Christmas Karaoke Songs: 40 Picks From Sing-Alongs to Showstoppers

These are the Christmas karaoke songs I'd actually put on the list, sorted by what you're going for: a room-wide sing-along, a big diva moment, something easy for a first-timer, a duet, a novelty song for laughs, or a Christmas pick for bars that won't make the regulars groan. Every song has the specific recording to look for, because karaoke xmas catalogs are stuffed with a dozen versions of each one and they're not in the same key.

Quick scan first, then the why behind each pick. Tap a song in the table to jump to it.

The ones the whole bar already knows. Grab the mic, sing the first line, and let the room take the chorus off your hands.

• "All I Want for Christmas Is You" — Mariah Carey — The slow, rubato intro is the scary part, and the big runs and top notes near the end are genuinely hard. But once the bells kick in, the whole room sings with you, so you only need to hit it about halfway. Pick it if you want the loudest reaction of the night.
• "Last Christmas" — Wham! — The melody barely moves and the tempo is relaxed, so nothing sneaks up on you. The chorus is a guaranteed room sing-along. It runs over four minutes, so bring a little energy to the last couple of verses.
• "Feliz Navidad" — José Feliciano — There are basically two lines to learn, one in Spanish and one in English, and they repeat the whole song. It's upbeat, short and impossible to mess up. Great for a nervous first-timer or a group huddled around one mic.
• "Jingle Bell Rock" — Bobby Helms — A little over two minutes, a small range and a bouncy swing that carries you along. The crowd knows every word. Throw in a Mean Girls hip-shake and you've got a whole moment.
• "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" — Brenda Lee — Two minutes flat, so you're done before the nerves catch up. Brenda Lee recorded it at 13 and the melody sits comfortably in the middle of most voices. The sax break gives you a breather to dance.
• "A Holly Jolly Christmas" — Burl Ives — Conversational, cheerful and friendly to low voices. There's no big note anywhere, just a warm, easy tune everybody grew up on with the Rudolph special. Deliver it like a jolly narrator and you're golden.
• "Sleigh Ride" — The Ronettes — The Ronettes version is the one with the galloping backing vocals, and those are what make it. Split it with friends so one person takes lead while the rest handle the background parts. The lead line moves a lot, so it's a step up from the two-minute classics.
• "Wonderful Christmastime" — Paul McCartney — A handful of lines repeated over a synth that everyone recognizes in two notes. It's very forgiving and sits in an easy range for most guys. Lean into the goofiness and the room will sing the title line back at you.
• "Christmas Tree Farm" — Taylor Swift — It starts as a slow, dreamy intro and then kicks into a fast, busy verse, and that switch is where people trip. Swifties in the room will sing the whole thing with you. A good pick if you're tired of the 1950s catalog.
• "Step Into Christmas" — Elton John — A bouncy piano-rock stomper that's more fun than it has any right to be. The verses sit a little high and move quickly, so the first run-through can catch you, but the chorus is simple and repeats a lot. Bring big Elton energy, sunglasses optional.

These are for the singer who's been waiting all year. Big notes, big builds, and a room that goes quiet in the good way when you land them.

• "O Holy Night" — Mariah Carey — It builds slowly, then asks for the famous high climax near the end, and there's nowhere to hide. If you have the top note, this is the most impressive thing you can sing all December. If you don't, a lower key on the karaoke machine is not cheating.
• "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" — Darlene Love — It's under three minutes, but it's full-voice belting almost the whole way, with the pleading "please" parts getting bigger each time. The Wall of Sound track makes you sound huge. Best for a strong belter who wants a short, punchy showcase.
• "Santa Tell Me" — Ariana Grande — The verses are chatty and easy, and the difficulty is in the riffs and high ad-libs near the end. You can skip the ad-libs and still sound great. The Gen Z half of the room will know every word.
• "Underneath the Tree" — Kelly Clarkson — It's fast, loud and relentless, with a full-voice chorus that keeps climbing. You need stamina more than anything. The payoff is the whole bar dancing, which is rare for a solo showstopper.
• "Mary, Did You Know?" — Pentatonix — The melody is moody and not too wide, but it asks for control, soft verses and a big swell before the end. Sung alone it's a quiet, goosebumps moment. Save it for a mellow crowd that will actually listen.
• "Where Are You Christmas?" — Faith Hill — The Grinch movie ballad. It starts tender and ends in a huge finale that needs power at the top of the range. A great pick for a country or pop belter who wants a ballad people haven't heard all night.
• "Grown-Up Christmas List" — Amy Grant — A slow, heartfelt ballad that builds to a big, open chorus, and it's the kind of song that makes a loud bar go quiet. The range is manageable, so the challenge is control and keeping it from dragging over five minutes. Great for a church-choir or musical-theater voice.

