James O'Brien

They’ve been playing Christmas music in the shops for a few weeks, and Christmas is still two weeks away!

Here in Australia, there’s a certain cringe factor with the likes of Michael Buble and Mariah Carey with their “Christmas Albums”. However, as I’ve written previously, the Swedes seem to love it, and at this time of the year, the Swedish charts are usually full of a combination of new and older Christmas songs.

This, by the way, is my favourite Swedish pop song for Christmas, performed by the awesome Magnus Carlsson. Awfully catchy, awfully camp, but not awful.

Oh, and if you think it’s all cheesy and schmaltzy, check out these recent Christmas songs from Swedes which put a “twist” on things.

If you take a look at this week’s Topplistan, you’ll see there’s at least thirty-five Christmas songs in the top 100, including Bing Crosby and Andy Williams. They’re pretty easy to find, but if you look for the Swedish word for Christmas, “Jul”, you’ll find the others.