There are certain things you can rely on at this time of year. People will complain about how early Christmas decorations go up, the sound of “All I Want For Christmas” will be inescapable and Michael Bublé’s 2011 festive album, Christmas, will return to the ARIA chart. Chances are, it’ll go all the way back up to the top 3 before leaving us for another year.
The Canadian singer’s seventh studio album, Christmas, was originally released on October 21, 2011 as the follow-up to 2009’s chart-topper Crazy Love, which featured his only top 10 hit to date, “Haven’t Met You Yet”. With his popularity at an all-time high, it was no surprise when Christmas burst straight into the top 5 before spending five weeks at number 1 across December 2011 and the start of January 2012.
The album’s track listing features some of the most beloved holiday songs of all time, including “White Christmas” (which Michael recorded with Shania Twain), “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, “Silent Night” and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”. Michael also covered Mariah Carey’s aforementioned modern day classic, “All I Want For Christmas”, which was the album’s first single, as well as “Santa Baby”, “Blue Christmas” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”. Original tune “Cold December Night”, which Michael co-wrote, was also included.
In 2012-13, Christmas returned to the ARIA chart, spending another four weeks at number 1. Since then, the album has returned to the top 3 each and every holiday season – topping the chart again in 2013-14 (for three weeks), 2014-15 (one week) and 2016-17 (one week), taking its tally of weeks at number 1 to 14 weeks in total. And in case you were wondering, it reached number 2 in 2015-16 (held off the top by Adele’s 25) and number 3 in each of 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Naturally, the time Christmas spends on the top 50 each year is quite brief – an average of eight-and-a-half weeks, but what it lacks in longevity, it makes up for in terms of impact. At the time of release, Michael told Parade.com, “Knowing that I’ll be invited into people’s homes for such an important holiday, it’s a big deal to me. It’s a huge honour. I’m really sentimental about that holiday.”
Listen to Michael Bublé's Christmas on Spotify
Listen to Michael Bublé's Christmas on Apple Music
