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Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You

Usually, I'm allergic to anything attached to the name Mariah Carey. But this song is an exception. Maybe it's the jingling sleighbells, or perhaps it's the good-time beat. Or maybe, just maybe it's the promise of a pretty girl saying money and gifts don't matter, all she need is...me! This is the carefree, kick-up-the snow, let's-kiss-under-the-mistletoe sound of Christmas all the way. Joe Bosso

Ray Charles and Betty Carter - Baby It's Cold Outside

There are as many grim versions of Frank Loesser's standard as there are great ones (we're looking at you, Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews), but at its best it's a cheeky, cockle-warming classic. Ray Charles and Betty Carter certainly sound like they're having fun in this charming 1961 recording, and because the song doesn't explicitly mention Christmas, you can justifiably keep listening to it well into the New Year. Ben Rogerson

Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas

A song that's sure to evoke emotion – normally either a bile-inducing hatred for Bob Geldof, or the feeling that we just must, somehow, save the world with music. In this writer's case it's the latter. Band Aid may have numerous flaws (Simon Le Bon's horrific over-singing of the oh-so-evocative line "but when you're having fun" to name but one) but the immediacy of the recording and (overall) sincerity of the cause shine through. And the Bono line? It's great. The lyric is horribly selfish, and it's all the more human for it. Chris Wickett

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