''Merry Christmas, Baby'' is the first Christmas album by

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

and his 27th studio album overall, released on 30 October 2012. The album has proved to be a top 10 success in many countries including the UK, US, Canada and Australia. It was certified Platinum 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 ...

in November 2012 with over 1,000,000 copies sold in the US.

Critical reception

''Merry Christmas, Baby'' received mixed reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 53, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 6 reviews.

Commercial performance

''Merry Christmas, Baby'' debuted at No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album sales chart, with first week sales of 117,000 copies according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

, and spent a total of eight weeks in the top 10. With total U.S. sales of 858,000 copies in 2012 according to SoundScan, ''Merry Christmas, Baby'' was the best-selling Christmas/holiday album of the year. The album was also the year's fifteenth best-selling album in the U.S. according to ''Billboard'' and the ninth best-selling physical album in the U.S. according to the

Nielsen Company Nielsen Holdings plc (or Nielsen) is an American media audience measurement firm. Nielsen operates in over 100 countries and employs approximately 15,000 people worldwide. For most of its history, the company was known for its two subsidiarie ...

's 2012 Music Industry Report. In the UK, the album debuted at No. 2 on the

Official Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official ...

and has so far spent six weeks in the top 10. It sold 421,000 copies in the UK in 2012 and its current UK sales stand at 636,000. In Canada, the album spent eight weeks in the top ten of the

Canadian Albums Chart The ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums is the official record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given ...

, with three consecutive weeks at the No. 1 spot. It was the ninth best-selling album in Canada in 2012 according to year-end sales data from Nielsen SoundScan Canada with sales of 135,000. Worldwide, the album achieved total 2012 sales of 2.6 million according to the

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 1 ...

, making it the seventh best-selling album of the year.

Track listing

*All tracks produced by

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

; except "Auld Lang Syne" produced by Rod Stewart and

Kevin Savigar Kevin Savigar (born 9 November 1956) is an English session keyboardist, record producer, songwriter, and composer based in Los Angeles, CA. Perhaps most recognised for his longtime collaboration with Rod Stewart, Savigar has also contributed to ...

. ;Note * "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" uses a vocal sample of the Ella Fitzgerald recording of the same name

Personnel

Main * Rod Stewart – lead vocals, musical arrangements (11–13) * Jochem van der Saag – synthesizer programming (1–12) *

– acoustic piano (1–3, 6–8, 10), keyboards (5, 9, 11–12), string arrangements (1, 3–4, 9–13), horn arrangements (2, 5–6, 8–9), musical arrangements (11–13) *

– keyboards (13), programming (13), musical arrangements (13) Guest musicians *

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

– lead vocals (11) *

Chris Botti Christopher Stephen Botti ( ; born October 12, 1962) is an American trumpeter and composer. In 2013, Botti won the Grammy Award in the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album, Best Pop Instrumental Album category, for the album Impressions ...

– trumpet solo (7) *

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Regarded as a pop icon, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American ...

– lead vocals (3) *

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

– sampled lead vocals (7) *

CeeLo Green Thomas DeCarlo Callaway-Burton (born May 30, 1975), known professionally as CeeLo Green (or Cee Lo Green or simply Cee-Lo), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Green came to initial pr ...

– lead vocals (5) *

Dave Koz David Stephen Koz (born March 27, 1963) is an American saxophonist, composer, record producer, and radio personality based in Los Angeles, California. Early life Dave Koz was born in Encino, California, to Jewish parents: Norman, a dermatologis ...

– saxophone solo (6) *

Trombone Shorty Troy Andrews (born January 2, 1986), also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty, is a musician, most notably a trombone player, from New Orleans, Louisiana. His music fuses rock, pop, jazz, funk, and hip hop. Biography Andrews was one of s ...

– trombone, trumpet (5, 9) Additional vocalists * Bridget Cady – backing vocals (5, 9) * Mabvuto Carpenter – choir vocals (13) * Angela Fisher – choir vocals (13), Gospel Choir contractor * Kimberly Johnson – backing vocals (5, 9), choir vocals, choir contractor (13) * Krystal Johnson – choir vocals (13) * Bobbi Page – vocal contractor (12) * Page LA Children's Choir – backing vocals (12) * Dieyelle Reed – backing vocals (5, 9), choir vocals (13) *

Will Wheaton Will Wheaton, born Willie Mack Wheaton Jr. (born October 26, 1972) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He grew up in Los Angeles and is the son of Gospel singer Juanita Wheaton. He studied music in his teens and was eventually tuto ...

