Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1955-Present

Alvin & the Chipmunks, Billboard Greatest Xmas Hits | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 31, 1989)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B0000032JO
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,979 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Jingle Bell Rock

2. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

3. The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)

4. The Little Drummer Boy

5. Mary's Boy Child

6. Blue Christmas

7. Nuttin' for Christmas

8. Please Come Home for Christmas

9. White Christmas

10. Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer

Editorial Reviews

1989 Rhino Records compilation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of A Series Of "Budget" Releases From Rhino/Wea, October 5, 2007

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1955-Present (Audio CD)

This is one a series of "budget" releases covering various aspects of Christmas to be released over the years by Rhino/Wea in conjunction with Billboard, all with 10-tracks each and liner notes in the form of track-by-track comments. Sound quality is generally good to excellent, and all selections are the original renditions despite what you may read elsewhere, with one exception in this volume where they tell you that Little Drummer Boy is a re-recording of the 1958 hit. All have "Billboard" as part of the title.

Some others are: Family Christmas Classics; Top Christmas Hymns; R&B Christmas Hits; Rock & Roll Christmas; Greatest Christmas Hits (1935-1954); and Greatest Country Christmas Hits. Some of the foregoing are also offered in 4-pack and 5-pack editions. In essence, these are the one you have to have if you want to recapture the delightful seasonal sounds of your childhood (assuming you're old enough to recall the periods covered).

This one repeats one from the Country edition, Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms, but does give you the original White Christmas by The Drifters Featuring Clyde McPhatter and Bill Pinkney, a # 1 2 R&B in 1954, and both a R&B and Pop chart entry for several years thereafter.

Here you get the following staples: Brenda Lee's Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, actually recored and released in 1958 when she was 14, but not a hit until 1960 when it went to # 14, and then appeared on the charts every Christmas from then on into the 1970s/80s; The Chipmunk Song by The Chipmunks with The Music Of David Seville (# 1 Billboard Pop Hot 100 for 4 weeks in 1958 and # 5 R&B, and seldom missed charting for the next several years); Mary's Boy Child by Harry Belafone (# 12 Top 100 in 1956); Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley (recorded in 1957 and part of his first Christmas album, later a # 1 Christmas Charts hit in 1964 and a charter for years thereafter); Nuttin' For Christmas by Art Mooney & His Orchestra - Vocal by Barry Gordon (# 6 Top 100 in 1955); Please Come Home For Christmas by Charles Brown (# 21 R&B in 1960, and on the charts for ten years in a row); Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer by Elmo & Patsy(# 1 on the Christmas charts in 1983 and a repeat hit over the next few years).

Regarding The Little Drummer Boy, the original, recorded for 20th Fox, charted at # 13 in 1958 and almost every year after up to 1970. In 1972 a new recording was done for Kapp Winners Circle and this is the version heard here. It charted at # 9 on the Christmas charts.

Loads and loads of fun and memories.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is my favorite Christmas album ever!, October 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1955-Present (Audio CD)

When I was in the third grade, our school chorus sang Jingle Bell Rock for the Christmas program. I wanted to learn that song so badly that my mom went out and bought this for me. I couldn't stand it! I thought that it was the wrong version. But eventually, I grew to love this album. I listened to it all the time through the holiday season, and I lost my tape. My grandma bought me a new one and the following year, I found my old one. To this day, I still listen to and love this album. If you have just one Christmas album in your holiday colection, let it be this one. However, off that note, though I'm sure none of you care, we ended up singing the same sets of songs both years I was allowed to be in chorus, and none of them were Jingle Bell Rock.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just the Way I Remember Them, August 31, 1999

By 

Mark Manalo ([e-mail]) (Vienna, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1955-Present (Audio CD)

I bought this specifically for songs such as "Nuttin' for Christmas" and "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," and this collection didn't let me down. They sounded exactly the way I remembered them. That's the benefit of buying a Billboard Christmas album; you can be sure the songs will be sung by the original artists and not by poor quality lip-sync people. If you enjoy the songs listed and like them sung by the artists on this list, this is for you.