Ali Plumb's 10 Best Christmas Songs From Christmas Movies

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From: The Night Before (2015), The Grinch (2018) and Holiday Rush (2019)

Run DMC’s undeniable limousine-shaking Christmas hit - as heard on Argyle’s radio in Die Hard - has also cropped up in a staggering number of other festive films, such as The Night Before (2015), The Grinch (2018) and Holiday Rush (2019), not forgetting its TV appearances in shows like The US Office, Everybody Hates Chris, Chuck, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Orange Is the New Black and even The Simpsons. These guys get around.

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From: The Holiday (2006) and Last Christmas (2019)

This song is such a Christmas mainstay it ended up inspiring its own Christmas film called, amazingly enough, Last Christmas. You know the one: it stars Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding and Emma Thompson, there’s a picture perfect ‘Christmas shop’ in the middle of Covent Garden and there were posters for it everywhere in 2020. Last Christmas (the song, that is) also appears in The Holiday (2006), as does The Killers’ Mr. Brightside, which I was so tempted to include for a bit of a laugh but fortunately decided against it last minute. I’m sensible. Sometimes.

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From: Love Actually (2003)

Here’s a Christmas song that’s sold over 16 million records and currently sits very prettily at number 11 in the best-selling singles of all time chart. It also has the amazing honour of being the song that took the longest to hit number one in the US ever, first being released in 1994 but creeping to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 a quarter of a century later in 2019. It is also an irrefutable banger, just in case you were wondering. Oh, and it’s the inspiration for a children’s book too (written by Carey) as well as an animated movie called Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You, about a young girl who wants a puppy. It’s… not great, sorry Mariah.

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From: Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Frank Sinatra later recorded his own take on ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ in 1950 (and again in 1963), tweaking some of the lyrics as he did so, and those may well be the versions you adore, but the original (and best, for some) is Garland’s rendition, as first heard way back in 1944. Since then, it’s been covered by the likes of Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, James Taylor, Michael Buble, John Legend, Josh Grobin and as I just mentioned, that Sinatra guy, whoever he is.

From: Love Actually (2003)

What if we took ‘Love Is All Around’ and instead made it ‘Christmas Is All Around’? And then, and then, Bill Nighy plays an ol’ rocker crooner guy who sings it, and we surround him with barely clothed fur-trimmed Santa-ettes? Now that’s a hit people. A big ol’ Christmas hit. Will it stay at number one for 15 weeks like Wet Wet Wet’s take on ‘Love Is All Around’? Perhaps not. But doesn’t Bill look great, eh?

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From: Holiday Inn (1942), White Christmas (1954)

This Best Original Song Oscar winner written by Irving Berlin is also the biggest selling record of all time, shifting over 50 million units over the past 80 or so years and eventually inspiring a kinda-sorta-not-really follow-up film to Holiday Inn, White Christmas (1954), again starring Bing Crosby. The man knows when he’s got a hit on his hands.

From: The Muppets Christmas Carol (1992)

If your family hasn’t already begun the tradition of singing this delightful ditty by Paul Williams on Christmas Eve, I can highly recommend it. Nothing quite like gently cajoling Auntie Sue into warbling out the lyrics “There's no such thing as strangers when stranger says ‘Hello!’”, trust me.

From: Scrooged (1988)

Playing over the credits of Scrooged, this upbeat cover of Jackie DeShannon’s 1969 hit doesn’t scream “Christmas song!” on the surface, but watch Bill Murray’s take on Christmas Carol enough times - combined with the “I’m not sure if they were in the same room together” music video - and it’ll be a festive favourite in no time at all. Oh, and if you really want to go deep on this tune, check out Leonard Nimoy’s cover, as heard on his 1974 album Outer Space/Inner Mind. No pressure though.

From: Home Alone (1990)

Home Alone also features two of my favourite Christmas party tunes, namely ‘Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree’ and ‘Run Rudolph Run’, plus the less finger-clicking choices of ‘Please Come Home for Christmas’ and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’, but we’re not here to talk about them. We’re here to bow down before the benevolent generous musical god that is John Williams, singing praise in his honour for giving us ‘Somewhere In My Memory’ and his take on the popular Christmas standard ‘Carol Of Bells’. I get chills every time.

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From: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Perhaps after sneaking in my Muppetational choice earlier I shouldn’t also include another musical number, but I cannot resist Danny Elfman singing ‘What’s This?’ in The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s so jaunty and knowing and delightful and unbearably catchy, so while it doesn’t appear in any my BBC Radio 1 Movie Mixtape - its catchiness is too powerful and I just couldn’t do it to you fine people - I am waving the flag for it here. Oh, and as for the film, it’s both a Halloween movie and a Christmas movie. There. Solved that argument for you guys.