– choir vocals (13) * Gospel Choir – Keith Allen, Bridget Cady, Bryan Terrell Clark, David Daughtry,

Melanie Fontana Melanie Joy Fontana (born October 3, 1986)Joyce Cohen''New York Times'', December 26, 2004. is an American singer, composer and songwriter signed to Universal Music Group. Early life Fontana was born in Newington, Connecticut. She moved to New ...

, Holly Palmer, Dieyelle Reed, Brandon Winbush and

Lucy Woodward Lucy Woodward is an English-American singer-songwriter. She has released records on Atlantic, Verve, and GroundUP and has sung with many artists including Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Snarky Puppy, Celine Dion, Pink Martini, Gavin DeGraw, ...

Additional instrumentalists *

Chris Walden Chris Walden (born 10 October 1966) is a seven-time Grammy nominated German composer, arranger, and conductor living in the U.S. He leads the Chris Walden Big Band, and is the founder and artistic director of the Pacific Jazz Orchestra. He ha ...

– orchestra conductor (1, 3, 4, 8–13), trumpet (2, 6, 7), horn arrangements (2, 6, 7), string arrangements (3, 8, 9), trombone (7) * Isobel Griffiths – orchestra contractor (1, 3, 4, 8–13) *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Parks has one Grammy nomination. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los A ...

– guitar (1, 2, 3, 5–9, 11, 12), guitar solo (4, 10) * Emerson Swinford – guitar (13) *

Chuck Berghofer Charles Curtis Berghofer (born June 14, 1937) is an American double bassist and electric bassist, who has worked in jazz and as a session musician in the film industry for more than 60 years, including working on more than 400 movie soundtracks. ...

– bass (1, 2, 6–8, 10) *

Peter Erskine Peter Clark Erskine (born June 5, 1954) is an American jazz drummer who was a member of the jazz fusion groups Weather Report and Steps Ahead. Early life and education Erskine was born in Somers Point, New Jersey, U.S. He began playing the d ...

– drums (1, 2, 7, 10) * Matt O'Connor – percussion (2, 3, 5, 6, 9), additional percussion (11) * Jeff Driskel – saxophone (2, 6, 7) * Jimmy Roberts – saxophone solo (9) * Tim McFatter – tenor saxophone (5, 9) * Dan Oestreicher – baritone saxophone (5, 9) * Bob McChesney – trombone (2, 6) * Nathan Kelly – horn arranger (5) * William Ross – string arrangements (1, 4, 10–13) * J'Anna Jacoby – violin (13)

Production

* Producers – Rod Stewart (Tracks 1–13); David Foster (Tracks 1–12); Kevin Savigar (Track 13) * Recorded by Don Murray, Jochem van der Saag and Jorge Vito * Additional recording – Jack Miele * Engineers – Jochem van der Saag and Jorge Vito * Recorded at Chartmaker Studios,

Henson Recording Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property served as Ch ...

The Village Recorder The Village (also known as Village Recorders, or the Village Recorder) is a recording studio located at 1616 Butler Avenue in West Los Angeles, California. History The building was built by the Freemasons in 1922 and was originally a Masonic t ...

, Satinwood Studio and

Studio City Sound Studio City Sound is a recording studio located in Studio City, California. Grammy Award winning mixer, Tom Weir, purchased Fidelity Studios from Artie Ripp in 2002 and has updated and operated the facility as Studio City Sound since that time. We ...

(Los Angeles); Garage Studios (Palm Beach, Florida); Echo Beach Studios (Jupiter, Florida); Fudge Recording Studio (New Orleans, Louisiana) * Orchestra recorded by Jonathan Allen and Steve Price at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

(London, England) and

Angel Recording Studios Angel Recording Studios Limited (also referred to as Angel Studios) is a British recording studio based in the eponymous recording and mixing complex in Islington, London. The company was incorporated by James Warren Sylvester de Wolfe on 5 Dec ...

(Islington, England) * Choir recorded by Tom Weir at Studio City Sound * Mixed by Jochem van der Saag at Blue Studios (Malibu, California) * Mastered by

Vlado Meller Vlado Meller (born in 1947 in Humenné as ''Vladimír Meller'') is a Slovak audio mastering engineer, currently with Vlado Meller Mastering in Charleston, South Carolina. Meller works across many genres of music, with credits on rock, hip-hop, p ...

at Vlado Meller Mastering (Charleston, South Carolina) * Art direction and design – Jullian Peploe Studio * Photography – Penny Lancaster

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Awards and recognition

In February 2013, the album was nominated for a Canadian

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

in the International Album of the Year category.

References

{{Authority control Rod Stewart albums 2012 Christmas albums Albums produced by David Foster Christmas albums by English artists Verve Records albums