80s Christmas Songs
The best 80s Christmas songs include Wham!'s "Last Christmas", Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York", The Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" and Run-DMC's "Christmas in Hollis". Every song below was released between 1980 and 1989, and they all play in one free, non-stop playlist.
The last great decade of new Christmas songs
Most of the Christmas songs people still sing were written before the mid-1960s. The 1980s were the last decade to add a whole new batch to the permanent rotation, and most of them came from the same pop, rock and new wave acts you hear on our 80s hits playlist the rest of the year.
Three things drove it: charity records, MTV and a run of all-star holiday albums. Together they made a Christmas single something a serious band could release without embarrassment.
Band Aid and A Very Special Christmas
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?" after seeing news reports of the famine in Ethiopia, and recorded it with a room full of British stars on November 25, 1984. It sold a million copies in its first week and spent five weeks at No. 1 in the UK.
Three years later, producer Jimmy Iovine put together A Very Special Christmas, a 1987 album in memory of his father with every penny going to the Special Olympics. U2, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen and Run-DMC all recorded for it, which is why so much of the 1987 section below comes from that one record. The series had raised more than $100 million by 2012.
How this list was chosen
Every song here was first released between 1980 and 1989, as a single, a B-side or an album track. Older carols count when an 80s act made a new recording of them. Songs are listed in release order, and they follow the same song selection rules as the rest of the site.
Tap any title to start the playlist from that song, or press Play All in the player above.
The best 80s Christmas songs, year by year
— Jona Lewie (1980)
Jona Lewie wrote it as a protest song about soldiers in every war, not as a carol. One line about wishing he was home for Christmas, plus that brass band, turned it into a holiday favourite. It reached No. 3 in the UK in 1980.
— The Temptations (1980)
From the 1980 album Give Love at Christmas, the Temptations slow the old carol right down into a soul ballad built on their harmonies. It has been a fixture of R&B radio every December since.
— The Waitresses (1981)
Chris Butler wrote this half-rapped new wave story for ZE Records' 1981 A Christmas Record, with Patty Donahue singing. A woman skips the holidays, runs out for cranberries and finally meets the man she kept missing. It reached No. 45 in the UK in 1982.
— Billy Squier (1981)
The video is the draw: Billy Squier sings it at MTV's New York studio surrounded by the channel's first VJs, including Martha Quinn and Nina Blackwood, plus office staff. It was filmed in MTV's first holiday season and started a run of MTV holiday videos.
— Bing Crosby & David Bowie (1982)
Recorded in 1977 for the TV special Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas, with Bowie singing a new counter-melody over the old carol. Crosby died about a month after the taping. RCA finally released it as a single in November 1982, and it reached No. 3 in the UK.
— Alabama (1982)
A gentle 1982 country ballad in the middle of Alabama's long run of hits. Randy Owen sings a warm, homesick Christmas wish and sends holiday greetings to one Southern city after another by name.
— Dolly Parton (1982)
Carol Hall wrote it for the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Dolly sang it in the 1982 film. It is a bittersweet song about getting through a lonely holiday. Her version reached No. 8 on the country chart in January 1983.
— Pretenders (1983)
Chrissie Hynde wrote it about a year after guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died in 1982, and she has said the distance in the lyrics is about him. Chiming guitars and snowfall imagery made it a UK No. 15 hit in December 1983.
— Band Aid (1984)
Bono, George Michael, Sting, Boy George and Paul Young all take lines on the record that started the charity-single boom. It was the fastest-selling single in UK chart history until 1997, and it spent five weeks at No. 1.
— Wham! (1984)
George Michael wrote, produced and played every instrument himself. Band Aid kept it at No. 2 in the UK in 1984, and Wham! gave its royalties to the same famine appeal. It finally reached UK No. 1 on January 1, 2021.
— Queen (1984)
Queen's only Christmas single, written by Brian May and Roger Taylor and released in November 1984. It is a quiet, grown-up ballad about getting through a hard year. It reached No. 21 in the UK and spent six weeks on the chart.
— Prince (1984)
Hidden on the B-side of "I Would Die 4 U", this is Prince at his most heartbroken: a man spending Christmas remembering the woman he lost, with a long guitar solo to close it out.
— Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton (1984)
Written by Dolly with Steve Goldstein for Once Upon a Christmas, the duo's 1984 holiday album. The album was certified double platinum in the US, and this upbeat duet was released as a single in Europe that year.
— Shakin' Stevens (1985)
Recorded in 1984 but held back a year so it would not compete with Band Aid. The wait paid off: Bob Heatlie's sleigh-bell singalong became the UK's Christmas No. 1 in 1985 and still returns to the chart every December.
— Bryan Adams (1985)
Bryan Adams released this one-off holiday single in 1985, the year Reckless made him a star. It has the same jangling guitars and big chorus as "Summer of '69", just pointed at December.
