50 years ago: Bing Crosby charted with Christmas album

First posted 3/2/2008; updated 9/29/2020.

Merry Christmas (aka “White Christmas”) Bing Crosby

Charted: December 1, 1945 Peak: 139 US, 45 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, -- UK, 15.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: traditional pop/Christmas

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Silent Night (12/21/35, 7 US, 8 UK, sales: 10 million) Adeste Fideles (O, Come All Ye Faithful) (12/12/60, 45 US) White Christmas (with the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Orchestra) (10/3/42, 114 US, 110 HP, 77 CA, 11 HR, 12 GA, 3 AC, 13 RB, 5 UK, 120, sales: 56 million) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Faith of Our Fathers I’ll Be Home for Christmas (12/4/43, 3 US, 8 RB, sales: 1 million) Jingle Bells (with The Andrews Sisters & Vic Schoen) (12/25/43, 19 US) Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (with Carol Richards and John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra) (12/25/43, 22 US) Silver Bells (with Carol Richards and John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra) (12/27/52, 20 US) It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas Christmas in Killarney Mele Kalikimaka (with The Andrews Sisters & Vic Shoen) Total Running Time: 27:24

Rating: 4.159 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings) Quotable: -- Awards:

About the Album: “Try to forget the fact that Bing Crosby probably never had to record another song in his life after he immortalized White Christmas. If you can do that, you’ll find plenty more to like in this crooning Christmas collection.” AZ “White Christmas” is the best-selling song of all time, but this album didn’t too shabby either. When it comes to seasonal recordings, only Elvis Presley’s Christmas Album has sold more at 19 million copies worldwide. However, Merry Christmas reached the lofty heights of 39 whopping weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart, thanks to multiple reissues, repackagings, and rereleases over the years. The original album was packaged as five 78 records, each with two songs. All of the songs had been released previously and were Christmas-themed with the exception of “Danny Boy.” When a second edition was released in 1947, “Danny Boy” and “Let’s Start the New Year Right” were omitted and new recordings of “White Christmas” and Silent Night from March 19, 1947 were added. WK In 1955, the vinyl reissue of the album followed the 1947 track listing and added four tracks, including Silver Bells and three tracks with the Andrews Sisters: Jingle Bells, Mele Kalikimaka, and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. The 1955 version of the album has been continually in print ever since. Only the original cast recording of Oklahoma! has been in print longer. WK It’s also this cover with Crosby in a Santa Claus stocking cap which became the standard, replacing the original cover which had Crosby’s floating head on a blue background. WK The album finds “‘Der Bingle’ in two distinctly different moods: from the solemnity of ‘Silent Night’ and Adeste Fidelis (sung in Latin and English) to the playfulness (‘gonna have a lotta fun’) on ‘Jingle Bells,’ with The Andrews Sisters providing some smiles with their ‘Ji-ji-jingle’ vocals.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: Bing Crosby’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry AMG All Music Guide review by Dennis MacDonald AZ Amazon.com review by Steve Gdula WK Wikipedia