What Christmas 2025 sounds like (spoiler: little new)

The Christmas music season began on November 1st, right after Halloween, with the “thawing” of Mariah Carey and her “All I Want for Christmas Is You”. The singer willingly lends herself to memes, and so does the industry: the consumption of music on streaming platforms now systematically leads to party songs racking up numbers and ratings, bringing them to the top of the charts. In reality, the phenomenon of Christmas music is as hated as it is historic (we talked about it here a few years ago), it’s just more evident.
The paradox of this 2025 is that however much less seems to come out than usual, perhaps precisely because we increasingly rely on a consolidated repertoire. Or perhaps because this year, in view of Christmas, more and more live records are being released: have these become musical gifts?
Be that as it may, here’s what has already come out or should come out.

Mengoni, Radio Deejay (and the exclusive songs of the platforms)

2024 was marked by the arrival of an Italian Christmas album that had been awaited for years, that of Vinicio Capossela. We advise you to go back and listen to it if you’re feeling abstinence from local Christmas music: because this year there is little or nothing. In addition to the classic Christmas song by Radio Deejay – the only true national institution in this field: it is generally broadcast in early December – there is only one song by Marco Mengoni, who signed his “Coming Home” for Amazon Music.
An original song, already available from November 7th, written with Matt Simons and produced with Giovanni Pallotti. “It is a song that speaks of returns, of melancholy, but also of a sense of warmth that resists, despite the complicated period in which we live. The song was born and was recorded during the tour, I worked on it together with my band and the backing singers, who at the moment represent my family on tour”, says the singer, who will also broadcast a concert from Paris on Twitch on December 3rd for Amazon. In past years, the platform has commissioned Christmas songs from Francesca Michielin, Pinguini Tattici Nucleari, Gaia and several international artists, just as Spotify is doing with its international “Holiday Singles”.

International releases: Kylie and Taylor Momsen

On the international front, there seem to be two main releases. Kylie Minogue releases “Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped)”: it is not a new album, but an expanded reissue with previously unreleased songs from her 2015 Christmas album.
Next to Kylie, the most curious news comes from Taylor Momsen, frontwoman of Pretty Reckless (and recently seen at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Soundgarden). He releases “Pretty Reckless Christmas”, an EP that contains five songs: a new version of “Where Are You Christmas?” (originally “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” movie) and four original songs. A special video and a Christmas album by Bryan Adams should also arrive (which the singer even compared to a sort of “Last Waltz”, the legendary last concert of the Band), and then albums by the Futureheads, Chris Rea (“The Christmas Album”), the vocal group Pentatonix (“Christmas in the City”), the Jonas Brothers (“A Very Jonas Christmas”, linked to a film for Disney+) and several country artists.

In short, if we really have to say it, a Christmas musically lacking in anything new – considering that in the past heavyweights such as Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow have taken to the field in this area, just to mention the first names that come to mind. It’s possible that something comes out or is announced, but we’ll have to fall back on the classics, which already fill the playlists anyway. Or avoid Christmas music altogether…