— Chris Rea (1986)
Chris Rea came up with it in 1978, and it first appeared in 1986 on the B-side of "Hello Friend". It barely charted at first, reaching No. 53 in 1988, but it kept growing every year and climbed into the UK Top 10 in 2021.
— "Weird Al" Yankovic (1986)
A cheery, sleigh-bell production in the Phil Spector style, sung over lyrics about nuclear war. It came from the 1986 album Polka Party! and is the darkest joke on this list.
— The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl (1987)
Shane MacGowan and Jem Finer wrote a Christmas Eve argument between two broken-down New Yorkers, and Kirsty MacColl matched MacGowan line for line. The Pet Shop Boys' "Always on My Mind" kept it at No. 2 in the UK in 1987.
— Run-D.M.C. (1987)
Recorded for A Very Special Christmas, it samples Clarence Carter's "Back Door Santa". DMC finds Santa's wallet in the park and returns it, then the song describes Christmas dinner back home in Queens. It is the rap Christmas song most people know.
— The Ramones (1987)
Joey Ramone's plea for one night of peace first appeared on the B-side of "I Wanna Live" in 1987, then closed the 1989 album Brain Drain. It is buzzsaw punk guitars with a sweet heart underneath.
— U2 (1987)
U2 opened A Very Special Christmas with a cover of the Darlene Love song from Phil Spector's 1963 Christmas album. Bono keeps the wall-of-sound pleading intact over a stomping rock band.
— Madonna (1987)
Eartha Kitt made the original in 1953. Madonna's A Very Special Christmas version plays up the breathy voice and the shopping list for laughs.
— Eurythmics (1987)
Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart give the 1934 standard a bright, bouncy synth-pop arrangement.
— Bruce Springsteen (1987)
A live recording of the 1947 R&B standard, with the E Street Band swinging behind Springsteen and Clarence Clemons taking a saxophone solo. It gave A Very Special Christmas its loosest, most barroom moment.
— Whitney Houston (1987)
Whitney took the 1962 carol by Noël Regney and Gloria Shayne and turned it into a gospel showcase, building from a hush to full voice by the final verse. It is one of the standout vocals on A Very Special Christmas.
— Bob Seger (1987)
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band turned the carol into a slow-building heartland rock march for A Very Special Christmas. The "pa rum pum pum pum" gets a real drum kit behind it.
— The Pointer Sisters (1987)
The Pointer Sisters bring their "Jump" and "I'm So Excited" energy to the 1934 standard, with three-part harmonies and a funky arrangement. Another highlight from A Very Special Christmas.
— Sting (1987)
Sting chose an old Basque carol about the angel Gabriel visiting Mary and gave it a quiet, hymn-like setting. It is the calmest track on A Very Special Christmas and a good one to end a late-night playlist.
— Cliff Richard (1988)
Written for a stage musical based on The Little Match Girl, Cliff Richard's version became the UK's Christmas No. 1 in 1988. It is the most traditional-sounding British Christmas hit of the decade.
— Alexander O'Neal (1988)
The Mel Tormé and Bob Wells standard ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire") given a late-night quiet-storm treatment on Alexander O'Neal's 1988 holiday album My Gift to You. Smooth R&B for the end of the evening.
Why these songs only play here
Christmas songs are tagged separately in our song library, so they stay out of the year-round genre playlists and nobody gets "Last Christmas" on the new wave station in July. This page and the playlist builder are the only places they play.
To mix them with your own favourites, open the custom 80s playlist builder, search for any title and add it to your list.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most popular 80s Christmas song?
Wham!'s "Last Christmas" and Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" are the two biggest. They finished No. 1 and No. 2 in the UK in December 1984. "Last Christmas" kept returning to the chart every year and finally reached UK No. 1 on January 1, 2021.
Which 80s Christmas songs were UK Christmas number ones?
Four: Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (1984), Shakin' Stevens' "Merry Christmas Everyone" (1985), Cliff Richard's "Mistletoe and Wine" (1988) and the Band Aid II remake of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (1989). The other Christmas number ones of the decade were not holiday songs.
Why wasn't "Last Christmas" number one in 1984?
It came out the same week as Band Aid's charity single, which sold a million copies in its first week. George Michael also sang on the Band Aid record, and Wham! donated the "Last Christmas" royalties to the same Ethiopian famine appeal.
What was A Very Special Christmas?
A 1987 charity album produced by Jimmy Iovine in memory of his father, with proceeds going to the Special Olympics. It included U2, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Run-DMC and more, and the series had raised over $100 million by 2012.
Is "Fairytale of New York" an 80s song?
Yes. The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl released it on November 23, 1987. It reached No. 2 in the UK that Christmas, behind the Pet Shop Boys' "Always on My Mind".
Last updated: September 23, 2026