Christmas Songs and Music - Carols:

A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics center on the theme of Christmas or that has become associated with the Christmas season even though its lyrics may not specifically refer to Christmas. Both types of Christmas carols are included in this list.

Traditional Christmas carols mainly focus on the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus. Other Christmas songs focus on more secular Christmas themes, such as winter scenes, family gatherings, and Santa Claus.

White Christmas
Frosty the Snowman
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Winter Wonderland
Grandma got Runover by a Reindeer
Jingle Bells
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Jingle Bell Rock
Santa Baby
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Joy to the World
Santa Claus is Coming to Town

In the United States, radio stations often play Christmas music as a regular radio format during the holiday season, a fad that began during the 2001 holiday season following the September 11 terrorist attacks. At first, the stations, primarily those who play adult contemporary music (although a handful of country music and adult standards stations have used their own variations of the format) began airing the all-Christmas music playlists during Thanksgiving Day and continued through Christmas, changing back to the original format on December 26. However, the format proved to be a hit, and now most stations across the country have moved up the format change to a week before Thanksgiving. Some stations now also continue with occasional holiday songs, usually not referring directly to Christmas, once an hour through New Year's Day. There are also a few stations, such as KOSY in Salt Lake City, who have aired the format even earlier, beginning as early as October 31; this was particularly popular in 2006, although several stations have backed off such an early start. In addition, Christmas music is a particularly popular format year-round among radio stations as a "stunt format," used as a buffer for the time period (usually a few days) between when the previous format is cancelled and the new format is launched.