"
Christmas in Dixie" is a
Christmas songChristmas Songs is a 2005 album by Diana Krall performed with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. This is Krall's first full-length album of Christmas songs , and her first studio album with a big band...
made famous by the
country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
band
AlabamaAlabama is a Grammy Award-winning country music and southern rock band that originated in Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. In the late '60s, Randy Owen , and his cousin Teddy Gentry found they both enjoyed a common interest in music...
. Originally released in
1982This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1982.-Events:* October 30 — Hank Williams, Jr. has nine albums simultaneously on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.-United States:...
, the song was included on Alabama's 1985 Christmas album (titled
Alabama ChristmasAlabama Christmas is a Christmas album by country band Alabama. The album was released on RCA Records in 1985, and has since been certified platinum for sales of 2 million units by the Recording Industry Association of America ....
), and has since been included on many Christmas compilations in both the country and all-genre fields.
The song is a celebration of Christmas in the
southern United StatesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
.
The single release was part of a two-sided holiday release issued by
RCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1983 and a partner from 1983 to 1986.-The RCA family of labels:RCA is the name of three different co-owned record...
.
"
Christmas in Dixie" is a
Christmas songChristmas Songs is a 2005 album by Diana Krall performed with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. This is Krall's first full-length album of Christmas songs , and her first studio album with a big band...
made famous by the
country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
band
AlabamaAlabama is a Grammy Award-winning country music and southern rock band that originated in Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. In the late '60s, Randy Owen , and his cousin Teddy Gentry found they both enjoyed a common interest in music...
. Originally released in
1982This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1982.-Events:* October 30 — Hank Williams, Jr. has nine albums simultaneously on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.-United States:...
, the song was included on Alabama's 1985 Christmas album (titled
Alabama ChristmasAlabama Christmas is a Christmas album by country band Alabama. The album was released on RCA Records in 1985, and has since been certified platinum for sales of 2 million units by the Recording Industry Association of America ....
), and has since been included on many Christmas compilations in both the country and all-genre fields.
The song is a celebration of Christmas in the
southern United StatesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
.
The single release was part of a two-sided holiday release issued by
RCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1983 and a partner from 1983 to 1986.-The RCA family of labels:RCA is the name of three different co-owned record...
. The flip side was "Christmas Is Just a Song For Us This Year" by
Louise MandrellThelma Louise Mandrell is an American country music singer. She is the younger sister of country singer Barbara Mandrell, and older sister of actress Irlene Mandrell. Louise had a successful singing career in country music with a string of hits in the 1980s.-Early life:Mandrell was born in Corpus...
and R.C. Bannon.
Re-entries
"Christmas in Dixie" re-entered the country charts twice from unsolicited holiday airplay: in 1999, it re-entered at #40, and re-entered a second time at #37 in 2000.
Covers
The song was covered by
Kenny ChesneyKenneth Arnold Chesney is an American country music artist. Since 1993, Chesney has recorded 13 albums, 11 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 17 of which reached Number One...
on his 2003 album
All I Want for Christmas Is a Real Good TanAll I Want For Christmas Is A Real Good Tan is the eighth album of country music singer Kenny Chesney. It was released on October 7, 2003. His first album of Christmas music, it was certified gold in the U.S....
and featured Alabama's lead singer
Randy OwenRandy Owen is an American country music artist. He is known primarily for his role as the lead singer of Alabama, a country rock band which saw considerable mainstream success throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Although Alabama only records new albums on occasion, Owen himself has maintained a career...
joining him on the track.
Alabama vs. Sonny James
"Christmas in Dixie" is central to a point of contention among country music historians. Alabama is frequently billed as having the longest uninterrupted No. 1 streak in the history of the
Billboard magazine Hot Country SinglesHot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart, with 21 songs peaking atop the chart between 1980 and 1987. However, "Christmas in Dixie" peaked at No. 35 in January 1983, which brings about the point of contention.
Sonny JamesJames Loden , known professionally as Sonny James, is an American country music singer and songwriter best known for his 1957 smash hit, "Young Love." Dubbed the Southern Gentleman, James had 72 country and pop chart hits from 1953 to 1983, including a five-year streak of 16 straight among his 23...
, a country music superstar in the 1960s and 1970s, had previously set the standard of most
Billboard No. 1 songs with 16 straight, with Alabama reportedly surpassing James' record with their 1985 single, "
40 Hour Week (For a Livin')"40 Hour Week " is a song made famous by the country music band Alabama. Originally released in 1985, the song was the title track to Alabama's sixth album.-About the song:...
."
Some sources, including the
Alabama Music Hall of Fame web site, state that the failure of "Christmas in Dixie" broke Alabama's streak before achieving parity with James. Others — such as
Joel WhitburnJoel Carver Whitburn is an American author and music historian.Whitburn founded Record Research Inc. in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, in 1970, and put together a team of researchers to examine in detail all of Billboards music and video charts...
's "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005" — disregard non-No. 1 Christmas singles (such as "Christmas in Dixie") in determining chart-topping streaks and consider Alabama to have surpassed the record.