Hark! The herald bloggers rank the Christmas jams. O come, let us rejoice them.
But first, a note on our methodology. We made a long list of Christmas songs, secular and religious, and then everybody went down the list and gave each song a score between 0 and 10; then we added up the sum for each song; they're listed below from highest score (best) to lowest score (worst). As you can see, this makes our rankings unimpeachable and indisputably correct forever.
I've also included each song's average score below. You'll see that some songs scored very high with the people who'd heard them, but got hurt overall because they're not as well known; conversely, some bad jams were basically hated by all, but at least all have heard them while standing in line at Macy's or wherever, which counts for something, I guess.
We left off all post-1960s Christmas songs, for the very simple reason that there are 10,000 of them, and we aren't trying to spend the rest of our lives ranking Christmas songs. Sadly, this meant that the very best Christmas song of all, "Fairytale of New York," couldn't make the list; it also meant the axe for good Christmas tunes "Feliz Navidad," "All I Want for Christmas Is You," and "Christmas in Hollis." Also, the gorgeous choral jam "The Lamb" had to be left off; it came out in 1982, and only three of us had ever heard it. Berate us for these omissions below.
Onward, to the rankings.
1. Silent Night - 103 points (7.9 average)
2. O Holy Night - 96 points (8 average)
3. O Come All Ye Faithful - 93.5 points (7.8 average)
4. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - 91 points (7.6 average)
5. Joy to the World - 79 points (6.1 average)
6. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen - 72.5 points (7.3 average)
7. The First Noel - 71.5 points (7.9 average)
8. O Come, O Come Emmanuel - 70.5 points (8.8 average)
9. White Christmas - 66.5 points (5.1 average)
10. O Tannenbaum - 64 points (5.8 average)
11. Deck the Hall - 62.5 points (4.8 average)
12. We Three Kings of Orient Are - 60.5 points (6.7 average)
13. What Child Is This? - 60 points (6.7 average)
14. O Little Town of Bethlehem - 59.5 points (6 average)
15. The Christmas Song - 58 points (6.4 average)
16. I'll Be Home for Christmas - 58 points (4.8 average)
17. Let It Snow - 58 points (4.5 average)
18. Angels We Have Heard on High - 56.5 points (7.1 average)
19. Away in a Manger - 55 points (5.5 average)
20. Good King Wenceslas - 54.5 points (5.45 average)
21. Winter Wonderland - 54.5 points (4.2 average)
22. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - 53.5 points (4.1 average)
23. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - 53 points (4.1 average)
24. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - 48.5 points (3.7 average)
25. Jingle Bells - 48 points (3.7 average)
26. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - 48 points (3.7 average)
27. A Holly Jolly Christmas - 46 points (3.5 average)
28. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - 45 points (3.75 average)
29. Silver Bells - 45 points (3.5 average)
30. Little Drummer Boy - 44.5 points (3.4 average)
31. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming - 42.5 points (7.1 average)
32. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - 41.5 points (6 average)
33. Sleigh Ride - 41 points (5.9 average)
34. Frosty the Snowman - 40 points (3.3 average)
35. I Saw Three Ships - 38 points (7.6 average)
36. Do You Hear What I Hear? - 37 points (3.7 average)
37. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - 36 points (2.8 average)
38. Ding Dong Merrily on High - 35 points (7 average)
39. Baby It's Cold Outside - 33 points (2.5 average)
40. The Infant King - 28.5 points (7.1 average)
43. In the Bleak Midwinter - 25.5 points (6.4 average)
44. Here Comes Santa Claus - 25 points (2.1 average)
45. Still, Still, Still - 22.5 points (5.5 average)
46. I Wonder as I Wander - 18 points (6 average)
47. Happy Holiday - 16 points (2.7 average)
48. Being hit by a car
49. Home for the Holidays - 11 points (1.6 average)
Photo via 1000 Words / Shutterstock.com.