Snowy weather, cozy fireplaces, candlelit dinners and plenty of mistletoe; these are the things that we commonly associate with the festive season. It is also a time for eating too much, spending too much and being bombarded with “Christmas” music at every turn. It’s not just every pop singer trying to rake in some extra holiday cash with a Christmas single either. The tradition of releasing a Christmas related song over the holiday season stretches quite a way back. Artists known for making use of synths in their songs are not exempt from this tradition either, so here is our list of six synth heavy Christmas songs for the festive season.

It Doesn’t Often Snow At Christmas - Pet Shop Boys (1997)

“Christmas is not all it's cracked up to be

Families fighting around a plastic tree

Nothing on the TV that you'd want to see

And it's hardly ever snowing”

It Doesn’t Often Snow At Christmas was originally a single released by Pet Shop Boys in 1997. However, the single was only available to members of their fan club, so it didn’t get as much recognition. However, the band rectified this in 2009 when they released an EP, titled “Christmas.” The EP contains a brand new version of the song and promptly made it on to the UK Singles Chart. It definitely sounds like a Christmas song, but listening a little closer to the lyrics reveals that the band has a slightly more pessimistic view of the holidays.

Wonderful Christmas Time - Paul McCartney (1979)

The moon is right

The spirits up

We're here tonight

And that's enough

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

Listening to “Wonderful Christmas Time” by Paul McCartney should be done at your own risk as you might struggle to get that distinctive Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer riff out of your head. The song was quite a hit for its time, making it on to both the UK Singles Chart as well as the Cash Box Top 100 Singles and Record World Singles Cart in the United States. The song even ended up on the soundtrack of an animated Christmas film and was covered as recently as 2016 by artists like Kylie Minogue.

Baby, It’s Christmas - Bananarama (2010)

Remember how we kissed that time

The mistletoe and too much wine

At Christmas time

Baby It's Christmas time

And I wonder where you are

If I wish upon a star

Will it bring you home to me?

Bananarama is a group that briefly dabbled with Christmas music by contributing to the “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” single for Band Aid. However, it wasn’t until 2010 that they released their own original Christmas track, titled “Baby It’s Christmas.” Depending on how much you enjoy synthpop, the track is either extremely catchy or utterly annoying. 

Last Christmas - Wham (1984)

Last Christmas

I gave you my heart

But the very next day you gave it away.

This year

To save me from tears

I'll give it to someone special.

It is impossible to create a list of Christmas synth songs without including the classic Wham track, “Last Christmas.” It is one of those songs that you are guaranteed to hear at least once every festive season and, in all likelihood, probably many more. However, it is quite ironic that a song that has become so synonymous with Christmas actually has very little to do with the festive season and more with a failed relationship. The popularity of the song has also inspired numerous cover versions from bands as diverse as Coldplay, Taylor Swift and Jimmy Eat World.

She Won't Be Home (Lonely Christmas) - Erasure (1988)

She looks around

There are snowflakes on the ground

Here comes another lonely Christmas

Stars in the night

There is one there shining bright

Shine bright for me this lonely Christmas

It took until 2013 for Erasure to release a full blown holiday themed album in the form of Snow Globe, but they are no strangers to the genre. Fans will know that they released “She Won’t be Home (Lonely Christmas)” twenty five years before that, back in 1988 already, on their Crackers International EP. It is a typical Erasure track and great for listening to if you miss someone over the festive season.

Winter Wonderland by Eurythmics (1987)

Sleigh bells ring, are you list'ning?

In the lane, snow is glist'ning

A beautiful sight, we're havin' tonight

Walkin' in a winter wonderland

Although Winter Wonderland is not an original song by Eurythmics, their version is arguable one of the better ones out of the more than 200 different artists who took a stab at it. The original track actually dates by to 1934, but the Eurythmics version was released on the 1987 compilation album, A Very Special Christmas. The purpose of the album was to benefit Special Olympics, which it went on to do quite successfully.