Merry Christmas (Johnny Mathis album)
1958 studio album by Johnny Mathis / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Merry Christmas is the first Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis and was released by Columbia Records on October 6, 1958.[1] The selections are a mix of traditional Christmas carols ("Silent Night", "O Holy Night", "The First Noel") and holiday hits ("The Christmas Song", "White Christmas", "Silver Bells").
Merry Christmas | ||||
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![]() Original LP cover | ||||
Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 6, 1958[1] | |||
Recorded | June 16, 18, and 20, 1958[2] | |||
Studio | CBS 30th Street Studio New York City[2] | |||
Genre | Christmas | |||
Length | 44:08 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Mitch Miller Al Ham[2] | |||
Johnny Mathis chronology | ||||
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Alternate cover | ||||
![]() Reissue LP cover | ||||
The album debuted on Billboard magazine's list of the 25 Best-Selling Pop LPs in the US in its December 15, 1958, issue and got as high as number three during its initial four-week run.[3] It made additional appearances there each holiday season from 1959 to 1962 and on the magazine's Christmas Albums and Pop Catalog Albums charts in subsequent years.[1] It received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 500,000 copies in the US in December 1960[4] and in 2013 ranked as one of the top selling Christmas albums of all time with five million copies sold.[5]
Four songs from the album – "Winter Wonderland", "Blue Christmas", "White Christmas", and "Sleigh Ride" – were also released on the EP Merry Christmas, Vol. 1, which reached number two during the 1958 holiday season and number seven the following year on the magazine's Best-Selling Pop EPs chart.[3] "Winter Wonderland" also spent three weeks on the UK singles chart, where his recording peaked at number 17 over the course of three weeks that began on Christmas Day 1958.[6]
The album was initially released only in the monaural format but became available in stereo in 1959.[7] It was issued in the UK by Fontana Records and was later reissued in 1962 with a different cover both there and in the US.[7] The original cover was used for compact disc pressings, the first of which was in 1984,[8] and an edition featuring two bonus tracks was released on September 16, 2003.[9] The 2015 Mathis compilation The Complete Christmas Collection 1958–2010, a 3-CD set on the Real Gone Music label, also includes the album in its track list.