| The Dean Martin Christmas Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 1966[1] | |||
| Recorded | September 1966 | |||
| Genre | Christmas,traditional pop,jazz | |||
| Label | Reprise - R/RS 6222 | |||
| Producer | Jimmy Bowen | |||
| Dean Martin chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Dean Martin Christmas Album is a 1966studio album byDean Martin arranged byErnie Freeman andBill Justis.[2]
This was Martin's only album ofChristmas music released onReprise Records (his only other Christmas album,A Winter Romance, having been released in 1959 onCapitol Records). It was reissued on CD byHip-O Records in 2008, retitledA Very Cool Christmas.[2]
This was the fourth of five albums Martin released in 1966.[1]Billboard magazine reported in its December 3, 1966 issue thatThe Dean Martin Christmas Album was on top of its "Best Bets for Christmas" chart.[3]
The release ofThe Dean Martin Christmas Album in October andThe Dean Martin TV Show in November 1966 were accompanied by whatBillboard described as a "merchandising avalanche"[4] byReprise Records and their parent companyWarner Music.[4]Billboard described Martin as running the "hottest streak of his career", and said that Reprise planned to sell $4 million of his records over the Christmas sales period.[4]Billboard later reported that Martin had sold 850,000 albums in December 1966.[5]
Ricci James Martin, Martin's son, wrote in a biography of his father thatThe Dean Martin Christmas Album was the only one of his father's albums that was played in the Martin household; his parents seldom listened to Dean Martin's music.[6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
ReviewingA Very Cool Christmas (a 2008 CD reissue of theDean Martin Christmas Album) onAllmusic.com, William Ruhlmann gave the album three and a half stars out of five. Ruhlmann commented that Martin was in a "typically easygoing, good-natured mood on these tracks...He sings the seasonal material with the same nonchalance he gave to pop music of the period".[2]
| Chart (1966–2025) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums (Billboard)[7] | 17 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[8] | 78 |
| Latvian Albums (LaIPA)[9] | 66 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[10] | 42 |
| USBillboard 200[11] | 21 |
| USTop Holiday Albums (Billboard)[12] | 16 |
