Ashanti's Christmas is the first Christmas album

Christmas music

Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season, which tends to begin in the months leading up the actual holiday and end in the weeks shortly thereafter.-Early:...

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 R&B

Contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

/pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 singer Ashanti

Ashanti (singer)

Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and model. She rose to fame in the early 2000s. Ashanti is most famous for her eponymous debut album, which featured the hit song "Foolish", and sold over 503,000 copies in its first week of release...

, released in 2003 (see 2003 in music

2003 in music

-January:* January – following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested...

). The album debuted and peaked at #160 on the Billboard 200 and #43 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album contained almost an equal amount of new songs, written by Ashanti herself, and covers of Christmas classics. As for singles, Ashanti released a Christmas Medley which featured the songs "Christmas Time Again", "The Christmas Song

The Christmas Song

"The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer...

", and "Hey Santa". A video was shot for the medley and it received moderate rotation on BET

Black Entertainment Television

Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...

 and MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

.

Track listing

1. "Christmas Time Again" (Douglas, I. Lorenzo, A. Parker) – 4:05
2. "The Christmas Song
   The Christmas Song
   "The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer...
   
   " (Mel Tormé
   Mel Tormé
   Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
   
   , Robert Wells) – 3:19
3. "Hey Santa" (Douglas, Lorenzo) – 1:55
4. "This Christmas" (Donny Hathaway, Hathaway McKinnor) – 2:59
5. "Sharing Christmas" (Douglas, Lorenzo) – 4:14
6. "Silent Night" (F. Gruber, J. Mohr) – 2:13
7. "Joy to the World
   Joy to the World
   "Joy to the World" is a Christian Christmas carol.The words are by English hymn writer Isaac Watts, based on Psalm 98 in the Bible. The song was first published in 1719 in Watts' collection; The Psalms of David: Imitated in the language of the New Testament, and applied to the Christian state and...
   
   " (Lowell Mason, Isaac Watts) – 1:56
8. "Winter Wonderland
   Winter Wonderland
   "Winter Wonderland" is a winter song, popularly treated as a Christmastime pop standard, written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith . Through the decades it has been recorded by over 150 different artists.-History:...
   
   " (Felix Bernard, Dick Smith) – 2:16
9. "Time of Year" (Douglas, Lorenzo, D. McGhee) – 4:50
10. "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" (Traditional) – 1:35

Production

• Producers: Irv Gotti, Demi McGhee, Chink Santana
• Executive producers: Ashanti Douglas, Irv Gotti
• Engineer: Milwaukee Buck
• Mixing: Duro, Irv Gotti
• Mastering: Tom Coyne
• A&R: Chris G.O.T.T.I., Darcell Lawrence, Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds, Errol "Eezie" Vaughan Jr.
• A&R assistance: Fred Moore, Todd "Shortma" Simms
• Recording director: Tony Vanias
• Instrumentation: Demi McGhee
• Assistant: Terry "Murda Mac" Herbert
• Marketing: Daniel Cooper, Deidre Graham
• Creative director: Rick Patrick
• Art direction: Andy West
• Cover photo: Daniela Federici
• Inlay photography: Graham Kuhm

Charts

Album - Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

(North America)

Year	Chart	Position
2004	The Billboard 200	160
	Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	43