It’s The Most Epic Christmas Playlist. EVER!! 2020 Edition

December 19, 2020

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Lover of Christmas music, Kevin Chase, has been curating “The Most Epic Christmas Playlist. EVER!!” for 14 years. Below is a breakdown of THE very best Christmas music of 2020.

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Holy crap, 2020! You almost broke me.

I spent much of this year thinking it would be the first one in 14 without my annual Christmas Music Playlist. I just wasn’t sure I had it in me to do the research and then find and listen to every single, EP, and album that came out this year. But after 13 years, seems it’s become Pavlovian. Without even meaning to, I fell into the old pattern (starting mid-September) and, voila! The 2020 Edition of The Most Epic Christmas Playlist. EVER!!

And because, apparently, all the rules for everything are out the door in 2020, I give you only the second-ever, double album in 14 years. If ever there was a year we needed it, this is it! Links to The List on Spotify and AppleMusic are available at www.kevinschristmasplaylist.com

So what’s on the list?

I busted through the pure pop barrier with the Jonas Brothers last year, so why not double down this year with Ava Max and Meghan Trainor? (and a Little Mix track very nearly made it too!)

Despite a pretty strict historic prohibition, there’s more Country music on the 2020 List than all the other Lists combined. Sure, I’ve done country/pop cross-over and country-adjacent before, but not straight (so to speak) country. Not so in 2020. Runaway Jane was the first to break the gingham and denim barrier, joined soon after by Dolly Parton, Dan + Shay, Jill & Kate, and Derek Ryan.

Oh, and Alabama. ALABAMA FOR GOD’S SAKE!! Which brings us to a super important point: great acapella can fix almost anything. Last year, Pentatonix fixed Whitney’s over-vocalized “Do You Hear What I Hear.” This year, Home Free fixes Alabama’s under-vocalized “Christmas In Dixie.” You’re welcome.

For some reason, I went deep down a Yacht Rock rabbit hole this summer and somewhere down there, I learned that Kenny Loggins wrote the song “Celebrate Me Home.” I’ve avoided putting it on The List for many years, but found a brilliant cover on Brian Bromberg’s 2020 Christmas album. So with a nod to my love for Yacht Rock – and Kenny Loggins – I’ve included it.

And finally, what are the chances there would be two new, original songs from two totally different artists with the same title: “Christmas Valentine”?! But here we are.

Disc 1