Christmas (Michael Bublé album)

Christmas is the seventh studio album released by Canadian singer Michael Bublé. The album was released on October 21, 2011 in Ireland,[1] October 24, 2011 in the United Kingdom,[2] and October 25, 2011 in the United States. On the week ending December 10, 2011, Christmas rose to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, becoming Bublé's third chart-topper following 2007's Call Me Irresponsible and 2009's Crazy Love, and spending five weeks at No. 1.[3] The album also won a Juno Award for Album of the Year, making it the first holiday album to win the award.[4] The album was re-released on November 26, 2012, containing four additional tracks, including a new recording of "The Christmas Song". Bublé also released a reworked version of "White Christmas", this time featuring Bing Crosby, as a single. This version premiered on Michael's NBC television special, Home for the Holidays, on December 10, 2012.[5]

Contents

 * 1 Background
 * 2 Promotion
 * 2.1 Specials
 * 3 Chart performance and sales
 * 4 Track listing
 * 5 Charts
 * 5.1 Charts
 * 5.2 Year-end charts
 * 6 Certifications
 * 7 References

Background[edit]
The album is Bublé's second Christmas-themed release, after he released a five-track extended play, titled Let It Snow. Some of the songs from Let It Snow have been re-recorded for inclusion on Christmas, making Christmas his first full-length holiday release. For the album, Bublé teamed up with several well-known artists to record duets. His duet version of "White Christmas" with country music singer Shania Twain was based on an early arrangement by The Drifters,[6] while his recording of "Jingle Bells" with The Puppini Sisters was based on the 1943 recording of Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters. He also teamed up with Latin star Thalía for a recording of "Feliz Navidad".[7] Bublé also recorded covers of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You", and "Blue Christmas", and a brand new track, "Cold December Night", written with his longtime co-writer Alan Chang and producer Bob Rock.[8]

Promotion[edit]
The album's tracklisting was unveiled by Bublé on September 27, 2011.[9] Bublé filmed several music videos in order to promote the album, including videos for the tracks "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", the lead single "All I Want for Christmas Is You", "Holly Jolly Christmas", "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", and "Jingle Bells". Bublé also appeared to perform during the final of the eighth series of The X Factor in the United Kingdom on December 11, 2011.[10] Bublé's recording of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was also featured in a montage on ABC-TV's General Hospital that aired on December 23, 2011.[11]

Specials[edit]
On December 6, 2011, Bublé promoted the album in the United States with the broadcast of an NBC television special, A Michael Bublé Christmas,[12] a show produced by Ben Silverman.[13] The special was viewed by more than 7.07 million viewers, receiving a 1.5 rating and 4% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.[14] In Canada, the special was viewed by 1.533 million viewers, ranking the seventeenth most watched programme overall for the week.[15] Zap2it reviewed the special, and claimed it to be "one of the year's television guilty pleasures".[16] On December 18, 2011, Bublé promoted the album in the United Kingdom with the broadcast of an ITV1 television special, Michael Bublé: Home for Christmas. The special featured guest appearances from comedienne Dawn French, duet performances with both Kelly Rowlandand Gary Barlow, and a cooking tutorial with Gino D'Acampo. The special pulled in 5.7 million viewers, and was the third most watched ITV Christmas special of the season.

Michael later announced that he was to film another NBC special, titled Michael Bublé: Home for the Holidays, featuring guest appearances from Rod Stewart, Blake Shelton, and Carly Rae Jepsen. The special aired on December 10, 2012;[17] and was watched by 5.66 million American viewers, receiving a 1.4/4 18-49 rating/share.[18] Filming for the special began in Buble's home town of Vancouver, Canada on October 2, 2012.[19]

On October 18, 2013, it was announced that Michael will feature in a third Christmas special on December 18, 2013 via NBC.[20] Guest stars featuring in the special include Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and theCookie Monster.[21]

Chart performance and sales[edit]
On November 5, 2011, Christmas debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, with first-week sales of 141,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[24] In its fifth week on the chart, the album climbed to No. 1, and held the top spot for the following four weeks, becoming Bublé's biggest selling chart-topper yet by besting the two-week reign of his previous album, Crazy Love. Christmas also sold 479,000 copies in the album's third week at No. 1, which marked Bublé's best sales week ever.[3][4][25][26] On the album's tenth week on the album charts, and with the Christmas having past, the album fell to No. 24 on January 14, 2012.[27] For the year, Christmas sold 2,452,000 copies in the United States, according to SoundScan, and was the second best-selling album of the year, just behind Adele's blockbuster album 21.[28] In 2012, Christmas sold an additional 622,000 copies in the U.S. according to SoundScan, and was the second best-selling holiday album of the year (behind Rod Stewart's Merry Christmas, Baby).[29] As of November 2014, it has sold 3,390,000 copies in the United States.[30]

In Canada, the album debuted at No. 2 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 37,000 copies in its first week.[31] In its third week of release, the album climbed to No. 1, selling an additional 32,000 copies.[32] As of December 14, 2011, the album has sold 444,000 copies in Canada.[33][34]

Christmas also debuted at No. 2 in Australia, on October 31, 2011.[35] The album has since been certified 11× platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of over 770,000 copies.[36] It hit number 1 in December 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.[37]

Despite competition from Snow Patrol's album Fallen Empires, Christmas peaked at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. The album sold 1,292,000 copies in the UK in 2011, making it the second best-selling album of 2011.[38][39] It is the first seasonal album to chart within the top 10 three years in a row, as it charted at number one in 2011, at number two in 2012, and at number seven in 2013.[40][41] As of December 2014, the album had sold 2.1 million copies in the UK and 9.3 million copies worldwide.[42]

Charts[edit]
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Year-end charts[edit]

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