''Under the Mistletoe'' is the first

Christmas album Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

and second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Canadian singer

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

. The album was released on November 1, 2011. The album debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 210,000 copies in its first week. This also became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at number one. This was also Justin’s third number-one album following “ Never Say Never: The Remixes” earlier in the year. The album was certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for sales of over two million units. He was also the fourth artist to chart on the Billboard 200 under the age of 18 twice, and ninth overall.

Background

On August 25, 2011, Bieber announced that he would be releasing his first Christmas album and second studio album later in 2011. Manager

Scooter Braun Scott Samuel "Scooter" Braun (born June 18, 1981) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and entertainment executive. Known as the manager for artists such as Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, J Balvin, Demi Lovato, The Kid Laroi and other artists ...

and vocal producer

Kuk Harrell Thaddis Laphonia "Kuk" Harrell ( ) is an American songwriter, vocal producer, arranger and engineer. He was a member of a songwriting–production team composed of himself, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Terius "The-Dream" Nash. In 2011, Kuk ...

confirmed a week later that Bieber had collaborated with Sean Kingston and

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

and had also worked with producers The Messengers. Later that month, it was announced that

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan M ...

, Usher, and

The Band Perry The Band Perry are an American band composed of siblings Kimberly Perry (lead vocals, guitar), Reid Perry (bass guitar, background vocals), and Neil Perry ( mandolin, bouzouki, background vocals). They signed to Republic Nashville in August ...

were also collaborating with Bieber on the album. On September 30, 2011, Bieber released the official

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

and album name on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. On October 4, 2011,

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

revealed that she and Bieber recorded her song " All I Want for Christmas Is You" as a duet for the new album. Bieber's version of the song "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" from the motion picture ''

Arthur Christmas ''Arthur Christmas'' is a 2011 computer-animated Christmas science fantasy comedy film directed by Sarah Smith and co-directed by Barry Cook. Featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, and As ...

'', samples "

I Want You Back "I Want You Back" is the first national single by the Jackson 5. It was released by Motown on October 6, 1969, and became the first number-one hit for the band on January 31, 1970. It was performed on the band's first television appearances, on ...

" and "

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

" by the ''

Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

''.

Singles

The album's first single " Mistletoe", was written and produced with The Messengers, and it was released on October 17, 2011. The album's second single, " All I Want for Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!)", was released as a radio airplay only single in Italy on December 9, 2011.

Critical reception

''Under the Mistletoe'' was met with generally mixed reviews. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 54, based on four critical reviews.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

also assessed the critical consensus giving the album three stars. Andy Kellman of

credited Bieber "for the effort he put in" and for not "sleepwalking" through the Christmas album like "most artists," although he did feel that Bieber "definitely sounds more enthused by the original songs" while calling Bieber's "Drummer Boy" goofy but complimenting his version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." Writing for ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'', Adam Markovitz also felt that the original songs were much better than the covers, calling them "sleigh-ride-smooth R&B jangles" while writing that "the classics bring no cheer." Jason Scott of ''The

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...

'' gave the album a positive review, writing that Bieber "proves he is a mainstay in the industry by crafting a highly energetic and expressive album that is filled to the brim with eggnog flavored treats, ranging from straight up pop and R&B to country" and named it "a wonderful performance." Caroline Sullivan of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' opined that "the guests are the album's saving grace" and felt that "they generally outclass his by quite a stretch," although she did feel that "holds his own" against Mariah Carey.

Jon Caramanica Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, Caramanica received his bachelor's degree ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that Bieber " adn'tever sounded this good" but also felt that he was at times overshadowed on the guest appearances.

Commercial performance

''Under the Mistletoe'' debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 210,000 copies in its first week. This became Bieber's third US number one debut and his fifth US top ten album. It was also became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at number one and the first solo artist to have three number one albums before his 18th birthday. In its second week, the album dropped to number six on the chart, selling an additional 97,000 copies, which was a 54% decrease. In its third week, the album climbed to number five on the chart, selling 84,000 more copies. In its fourth week, the album dropped to number six on the chart, selling 142,000 copies, which was an 69% increase. By the end of 2011, the album totaled 1,245,000 copies in US sales, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

, and was the eleventh best-selling album of the year. As of December 2015, the album had sold 1,510,000 copies. On June 24, 2020, the album was certified

by the

(RIAA) for combined sales and

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s of over two million units in the United States. The album also debuted within the top 10 in Spain, Australia, Norway, and the Netherlands.

Track listing

Note: (*) denotes a co-producer

Personnel

Credits are adapted from liner notesBieber, Justin. ''Under the Mistletoe''. Island Records/Island Def Jam Music Group. 2011. *

– vocals (3, 9, 11, lead on 1–2, 4–6, 8, 10, singing on 7), rap vocals (7), live drums (7), music producer (7, 9) *

Nasri Atweh Nasri Tony Atweh ( ar, نصري طوني عطوة, born 10 January 1981), known mononymously as Nasri, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is the lead vocali ...

