Christmas is in full swing and of course, seasonal songs are there. If the indestructible “All I Want For Christmas Is You” from Mariah Carey and “Last Christmas” by Wham! fight for the top spot in the charts around the world, other titles continue to establish themselves as classics. This is the case of “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”, “Snowman” by Sia or “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande, all present in the top 10 of the most popular titles currently on Spotify. But all of them are very, very far from the absolute Christmas record holder. Who ?
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50 million sales!
It's Bing Crosby and his “White Christmas” of course! Indeed, since its release in 1942, the American artist's timeless title has established itself as the absolute Christmas classic. Better still, it is the best-selling single in the history of music with a total estimated at 50 million copies sold worldwide. If we take into account the countless covers signed by Michael Bublé, Frank Sinatra, Gwen Stefani, the cast of the series “Glee”, Meghan Trainor or more recently V from the group BTS, the total sales around “White Christmas” are reach 100 million copies! A success greatly contributed by the film “L'amour chante et danse” (1942), in which we hear “White Christmas”, but also by the GIs who adopted the song on the front, in the middle of the Second World War.
Thus, Bing Crosby's Christmas hit is the best-selling song of all time, ahead of Elton John's “Candle in the Wind 1997”, which sold 33 million copies. The podium is completed by… Bing Crosby and another Christmas song: his cover of “Silent Night”, sold 30 million copies. Several other Christmas classics are included in the ranking of the best-selling singles of all time: “Petit Papa Noël” by Tino Rossi (30 million sales) and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey, estimated at 16 million physical copies sold, ahead of Gene Autry's “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and the charity “Do They Know It's Christmas?” of Band Aid, around 12 million purchases.
But if we take into account all the certifications, and therefore the sales equivalents linked to streaming, the American diva's hit totals 30.6 million units sold worldwide. Which, however, does not allow it to surpass “White Christmas”! Note that in the United States, Christmas number one is neither Mariah Carey nor Bing Crosby but… Elvis Presley. According to the RIAA, the American equivalent of SNEP, his 1964 hit “Blue Christmas” is the most certified winter song, and therefore the best-selling physical song in North America. Another Christmas surprise…
