“White Christmas” by Bing Crosby

"White Christmas" is the Irving Berlin song Bing Crosby introduced in the 1942 film Holiday Inn, and the recording counted here turns up on The World of Christmas, a 1992 album. Berlin wrote both words and music, a wistful daydream about an old-fashioned Christmas, and it won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 15th ceremony.

Crosby's version is the one all the others chase. It held the top of the Billboard chart for 11 weeks, went back to number one in December 1943 and again in 1944, and has climbed back into the top 40 a dozen more times, most recently in 2025. With more than 50 million physical copies sold, it's reckoned the best-selling single anywhere, and once every cover version is added in, the song's sales pass 100 million.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.