Essential Facts About White Christmas, The Bestselling Song Of All Time

In 1957, Elvis Presley was well on his way to cementing his place as the King of Whatever This Newfangled Rock Stuff was, and as one might imagine, the rise of performers of his stripe didn't sit too well with traditional songwriters and composers like Irving Berlin. When it came time to record a Christmas album, Presley decided to include "White Christmas" — very much to Berlin's annoyance, as he could not stand the budding superstar.

Per NPR, Judy Rosen, author of a book about "White Christmas," described how Berlin took Presley's cover not as a compliment, but as "sacrilege." Of course, as long as royalties are paid to the publisher, any artist can cover anything they want, so Berlin had no legal avenue to prevent the recording. Instead, he took the unusual step of publicly lobbying radio stations to avoid playing Presley's version of his classic — an effort which, of course, was less than successful.

According to Billboard, "Elvis' Christmas Album" — with an assist from Berlin's greatest songwriting achievement — shot to the top of the charts, eventually becoming no less than the bestselling Christmas album of all time. To add insult to injury, also included on the record was a cover of the 1948 country tune "Blue Christmas" (via Wide Open Country) and a single containing both colorful Yuletide songs reached the Top 20 in the UK, per Gold Radio.

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