The Michael Buble Christmas Album – Breakdown
The Michael Buble Christmas Album is the seventh studio album and first Christmas album released by Canadian singer Michael Bublé. The album was released on October 21, 2011, in Ireland, on October 24, 2011, in the United Kingdom, and on October 25, 2011, in the United States. On the week ending December 10, 2011, Christmas rose to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, becoming Bublé’s third chart-topper following 2007’s Call Me Irresponsible and 2009’s Crazy Love, and spent five weeks at No. 1.
As of January 2022, this is Buble’s most successful album with more than 16 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century and one of the best-selling Christmas albums worldwide.
The album also won a Juno Award for Album of the Year, making it the first holiday album to win the award. The album was re-released on November 26, 2012, containing four additional tracks, including a new recording of “The Christmas Song”. Bublé also released a reworked version of “White Christmas”, this time featuring Shania Twain, as a single. This version premiered on Bublé’s NBC television special, Home for the Holidays, on December 10, 2012.
The album is Bublé’s second Christmas-themed release after he released a five-track extended play, titled Let It Snow in 2003. Some of the songs from Let It Snow have been re-recorded for inclusion on Christmas, making Christmas his first full-length holiday release. For the album, Bublé teamed up with several well-known artists to record duets.
Buble Collaborations and Songs
His duet version of “White Christmas” with country music singer Shania Twain was based on an early arrangement by The Drifters, while his recording of “Jingle Bells” with the Puppini Sisters was based on the 1943 recording of Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. He also teamed up with Latin star Thalía for a recording of “Feliz Navidad”. Bublé also recorded covers of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, and “Blue Christmas”, and a brand new track, “Cold December Night”, written with his longtime co-writer Alan Chang and producer Bob Rock.
The Albums Charts and Sales
On November 5, 2011, Christmas debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 charts in the United States, with first-week sales of 141,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In its fifth week on the chart, the album climbed to No. 1, and held the top spot for the following four weeks, becoming Bublé’s biggest selling chart-topper yet by beating the two-week reign of his previous album, Crazy Love.
Christmas also sold 479,000 copies in the album’s third week at No. 1, which marked Bublé’s best sales week ever. On the album’s tenth week on the album charts, and with Christmas having passed, the album fell to No. 24 on January 14, 2012. As of January 2017 it shares the sixth-largest drop from #1 with Blue Slide Park by Mac Miller.
For the year, Christmas sold 2,452,000 copies in the United States, according to SoundScan, and was the second best-selling album of the year, just behind Adele’s blockbuster album 21.[27] In 2012, Christmas sold an additional 622,000 copies in the U.S. according to SoundScan, and was the second best-selling holiday album of the year (behind Rod Stewart’s Merry Christmas, Baby). By December 4, 2017, the album had sold 4,129,000 copies in the United States, making it his best selling album in the country. As of December 2022, the album had sold 4,500,000 copies in United States.
In Canada, the album debuted at No. 2 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 37,000 copies in its first week. In its third week of release, the album climbed to No. 1, selling an additional 32,000 copies. As of December 14, 2011, the album has sold 444,000 copies in Canada.
Christmas also debuted at number 2 in Australia on October 31, 2011. The album has since been certified double Diamond by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of over 910,000 copies. It hit number 1 in December 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. It reached number 2 in 2015, being held off from the top spot by Adele’s 25. In 2016, the album peaked at number 2 in December, then hit number 1 for the fifth time in the week of January 2, 2017.
During the Christmas season of 2017, it peaked at number 4 in early December. In December 2019, it hit number 1 in Australia for the sixth time, becoming the first album to top the ARIA albums chart at six separate times in different years.
Despite competition from Snow Patrol’s album Fallen Empires, Christmas peaked at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. It sold 1,292,000 copies in the UK in 2011, making it the second best-selling album of 2011. It is the first seasonal album to chart within the top 10 three years in a row, as it charted at number one in 2011, at number two in 2012, and at number seven in 2013. As of December 2021, the album is the best-selling holiday album in the UK, selling over 3 million copies.
The album returned to No. 1 for a fourth non-consecutive week on 1 January 2021, nine years after its initial three week run at the top in 2011 and became the first album to disappear from the No. 1 spot on the UK albums chart on 8 January 2021 (previously The Vamps had achieved the record for biggest drop from number one, when their album fell from the top to No.72 in November 2020).
Here’s the complete tracklisting for Michael’s new album Christmas:
1. It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
2. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
3. Jingle Bells [featuring the Puppini Sisters]
4. White Christmas [duet with Shania Twain]
5. All I Want For Christmas Is You
6. Holly Jolly Christmas
7. Santa Baby
8. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
9. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
10. Silent Night
11. Blue Christmas
12. Cold December Night
13. I’ll Be Home For Christmas
14. Ave Maria
15. Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad” [duet with Thalia]
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Michael Bublé Official Website (michaelbuble.com)
