Donny Hathaway – This Christmas

"This Christmas" is a song by Donny Hathaway, released as a single on December 9, 1970, through Atco Records, only months after his debut album, Everything Is Everything. Written by Hathaway, credited as Donny Pitts, and Nadine Theresa McKinnor, and produced by Hathaway with Ric Powell, the soulful holiday track combined a midtempo groove with sleigh bells, horns, and strings recorded at Audio Finishers Studio in Chicago. It saw little initial commercial success, appearing only once on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in 1972, but grew over the following decades into one of the most covered and recognized modern Christmas standards, particularly within Black American culture. The song later inspired the 2007 film This Christmas and has been covered by artists including Chris Brown, Train, Destiny's Child, and Jess Glynne.