Pro tip for the big ones: most karaoke systems let the host drop the key a step or two. Asking for it isn't cheating. It's the difference between nailing the ending and cracking on it in front of your coworkers.

Narrow range, slow tempo, nothing held at the top of your voice. If you've never sung karaoke before, start here.

• "White Christmas" — Bing Crosby — Slow, low and short. Crooning it in your best Bing voice is half the fun, and the melody barely strays from the middle of your range. Perfect for guys who swear they can't sing.
• "Blue Christmas" — Elvis Presley — About two minutes of slow, easy melody with plenty of room to ham it up with an Elvis lip curl. The backing "oo-oo" parts are a gift if your friends want to join in. Low-risk, high-reward.
• "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" — Michael Bublé — It's mostly talk-singing a list of holiday sights over a swinging band. Nothing is held high and the tempo gives you time to breathe. Bublé's version is the one on every karaoke system now.
• "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" — Dean Martin — Under two minutes. The title does most of the work and the range is small. Lounge-singer energy optional but strongly encouraged.
• "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" — Gene Autry — Everybody learned it before kindergarten, so the room will shout the call-backs between your lines. The melody is simple and the story carries it. Good for a tipsy table that wants something dumb and fun.
• "Mistletoe" — Justin Bieber — A laid-back reggae-ish groove, a small range and a chorus that repeats a lot. It's gentle enough for anyone to pull off. Throw it at the millennials in the bar and watch them light up.
• "The Christmas Song" — Nat King Cole — Slow, warm and low, the chestnuts-roasting classic every crooner wants a crack at. The melody wanders more than you'd expect in the middle section, so listen to it once before you go up. Sing it soft and smooth and let the strings do the rest.

Want more low-pressure picks for the rest of the year? The Easy Karaoke Songs list is built for exactly that.

Grab a partner. Duets take half the pressure off, and the back-and-forth is what the crowd remembers.

• "Fairytale of New York" — The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl — A bickering, boozy call-and-response that plays like a scene from a bar fight, which is perfect for a bar. His part is gruff and low, hers is sharp and sarcastic, and neither needs a pretty voice. Heads up that one line has a slur, and most karaoke venues now run the edited radio version.
• "Baby, It's Cold Outside" — Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan — It's all quick trading of lines, so the challenge is timing, not notes. The 1949 Ella and Louis recording is swingy and playful. It's divided opinion in recent years, so read your room, and flipping who sings which part gets a big laugh.
• "Santa, Can't You Hear Me" — Kelly Clarkson & Ariana Grande — Two powerhouse voices trading big lines and stacking harmonies at the end. Both parts need real belt, so bring your strongest singer friend. When it works, it brings the house down.
• "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" — Gwen Stefani & Blake Shelton — Short, bouncy and friendly to both voices, with a low country part for him and a bright pop part for her. There's no hard note in it. Great for a couple who wants a duet that isn't a big production.

If your partner in crime is ready for more, the Best Duet Karaoke Songs list has plenty for the other eleven months.

The songs that were jokes from day one. None of them ask much of your voice; they just need you to commit.

