Last.fm Trends takes a look at how it stacks up against a few of the hundreds of covers of the Christmas classic.

Every year Bing Crosby’s charts at Last.fm become dominated by Christmas tracks; not a single spot in the top fifteen is free for less-than-festive tunes. With 653,849 plays to date “White Christmas” is the song that, year-after-year, tops that chart and it’s far and away the most popular version of the track.

Crosby’s laid back style defined the era of crooner, a style that Frank Sinatra took to heart. Sinatra’s take on “White Christmas” doesn’t have the pulling power of Bing – only 198,592 plays from listeners – but it’s still a holiday hit for the singer, appearing at number three in his weekly chart just behind “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Jingle Bells.”

Meanwhile Bright Eyes offers a somewhat more emo take on the song. That cover has seen 131,564 plays, some way short of Bing’s total but still respectable for what many fans regard as a novelty record.

Whichever version graces your stereo today, have a merry and bright Christmas.

By 2003, the Moody Blues were well into a second decade of existing mostly as a touring band playing their greatest hits with orchestras around the country. They were down to a trio — Justin Hayward, John Lodge, and Graeme Edge — and had released only one studio album since 1991. For many bands, this combination of circumstances leads to a Christmas album, and it did for the Moodys. And like it did for Tull, a Christmas album proved to be the best Moody Blues album in years.

December has everything that old-school Moody Blues fans love — rich instrumentation, gorgeous melodies, and lyrics that communicate how life, in its best moments, can be a beautiful thing. It’s short on traditional songs, although it does include versions of “White Christmas,” “In the Bleak Midwinter,” and “When a Child Is Born,” the latter a song better-known in Europe than in the States. There’s a version of “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” too.

The two best tracks on the album may be a bit sugary for non-Moodys fans, but those people have probably stopped reading by now anyhow. There’s “A Winter’s Tale,” which was a big UK hit for David Essex in 1982.

Best of all is “December Snow,” a song about love and memory that leaves me wrecked every time I hear it.

December is the kind of warm, peaceful record you want to put on at this time of year. Who knew?

Experience more Rock Flashbacks.

“Santa Claus is Coming To Town” has long heralded the arrival of the sherry-drinking stocking-stuffer, and Last.fm Trends takes a look at the musicians who’ve made the song a hit.

In shopping malls around the world you’d be hard pressed to avoid The Jackson 5‘s cut of the Christmas classic. Their version of the song has so far collected 200,128 plays from listeners. Like many of the group’s tracks, the song’s seasonal popularity climbed following Michael Jackson‘s death; since then it’s the been the track of choice to celebrate the singer’s life in the winter darkness.

A little behind that you’ll find the cut recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1947. In the modern era of scrobbling it’s only collected 150,478 plays, but as that discounts the heavy vinyl rotation it saw in its heyday it’s fair to say that that number’s quite a bit shy of the impact it’s had on the airwaves over the last 64 years.

But Last.fm’s listeners are known to be indie-rock enthusiasts, and there it’s the Bruce Springsteen cover that wins the most approval. It’s gaining steam already this winter, breaching the top ten of The Boss’ most played tracks last week; no mean feat given the attention he’s gotten since the announcement of tour dates next year.

But whichever version you play tonight, have yourself a very Merry Christmas.

Though many others have covered the same song, it was Gordon’s spritely version that was the most successful, landing the youngster at #6 on the chart in December 1955 and selling over 2 million copies.

Gordon’s music career wouldn’t take him much further but that zany contraption called the TV served him well, from ’50s stints on Jackie Gleason’s show to ’70s sitcoms to ’80s and ’90s voice roles. Gordon has also run for Congress, been president of the Screen Actor’s Guild and, as of today, teaches politics and media at Cal State LA.

Gone but not forgotten, at least not at WNEW, find more tales of One-Hit Wonders here …

The Christmas Mouse — artist unknown

This is the numero uno worst Christmas song ever recorded. Grown men have been known to pull their own heads off at the sound.

This needs to be here. Why? Because you can find it nowhere else. My friend Andy Cirzan has been tortured by this chance discovery of a rare old 45. I have to hear it at least once a year. I mean, I have to hear it no more than once a year. Share it with your relatives. The ones that deserve it.

View Lin’s Next Christmas Song To Clear The Room

Take the star power of the Mamas and the Papas, mix it with the star power of the Beach Boys, pass it down a generation, and what do you get? Wilson Phillips. Wendy and Carnie Wilson, the daughters of Brian Wilson, and Chynna Phillips, the daughter of John and Michelle Phillips, sold over 10 million copies of their 1990 debut album. A second album, Shadows and Light, also sold millions (although not so many millions) in 1992.

Chynna Phillips decided to pursue a solo career in 1992, leaving Wendy and Carnie behind. In 1993, the Wilson sisters released a Christmas album called Hey Santa! It consisted mostly of familiar holiday songs, including a 74-second recording of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” performed at a Wilson family gathering in 1977 with Brian on piano. The title song got enough radio airplay at Christmas of 1993 to chart on both the Billboard magazine Christmas singles chart and the Bubbling Under chart. It features backing vocals by the Wilson sisters’ uncle, Beach Boys member Carl Wilson.

Explore more bubblers.

Someday At Christmas- Stevie Wonder

Originally released as the title track of Stevie Wonder’s 1967 Christmas album, the song has had a long life and gained new fans thanks to current heartthrob Justin Bieber, who included a version he initially posted to YouTube in 2007 as the closing track on the deluxe version of his new holiday CD Under The Mistletoe.

Lyrics

Someday at Christmas men won't be boys
Playing with bombs like kids play with toys
One warm December our hearts will see
A world where men are free
Someday at Christmas there'll be no wars

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After a late night listening session that included a few too may drinks, Harry Nilsson woke the next morning trying to remember a tune he wanted to include on his Nilsson Schmilsson album.

“After sobering up the next day, I said, ‘What was that Lennon tune we were listening to last night?”‘” Nilsson said to Dick Clark in a radio interview. “We went through a bunch of (Beatles) albums and couldn’t find it. Finally I said, ‘No! It wasn’t the Beatles, it was another group. It was Grapefruit or something.”

Nilsson finally did divine that it was Badfinger writers Bill Ham and Pete Evans who had written “Without You.” Under the auspices of producer Richard Perry, Nilsson recorded “Without You” and released it in early 1972.

By February 19, the song had kicked Al Green from the top spot and garnered Nilsson his only #1 hit, a spot he occupied for four weeks.

Lyrics

No, I can't forget this evening
Or your face as you were leaving
But I guess that's just the way the story goes
You always smile but in your eyes
Your sorrow shows, yes, it shows

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Check out more songs that were “#1 with a Bullet.