Amazon Music today announced its kickoff to the Christmas season with a slate of brand-new Christmas content for listeners, including new exclusive music from chart-topping artists, hundreds of Christmas playlists and stations, and much more.

Starting today, Amazon Music listeners around the world can hear new, Amazon Original Christmas songs from artists including Justin Bieber and his rendition of Brenda Lee’s classic Christmas song, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree;” Jess Glynne shares her take on Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas;” Mary J. Blige today releases her own version of WHAM’s “Last Christmas;” and Carrie Underwood and her new, original composition titled “Favorite Time of Year,” which now appears as a bonus track on Amazon Music for her new album, My Gift.

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ has always been one of my favourite songs to celebrate the holidays, and I’m excited to team up with Amazon Music to share my own version, with my fans,” said Justin Bieber.

“I chose ‘This Christmas’ by Donny Hathaway as I love the tone of this record and I’m thankful that Amazon Music have given me the opportunity to do my own version of it for them,” said Jess Glynne. “This year has been such a hard one and there’s no doubt this Christmas is going to be difficult for so many people. Music is so important as it gives us moments of escapism and I think more than ever having an uplifting feel good song is so necessary.”

“I’ve always loved how ‘Last Christmas’ walks the line between being upbeat and heartbroken — all while still remaining one of the catchiest holiday songs,” said Mary J. Blige. “It’s one of the most unique holiday songs, and I’m excited for my fans to hear my take on it this holiday season on Amazon Music.”

“’Favourite Time of Year’ is a joyful, super happy and fun Christmas song because it is about all of the things that make you happy this time of year, and it puts you in the mood to celebrate,”said Carrie Underwood. “I can’t help but smile when I sing it, it just brightens my day and I’m thrilled to share it today only on Amazon Music.”

Amazon Music releases Amazon Original songs from a wide range of artists year-round, and continues to enlist both emerging artists and chart toppers to create special Christmas songs only for Amazon Music listeners.

In addition to new songs from Justin Bieber, Jess Glynne, Mary J. Blige and Carrie Underwood, this Christmas season Amazon Music listeners can now stream a reimagined version of “In The Bleak Midwinter” by Jamie Cullum; a cover of “Merry Christmas Darling” by Lennon Stella; for King & Country’s version of "Do You Hear What I Hear"; a new Christmas Original titled “Pub Crawl” from Canada’s top rock outfit, Arkells; “Zuhause (Christmas Time)" by German singer, Vanessa Mai; and José Feliciano will soon release a reimagined version of his song “Feliz Navidad,” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the crossover hit.

In the coming weeks, Amazon Music will release even more Amazon Original songs including a cover of “The Christmas Song” from Amazon Music Breakthrough artist, Kiana Ledé; a Spanglish rendition of “Let It Snow (Navidad, Navidad, Navidad),” by Lele Pons; and “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas (Te Deseo Muy Felices Fiestas)” in Spanglish by Jesse & Joy.

“This Christmas season, it’s important for us to bring our customers more reasons to smile, and to create ways for them to connect with their favourite artists while at home with family,” said Ryan Redington, VP of Music Industry at Amazon Music. “Our customers are requesting holiday music more and more each year. In the days leading up to Christmas last year, Amazon Music listeners requested holiday music more than 11 million times per day, and nearly 8,000 times per minute worldwide, and we can’t wait to see that trend continue.”

Patrick Clifton, Head of Music, Amazon Music UK says: “After Katy Perry’s top forty Christmas Original in 2018 and Ellie Goulding’s ‘River’ topping the charts last year, we’re really excited for our listeners to hear Jess Glynne’s take on the Donny Hathaway classic, as well as the rest of the collection of Christmas Originals that will connect music fans with some of their favourite artists.”

Continuing the Christmas celebrations throughout December, Amazon Music will launch a new episodic video series as part of the [Re]Discover initiative on Amazon Music, the global brand developed to support artist catalogues across all music genres. The [Re]Discover series will explore the untold stories behind lasting Christmas hits including, “This Christmas” by Donny Hathaway (as covered by Jess Glynne for her Amazon Original), “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love and “Feliz Navidad” by José Feliciano. Kicking off in December, the new content series will unveil never-before-heard details with a mix of archival footage, animations and interviews with the star subjects or those closest to them. In addition, Dolly Parton fans can catch, “Dolly Parton's Comin' Home for Christmas”, an exclusive Christmas experience featuring a performance and Q&A for fans with the country music icon at 6pm GMT/10am PT on November 13 via the Amazon Music channel on Twitch and Amazon Live.

To get started on Christmas listening, simply ask “Alexa, play Christmas music” in the Amazon Music app for iOS and Android or on enabled devices, for a mix of the new singles and classic hits, or check out popular playlists such as Christmas Present and Christmas Past. For a limited time, new Amazon Music Unlimited customers can get three months of the premium streaming tier for free to enjoy unlimited access to more than 70 million songs, ad-free and a wide selection of podcasts. To learn more, visit http://www.amazonmusic.co.uk