Christmas music arrived early in 2026, with Hilary Duff releasing a holiday EP before Halloween and Olivia Rodrigo following with her first seasonal single. Alanis Morissette has made her first Christmas album, while Sufjan Stevens has written a new song for a collection of his earlier holiday recordings. Here is what they and other artists are bringing to this year’s season.
The new Christmas music of 2026 starts with artists finding different ways back into familiar territory. Hilary Duff released Holiday Things before Halloween, more than two decades after her 2002 holiday album Santa Claus Lane. Olivia Rodrigo followed in November with a first Christmas single and a video featuring Cynthia Nixon. Put the releases next to each other and you can hear two different uses for an early start: one revisits a part of a career, and the other opens one up.
Duff’s five-track EP includes “I Guess It’s Christmas,” an original with a nostalgic mood, and a playful version of “I Want (a few small things).” In a post looking back on Santa Claus Lane, she recalled the experiences around making the earlier record. Holiday Things offers listeners who remember it a chance to hear what she does with a seasonal EP now, using both new writing and a return to familiar material.
Rodrigo’s “Take Me Home (4 Christmas)” takes a brisker route. The single has a new-wave inflection, and the video gives its theatrical side room to come forward. Nixon’s appearance helps make the film a part of the release in its own right. There is also a seven-inch edition with “Miss This Christmas” on the flip side, a format that gives the second track a specific place in the project.
For Alanis Morissette, Christmas music has become an album-length undertaking. Good Weather for Immaculate Conception puts her interpretations of familiar songs beside two originals, “Christmas on the Dancefloor” and “To An Empath at Christmas Time.” The titles suggest how far apart two songs on a holiday record can sit emotionally. One points towards a crowded room and the other towards the particular work of getting through a season full of other people’s expectations.
Sufjan Stevens has spent enough time recording for the holidays to put together a collection with its own history. Worst Christmas Ever! gathers older originals and covers and adds “On This Christmas (It Only Gets Better),” his first new Christmas song in 15 years. Stevens described the recording as a prayer for forgiveness and understanding. It joins a catalogue in which a seasonal arrangement can carry as much doubt or longing as celebration.
Tegan and Sara have taken an acoustic approach with “I Love Christmas” and “A December to Remember.” Tegan has described writing with both holiday enthusiasts and people who feel less at home in the celebrations in mind. The two tracks have the scale of a conversation. For listeners assembling their own Christmas music, that gives them a different use from a recording designed to fill a room immediately.
Thalía has returned to Navidad Melancólica, her 2024 holiday album, with an expanded edition. The additions include “Regalo Perfecto” and a lively take on “El Burrito Sabanero.” An expanded record changes what a listener encounters on returning to something they may already know, and Thalía’s choices draw on a seasonal repertoire with its own rhythms and history across Latin America.
The Band Perry have made their first Christmas EP, A Very Band Perry Christmas, from four covers. The selections include “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Blue Christmas” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” The songs come from different corners of the repertoire. Kimberly Perry’s voice gives the set a common sound even as the choices move between country, pop and gospel associations.
Dustin Kensrue, the singer of Thrice, has made a second holiday album, That Spirit of Christmas. The title comes from the Ray Charles song, and the track list includes two originals alongside familiar selections. Kensrue also revisits “This Good Night Is Still Everywhere,” a song from his previous seasonal project. That return gives the two albums a direct musical connection rather than leaving the relationship to their release dates.
Holiday Blend takes Christmas music into yet another setting. Starbucks released the seven-track collection through Interscope and Universal Music Group on November 4 and said it would play in selected coffeehouses around the world. Brandi Carlile, Magnus Ferrell, TRÍADA and The Womack Sisters are among the performers, and JYT contributed an original song. It is the company’s first global holiday album in more than a decade.
Anyone looking for a starting point can choose by mood as much as by name. Rodrigo’s single suits a playlist that needs a lift, while the Stevens song makes room for a quieter stretch. Duff’s EP and Morissette’s album let listeners stay with one voice across several songs. As more Christmas music reaches the release calendar in November, those records already offer several distinct ways to begin the season.
