| The Andy Williams Christmas Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Standard artwork | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 14, 1963[1] | |||
| Recorded | September 9–13, 1963 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 33:29 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Robert Mersey[3] | |||
| Andy Williams chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [4] |
| Record Mirror | [5] |
The Andy Williams Christmas Album is the first Christmas holiday album released by singer Andy Williams and his twelfth studio album overall. It was issued by Columbia Records in 1963, the first of eight Christmas albums released by Williams. Though it was also the album that introduced Williams's perennial holiday classic "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", Columbia instead released Williams's cover of "White Christmas" as the album's promotional single at the time.[6]
A front-page story in Billboard magazine on November 23, 1963, made clear that the album was already destined to be a big hit: "Though the majority of retailers around the country that were contacted reported that Christmas product sales were just starting, they have already singled out the new 'Andy Williams Christmas Album' as the probably No. 1 LP for the next two months; at least of those albums thus far on the market. It is already registering heavy sales, as is his single 'White Christmas.'"[7]
From 1963 to 1973, Billboard published special weekly Christmas Albums and Christmas Singles sales charts. For all five weeks that these special charts were published in 1963 (for the weeks ending November 30, through December 28, 1963), The Andy Williams Christmas Album was the top-selling Christmas album,[8] while Williams' cover of "White Christmas" was the number one selling Christmas single.[6] The Andy Williams Christmas Album spent three weeks as the best-selling Christmas album in the holiday season of 1964, and one week as the best-Christmas album in the holiday season of 1965.[8] It charted on Billboard's Christmas Albums chart at least one week for each of the years that the chart was published.[8] In 2018, when separate Christmas rankings were not published in the magazine, the album made its debut on the Billboard 200 chart at number 152,[9] peaking at number 14 in January 2022 following its third chart re-entry.[10]
On December 14, 1964, The Andy Williams Christmas Album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 500,000 copies in the United States.[11] The album was reissued with a different cover in the UK in 1975 and was awarded Silver certification by the British Phonographic Industry in 1976 for selling 60,000 units.[12] Platinum certification in the United States was awarded on November 21, 1986.[11]
- ^ (2009) Moon River: The Very Best of Andy Williams by Andy Williams [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment 88697 59112 2
- ^ a b "The Andy Williams Christmas Album — Andy Williams". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- ^ (1963) The Andy Williams Christmas Album by Andy Williams [album label]. New York: Columbia Records CS 8887.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 1498. ISBN 9781846098567. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
- ^ Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (4 December 1965). "Andy Williams: Christmas Album" (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 247. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
- ^ a b Whitburn 2004, p. 65.
- ^ "See Best Yuletime Sales Ever". Billboard. Nov 23, 1963.
- ^ a b c Whitburn 2004, p. 203.
- ^ "Andy Williams Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ "Billboard 200: The week of January 8, 2022". Billboard. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
- ^ a b "Gold & Platinum". riaa.com. Retrieved 27 March 2017. Type Andy Williams in the Search box and press Enter.
- ^ "BPI search results". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 11 November 2011.