– music producer (10), musical arrangements (10), additional background vocals (2) *

– vocals (10) *Brandon Bee – drums (10), bass played by (10) *Jonathan Berry – guitar (10) *Durell Bottoms – assistant recording engineer (5) *

– vocals (5) *

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

– background vocals (8), music producer (8) *

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

– rap vocals (7) *

– lead vocals (6), music producer (6) *

Tim Carmon Tim Carmon is an American keyboard player. He was born a preacher's son in Washington, D.C. Carmon grew up immersed in the church. He began playing piano in the fourth grade and by the age of 12 was organist for three different churches, includin ...

– piano (3), keyboards (11) *Martin Cooke – assistant recording engineer (6) *Josh Cross – music producer (5) *Melonie Daniels – background vocals (6) *Brad Dechter – musical arrangement (6), orchestral arrangement (6) *Greg DePante – assistant recording engineer (6) *Nicolas Essig – assistant recording engineer (5) *Iain Findlay – assistant recording engineer (8) * Angie Fisher – background vocals (6) *Jesus Garnica – assistant audio mixing (1, 4–5, 7–8) *Jerohn Garrett – drums (6) *Brian Garten – recording engineer (6) *Sharlotte Gibson – background vocals (6) *Josh Gudwin – recording engineer *

– vocal producer, music producer (11), background vocals (1, 4) *Bernard Harvey – music producer (5) *Bryan Jackson – background vocals (4) *

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing bas ...

– music producer (6) *

Jaycen Joshua Jaycen Joshua is a mix engineer and music producer who owns the revered Canton House Studios in Studio City, California. Joshua started his mix career in 2005 when he became partners with his mentor Dave Pensado and formed The Penua Project. Joshu ...

– audio mixing (1, 4–5, 7–8) *Sean K. – music producer (3, 7), music programming (3) *Thomas Kanarek – assistant recording engineer (6) *Mitch Kinney – assistant recording engineer (2, 5, 8) *Miguel Lara – assistant recording engineer (1–5, 7–11) *Damien Lewis – assistant audio mixing (2–3, 6), additional recording engineer (9–11) *Peter Mack – assistant recording engineer (6) *Sherry McGhee – background vocals (6) * The Messengers – music producers (2), instrumental arrangement (2), vocal arrangement (2) *Adam Messinger – all instruments (2) *Luis Navarro – assistant recording engineer (1, 4) *

George Nozuka George Nozuka (born April 28, 1986) is an American-based Canadian-Japanese R&B singer best known for his single "Talk to Me", which peaked at No. 1 on the MuchMusic music-video countdown in October 2006. Career Nozuka released his debut ...

– additional background vocals (10) * Chris "Tek" O'Ryan – recording engineer *

Charlie Paakkari Christina Paakkari, also known as Charlie Paakkari, is an American audio engineer for Capitol Records and the recipient of a 2005 Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the ...

– assistant recording engineer (6) *Aaron Pearce – music producer (1, 4), music programming (1, 4) *

Doc Powell Doc Powell is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was born and raised in Spring Valley, New York. He attended college at University of Charleston. Career He has worked with Wilson Pickett, who chose him to be his musical director. He ha ...

– guitar (6) *Daniela Rivera – assistant audio mixing (2–3), additional recording engineer (9–11) *

Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman (; born October 22, 1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman. He wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics for the Broa ...

– musical arrangement (6), orchestral arrangement (6) *Jason Sherwood – assistant recording engineer (3) *

Adonis Shropshire Adonis Shropshire, or Adonis for short, is an American songwriter and record producer. He has written and or produced singles including: Mariah Carey's " I Stay In Love", Usher Raymond's " My Boo", P. Diddy's " I Need a Girl (Part One)", "I Need ...

– additional background vocals (5) *

Brian Springer Brian Springer (born 1959) is an American documentarian and new media artist who works primarily in video, sound, and performance. Springer spent a year searching for footage by intercepting raw network satellite television feeds not intended fo ...

– recording engineer (8) * C. "Tricky" Stewart – music producer (1, 4), music programming (1, 4) *Tom Strahle – guitar (9) *S'Von – piano (10) *

Phil Tan Phil Tan is a Malaysian-American music and audio engineer. Early life and education Tan was born in Malaysia. He attended Full Sail University in Florida in the U.S., where he attained a degree in Recording Arts in 1990. Afterwards he moved to Atla ...

– audio mixing (2–3, 6, 9–11) *Antwan Thompson – music producer (8) * Lloyd "Sonny" Thompson – bass played by (6) * Michael Thompson – guitar (1, 3–4) *Micah Tolentino – background vocals (6) *Nick Turpin – music producer (10), musical arrangement (10), additional background vocals (10) * Usher – vocals (3) *Stephen Villa – assistant recording engineer (1, 4) *Jerrol "Boogie" Wizzard – music producer (8) *James "Big Jim" Wright – music producer (6), keyboards (6)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Authority control 2011 Christmas albums Justin Bieber albums Christmas albums by Canadian artists Albums produced by Tricky Stewart Albums produced by the Messengers (producers) Albums produced by Kuk Harrell Pop Christmas albums