially announced today that her first ever Christmas album, My Gift is coming out in September!

“I’ve always wanted to make a Christmas album and it’s been a long time coming,” says Underwood in an official statement. “I knew this would be my next music project after wrapping my tour last year, and I think it’s turned out to be the perfect time for an album like this, in this period of such personal and spiritual reflection. For me, it’s more important than ever to focus on the true meaning of Christmas in a project like this. Even though it has been a tough year for all of us, sometimes I feel like the greatest realizations can be inspired by the most difficult times, and make us more grateful for the things we do have and for what truly matters.”