Christmas (Michael Bublé album)

Christmas
Studio album by Michael Bublé
Released October 21, 2011
Genre Christmas, jazz, classic pop
Length 51:44
Label 143, Reprise
Producer David Foster, Bob Rock, Humberto Gatica
Michael Bublé chronology
Crazy Love
(2009)		 Christmas
(2011)
Singles from Christmas
  1. "All I Want for Christmas Is You"
    Released: November 21, 2011
  2. "Cold December Night"
    Released: December 5, 2011

Christmas is the fifth studio album 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 10 December 2011, Christmas rose to No. 1 on the U.S. 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][4]

Contents

Background

The album is Bublé's second Christmas-themed release, after he released a five-track EP in 2003 entitled 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. He recorded a version of "White Christmas" with country music singer Shania Twain (and based on a 1954 arrangement by The Drifters),[5] and teamed up with Latin star Thalía for a recording of "Feliz Navidad".[6] Bublé has also recorded covers of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You", traditional songs "Jingle Bells" and "Blue Christmas", and a brand new track, "Cold December Night", written with his longtime co-writer Alan Chang and producer Bob Rock.[7]

Promotion

The album's tracklisting was unveiled by Bublé on September 27, 2011.[8] Bublé shot and premiered several music videos in order to promote the tracks on the album. Accompanying music videos have been shot for songs like "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" or "My Favorite Christmas Memory" with other additional studio clips for "All I Want for Christmas Is You", "Holly Jolly Christmas", "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", "Christmas" and "Jingle Bells". He also appeared on The X Factor in the United Kingdom for a special performance on the season finale on December 11.[9] Bublé's recording of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was also featured during a montage on ABC-TV's General Hospital that aired on December 23, 2011.[10]

TV specials

US TV special: A Michael Bublé Christmas

On 6 December 2011 Bublé promoted the album in the United States with an NBC television special entitled A Michael Bublé Christmas,[11] a show produced by Ben Silverman.[12] The special was viewed by 7.07 million American viewers, receiving a 1.5 rating/4% share among adults between the ages 18 and 49.[13] In Canada, the special was viewed by 1.533 million viewers, ranking seventeenth for the week.[14] Zap2it called the special one of 2011's TV guilty pleasures.[15]

UK TV special: Michael Bublé: Home for Christmas

On 18 December 2011 the UK ITV special Michael Bublé: Home for Christmas aired. This special, filmed at his Canadian mountain chalet features Dawn French, Kelly Rowland and Gary Barlow.

Chart performance and sales

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [16]
Rockstar Weekly [17]

On the week ending 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.[18] In its fifth chart week, the album climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and held the top spot for the following four weeks, becoming Bublé's biggest chart-topper yet by besting the two-week reign of 2009's 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][19][20] On the album's tenth chart week, and with the Christmas holiday having come and gone, the album fell to No. 24 on the Billboard 200 chart dated January 14, 2012.[21] For all of 2011, Christmas totaled 2,452,000 copies in U.S. sales according to SoundScan, and was the second best-selling album of the year (behind Adele's 21).[22]

In Canada, the album debuted at No. 2 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 37,000 copies in its first week.[23] In its third week of release, the album reached No. 1 in Canada, selling an additional 32,000 copies.[24]

Christmas also debuted at No. 2 in Australia on the issue dated October 31, 2011.[25] In its second week on the chart, the album was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 35,000 copies.[26]

Christmas peaked at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart and has sold 1,161,000 copies to date, making it the third best-selling album of 2011.[27]