• "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" — Elmo & Patsy — A country novelty song about a very bad Christmas Eve, sung in a chatty, twangy style that anyone can pull off. The chorus is simple and the room will shout it back at you. Pretty much everyone either loves it or hates it, and both groups will sing along.
• "Dominick the Donkey" — Lou Monte — Two and a half minutes of pure silliness about Santa's Italian donkey, complete with hee-haws. The melody is a simple, bouncy singsong, and the donkey noises are the whole show. Bring friends to handle the braying.
• "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" — Gayla Peevey — It was recorded by a ten-year-old, so the tune is short, simple and repetitive. The comedy is in singing a little kid's Christmas wish with total sincerity. Even funnier coming from the biggest guy at the table.
• "Santa Baby" — Eartha Kitt — A slinky, purring list of outrageous gift requests, and it's almost more spoken than sung. The joke is in the delivery, so lay the vamp on thick and play to someone in the front row. Works just as well from a guy who commits to the bit.

After something sillier the rest of the year? The Funny Karaoke Songs list is full of songs where commitment matters way more than pitch.

For the crowd that rolls its eyes at sleigh bells. These still count as Christmas songs, but they've got soul, rock and a bit of edge.

• "Run Rudolph Run" — Chuck Berry — It's basically a Chuck Berry rock and roll song with reindeer in it. The verses are wordy and quick, so practice the phrasing once. The bar will be dancing by the second chorus.
• "This Christmas" — Donny Hathaway — A smooth, grown-up groove that feels like a real song, not a jingle. The melody is comfortable, and the challenge is the soulful phrasing and the ad-libs near the end. A great pick for R&B singers who want something seasonal but cool.
• "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" — John & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band — A slow waltz with a narrow range and a chant-style backing part the whole room can join. It's earnest without being sappy. It works well as the last song of the night.
• "Fairytale of New York" — The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl — The ultimate bar Christmas song, about a pair of broken-down drunks, and it lands best around closing time. Grab a partner for the verses and let the whole room shout the big chorus. Most venues play the edited version.
• "Blue Christmas" — Elvis Presley — Sad, bluesy and short, so it fits a dive bar better than a jingle. Lean into the Elvis croon and the room will do the backup "oo-oo" for you. A safe pick for a low voice.
• "2000 Miles" — The Pretenders — A gentle, jangly song about missing someone at Christmas, with no sleigh bells in sight. Chrissie Hynde sings it low and cool, so it suits altos and anyone who doesn't belt. A nice change of pace after a string of loud holiday bangers.
• "Christmas Wrapping" — The Waitresses — It's mostly deadpan talk-singing over a funky new-wave groove, telling a whole story about a hectic Christmas. There's barely any melody to miss, so the challenge is keeping up with all the words. Ask your KJ for the shorter single edit if the room is antsy.
• "Father Christmas" — The Kinks — A snarling rock song about a department-store Santa getting mugged, which is about as far from cheesy as Christmas gets. It's more shouting than singing, but the verses are wordy and fast. Rock fans at the bar will be yelling the chorus with you.
• "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" — Ramones — Two minutes of simple, catchy punk with a chorus you'll know by the second time around. The range is tiny and the energy does all the work. Perfect for the punk kid at the office party who refuses to sing anything with sleigh bells.
• "Christmas in Hollis" — Run-DMC — A laid-back, storytelling Christmas rap that most of the bar will recognize from Die Hard. The flow is steady rather than fast, and it's written for two MCs trading lines, so grab a friend. Easily the coolest Christmas song on the list.

The holiday party is where a lot of people sing karaoke for the first time, in front of the people they see every Monday. A few things I've learned:

• Go early. The first few singers get the most goodwill. Wait until 11pm and you're following the one guy from accounting who's secretly incredible.
• Pick a short song. "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Blue Christmas" and "Let It Snow!" are all around two minutes. You'll be back at your drink before anyone has time to judge.
• Bring backup. Grab two or three coworkers for "Feliz Navidad" or "Sleigh Ride." Group songs spread the pressure out and pull shy people in. The Group Karaoke Songs list has more.
• Keep the duets friendly. A romantic ballad with your manager is a lot. "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" or "Fairytale of New York" (edited version) are fun without being awkward.
• Commit. Nobody remembers a missed note. Everybody remembers the person who did the full Elvis lip curl on "Blue Christmas."

Need picks for the rest of the year? Start with the complete guide to the Best Karaoke Songs, or go straight to Funny Karaoke Songs and Best Duet Karaoke Songs.

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