Who has the best selling Christmas album of all time?
There are numerous answers taking into account the streaming of today and the physical purchases in previous decades. To determine sales, they used RIAA certification and sale data from Nielsen SoundScan which was created in 1991.
According to Billboard and SoundScan, the No. 1 album still to this day belongs to Elvis Presley. His Elvis Christmas Album reigns supreme in the United States. The RIAA certified that he sold over 10 million copies.
Coming in at No. 2 is Kenny G with his Miracles: The Holiday Album which sold 7.3 million records. The album was released back in 1994 and spent a total of three non-consecutive weeks at the No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with all genres. Kenny G later released two other holiday albums. Faith: A Holiday Album sold 2.8 million albums back in 1999. Additionally, he released Wishes back in 2002 and sold close to a million copies.
Secondly, two artists and three albums are tied for the third highest-selling Christmas albums, with 6 million each. Nat King Cole released The Christmas Song, Mannheim Steamroller released the aptly titled Christmas and later A Fresh Aire Christmas.
Thirdly, Cole’s album featured the iconic track “Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire”. The song was first featured on the 1960 album, The Magic of Christmas. It was later reissued just three years later.
Josh Groban came in at fourth with the most recent release. Noel was released in 2007 and became the year’s highest-selling album with 5.7 million sold. Michael Buble’s 2011 record Christmas comes in next. Surprisingly, the album features the second-most weeks at No. 1 followed by Presley’s Christmas album.
Christmas in Graceland
Elvis Presley was obsessed with Christmas and the gift-giving season.
“Christmas for Elvis wasn’t about receiving, it was always about giving,” Priscilla Presley said. “It was about seeing the reaction on people’s faces when he would give them things.”
Elvis purchased Graceland back in 1957 when he was 22. However, he didn’t get to spend the holiday season there as he just got his military papers to serve. When he was home for the holidays, he enacted numerous traditions that are still at the mansion to this day.
The entire house was decorated in every single room. A bright Nativity scene in the front lawn. Meanwhile, the stables featured Christmas wreaths on all of the stables. Every year they have two large trees. One is white in the living room and the other is a traditional green in the dining room.
Elvis was known for giving extravagant gifts. Back in 1957, he gifted all of his staff members $1,000. His Graceland property was also decorated to the extremes. The property is known for bringing the holiday spirit, so much so that it got a Hallmark movie about Christmastime in the famous location.
The 2018 movie was a hit among Elvis fans and romcom fans alike. This is the third in the Home for the Holidays series that was filmed on site. The first two films starred Kellie Pickler but the Graceland Christmas movie starred Adrian Grenier.