As of December 14, 2011, the album has sold 444,000 copies in Canada and has sold more than 5 millon copies worldwide.[28] [29]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"   Meredith Willson 3:26
2. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"   J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie 2:51
3. "Jingle Bells" (Featuring The Puppini Sisters) James Lord Pierpont 2:39
4. "White Christmas" (Duet with Shania Twain) Irving Berlin 3:36
5. "All I Want for Christmas Is You"   Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff 2:51
6. "Holly Jolly Christmas"   Johnny Marks 1:59
7. "Santa Baby"   Joan Javits, Philip Springer, Tony Springer 3:51
8. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"   Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane 3:50
9. "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"   Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich 3:07
10. "Silent Night"   Franz Xaver Gruber, Joseph Mohr 3:47
11. "Blue Christmas"   Billy Hayes, Jay W. Johnson 3:41
12. "Cold December Night"   Michael Bublé, Alan Chang, Bob Rock 3:18
13. "I'll Be Home for Christmas"   Kim Gannon, Walter Kent, Buck Ram 4:24
14. "Ave Maria"   Franz Schubert 4:00
15. "Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad" (Duet with Thalía) Michael Bublé, Humberto Gatica, Alan Chang/José Feliciano 4:24

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart (2011) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[25] 1
Austrian Albums Chart[30] 1
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[30] 4
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[30] 4
Canadian Albums Chart[31] 1
Danish Albums Chart[30] 3
Dutch Albums Chart[32] 1
Finland Albums Chart[33] 2
French Albums Chart[30] 33
German Albums Chart[34] 3
Irish Albums Chart[35] 1
Italian Albums Chart[36] 1
Mexican Albums Chart[37] 2
New Zealand Albums Chart[38] 1
Norwegian Albums Chart[30] 1
Portuguese Albums Chart[30] 1
Spanish Albums Chart[39] 8
Swedish Albums Chart[30] 1
Swiss Albums Chart[30] 3
UK Albums Chart[40] 1
US Billboard 200[18] 1

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[26] 5× Platinum 350,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[41] 7× Platinum 560,000^
Germany (BVMI)[42] Platinum 200,000^
Italy (FIMI)[43] 2× Platinum 120,000*
Mexico (AMPROFON)[44] Gold 30,000^
Sweden (GLF)[45] Gold 20,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Year-end charts

Chart (2011) Position
Australian Albums Chart[46] 2
Austrian Albums Chart[47] 28
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[48] 68
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[49] 82
Canadian Albums Chart[50] 16
Dutch Albums Chart[51] 7
New Zealand Albums Chart[52] 16
Swiss Albums Chart[53] 43
UK Albums Chart[54] 2

References

  1. ^ http://dailyupdate.ie/?p=4793
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  4. ^ a b Caulfield, Keith (2011-12-28). "Michael Buble Remains No. 1, Adele's '21' Has Best Sales Week Yet". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. http://www.billboard.com/news/michael-buble-remains-no-1-adele-s-21-has-1005744752.story#/news/michael-buble-remains-no-1-adele-s-21-has-1005744752.story. Retrieved 2011-12-28. 
  5. ^ http://popcrush.com/michael-buble-christmas-album-shania-twain/
  6. ^ http://www.latingossip.com/thalia/thalia-recording-duet-with-michael-buble.html
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  17. ^ http://www.rockstarweekly.com/cd-review-michael-buble-christmas-deluxe-edition.html
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  20. ^ Caulfield, Keith (2011-12-14). "Michael Buble's 'Christmas' Stays Atop Billboard 200, Black Keys Hit No. 2". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. http://www.billboard.com/#/news/michael-buble-s-christmas-stays-atop-billboard-1005672762.story. Retrieved 2011-12-14. 
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Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé
It's Time
Call Me Irresponsible
Crazy Love
Christmas
Live albums
Extended plays
Totally Bublé (2003) • Let It Snow (2003) • More (2005)  • With Love (2006)  • A Taste of Bublé (2008)  • Special Delivery (2010)  • A Holiday Gift for You (2010)
Independent albums
First Dance (1996)  • Babalu (2001) • Dream (2002)
Tours
Michael Bublé: Live in Concert • It's Time Tour • Irresponsible Tour • Crazy Love Tour
Progress (Take That, 2010) · Christmas (Michael Bublé, 2011)
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