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Chart Beat

Michael Bublé’s ‘Christmas’ Returns to Top 40 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

The set topped the chart in 2011-12 and has returned to the top 10 in every holiday season since.

Michael Bublé

Michael Bublé

Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via GI

Michael Bublé’s blockbuster holiday album Christmas returns to the top 40 of the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Nov. 23), zooming from No. 72 to No. 35. Christmas is the first holiday album to reach the top 40 of the Billboard 200 in the current holiday season.

The Nov. 23-dated Billboard 200 chart reflects the tracking week of Nov. 8-14.


Christmas, which was released in 2011 and topped the chart for five weeks in late 2011 and early 2012, has returned to the list’s top 10 in every holiday season following its release.

Last holiday season, Christmas climbed to No. 2 on the Jan. 2, 2024-dated tally, blocked from the top by Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Christmas also reached No. 2 on the Jan. 1-8, 2022-dated charts (blocked by Adele’s 30) and on the Jan. 4, 2020 chart (blocked by Harry Styles’ Fine Line).

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Since its release, Christmas has earned 7.47 million equivalent album units in the U.S., with traditional album sales comprising 4.7 million of that sum, according to Luminate. The album’s songs — which include covers of traditional tunes like “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” — have generated 3.36 billion on-demand official streams in the U.S.

Bublé’s Christmas is one of nine holiday sets that dot the Nov. 23-dated Billboard 200 chart – a number that’s sure to grow in the march towards Christmas Day on Dec. 25. Trailing Christmas on the latest tally: Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas (rising 93-47), Bing Crosby’s Ultimate Christmas (150-77), Vince Guaraldi Trio’s TV soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas (170-108), Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song (a reentry at No. 111), Frank Sinatra’s Ultimate Christmas (a re-entry at No. 129), the compilation A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector (a re-entry at No. 144), Pentatonix’s The Best of Pentatonix Christmas (a re-entry at No. 149) and Andy Williams’ The Andy Williams Christmas Album (a re-entry at No. 188). On the seasonal Top Holiday Albums chart (dated Nov. 23), the titles rank at Nos. 1-9.

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This article was first published by Billboard U.S.

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Bill Gilliland

Bill Gilliland

FYI

Obituaries: Toronto Record Label Pioneer Bill Gilliland, Global Music Trailblazer Dan Storper of Putumayo

This week we also acknowledge the passing of Sugar Hill Records owner Barry Poss, and top U.S. booking agent Dave Shapiro and former drummer Daniel Williams, who both died in a tragic plane crash.

Bill (William) Gilliland, a Toronto record label head, producer and music entrepreneur, died on May 17, at age 88.

An official death notice called him "a visionary force in Canadian music. A true architect of the country’s music landscape, Bill’s career spanned more than four decades, shaping the sounds of generations and launching the careers of many iconic artists."

Gilliland first made a mark with Arc Records, a subsidiary of Arc Sound Company Ltd. that was established in Toronto in 1958 by Philip G. Anderson. Gilliland and Anderson co-founded Arc Records in 1959 and purchased the Precision Pressing Co. in 1961. Under the direction of Anderson, its president, and vice president Gilliland, Arc Records entered into a contract with US Hit Records and released a series of pop singles albums under the name Hit Parade (1963–64) that specialized in regional artists and tribute albums.

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