60 years ago, A Charlie Brown Christmas aired on TV screens across America, marking the birth of an instant hit and an enduring holiday tradition. Based on Charles M. Schulz’s immensely popular PEANUTS comic strip, the award-winning animated special was accompanied by a lively score from Bay Area jazz pianist, Vince Guaraldi, who paired original cues (“Linus and Lucy,” “Christmas Time Is Here”) with traditional holiday fare (“O Tannenbaum,” “What Child Is This,” “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”). Now, more than half a century later, the soundtrack remains a perennial favorite and, with a 5x platinum certification, one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time.
To mark the 60th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas, as well as the 75th anniversary of PEANUTS, Craft Recordings celebrates with a range of collectible vinyl reissues, beginning with an eye-catching zoetrope pressing, available September 12th. Centered by an image of Charlie Brown and the PEANUTS gang caroling in the snow, Side A features five snowy zoetrope scenes—each offering an animated moment from the holiday special as the record spins. Side B pays homage to the musical side of PEANUTS, with an image of Schroeder, Lucy, and Snoopy at the piano, plus five zoetrope scenes that bring the PEANUTS gang’s band to life—complete with dancing!
Also available on August 29th is a classic black vinyl pressing of the album, housed in a dazzling anniversary holographic foil jacket. Additionally, fans can find limited-edition pressings of the holographic edition, including Red & Gold Tinsel-colored vinyl (Walmart), Neon Green (Best Buy), Ultra-Clear Glitter (CraftRecordings.com), and Blizzard-Swirl (Urban Outfitters, available October 17th).
On September 26th, meanwhile, Barnes & Noble will offer their new 2025 annual exclusive picture disc, featuring the skating scene from the holiday special on one side, and the iconic album cover image on the other. Coming this fall, Target issues a deluxe holographic foil edition that includes Christmas Tree-colored vinyl and an anniversary poster. Target will also offer an exclusive Emerald Green collectible 4” Tiny Vinyl, featuring two classic songs, “Linus & Lucy” and “Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal),” which plays at 33.3 rpm on most manual turntables and is available on August 8th.
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When A Charlie Brown Christmas premiered on December 9, 1965, few could have predicted the cultural impact that the half-hour animated special would have. Adapted from Charles M. Schulz’s iconic PEANUTS comic strip, the Emmy® and Peabody® Award-winning broadcast captivated nearly half of America’s television viewers that evening—cementing its place as a holiday tradition and launching one of the most enduring franchises of the 20th century. But the story of this beloved animated special—and its timeless soundtrack—begins a year earlier.
In 1964, veteran producer Lee Mendelson set out to create a television documentary about Schulz and his wildly popular PEANUTS comic strip, titled A Boy Named Charlie Brown. For the score, he enlisted Vince Guaraldi—a rising Bay Area jazz pianist, who was fresh off the success of his GRAMMY®-winning hit, “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.” While the documentary ultimately never aired, Mendelson was impressed by Guaraldi’s sophisticated cues. And, when A Charlie Brown Christmas was greenlit the following year, Mendelson turned to the pianist once again—marking the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership.
Joined primarily by trio members Fred Marshall (bass) and Jerry Granelli (drums), Guaraldi breathed life into the PEANUTS gang through original cues, including the instantly recognizable PEANUTS theme, “Linus and Lucy,” “Skating,” the bossa-nova flavored “Christmas Is Coming,” plus vocal and instrumental versions of “Christmas Time Is Here,” which quickly became a seasonal classic. The trio also brought their West Coast jazz sensibility to a selection of traditional Yuletide fare, including “O Tannenbaum,” “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” and “What Child Is This.”
Like its TV counterpart, A Charlie Brown Christmas became an immediate hit, and Guaraldi would continue to score subsequent PEANUTS specials until his passing in 1976. Over the decades, Guaraldi’s evocative themes have become touchstones of American culture, while year over year, A Charlie Brown Christmas remains one of the top-selling holiday and jazz albums. In May 2022, the album was certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA. Months later, it reached its highest placement ever (No.2) on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, beating its previous peak of No.6 in 2021. A Charlie Brown Christmas has long remained the best-selling jazz album of all time, alongside Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. Among other honors, it was inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame and was added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.
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Track Listing:
Side 1
1. O Tannenbaum
2. What Child Is This
3. My Little Drum
4. Linus & Lucy
5. Christmas Time Is Here (instrumental)
Side 2
1. Christmas Time Is Here (vocal)
2. Skating
3. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
4. Christmas Is Coming
5. Für Elise
6. The Christmas Song
7. Greensleeves
About Craft Recordings:
Craft Recordings is home to one of the largest and most essential collections of master recordings and compositions in the world. Its storied repertoire includes landmark releases from icons such as Celia Cruz, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Isaac Hayes, John Coltrane, John Lee Hooker, Joan Baez, Joan Sebastian, Little Richard, Miles Davis, R.E.M., and Traveling Wilburys. Plus, the catalog recordings of celebrated contemporary acts including A Day to Remember, Alison Krauss, Daddy Yankee, Evanescence, Nine Inch Nails, Taking Back Sunday, and Violent Femmes, to name just a few. Renowned imprints with catalogs issued under the Craft banner include Fania, Fantasy, Fearless, HITCO, Musart, Nitro, Panart, Prestige, Riverside, Rounder, Specialty, Stax, Vanguard, Varèse Sarabande, Vee-Jay and Victory, among many others. Craft creates thoughtfully curated packages, with a meticulous devotion to quality and a commitment to preservation— ensuring that these recordings endure for new generations to discover. Craft is also home to the Billie Holiday and Tammy Wynette estates which preserve and protect their respective names, likeness, and music through day-to-day legacy management of these cultural trailblazers.
Craft Recordings is the catalog label team for Concord. For more info, visit CraftRecordings.com and follow on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
About Lee Mendelson Film Productions, Inc.:
Lee Mendelson Film Productions (LMFP) is the publisher of the Vince Guaraldi musical catalog associated with Peanuts. LMFP is also the producer and steward of the celebrated, classic Peanuts television specials, including Emmy® and Peabody winning A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (all available to watch on Apple TV+), along with the Hollywood animation studio Bill Melendez Productions. LMFP also produced over 50 other network Peanuts specials, 12 prime time Garfield specials, 121-program series Garfield and Friends and many other film and television animated, documentary and entertainment specials. Founded by the late Lee Mendelson in 1963, Lee Mendelson Film Productions, Inc., has received 11 Emmy Awards (from 45 nominations) and four Peabody Awards, as well as Grammy and Academy Award nominations.
About Peanuts:
The characters of Peanuts and related intellectual property are owned by Peanuts Worldwide, which is 41% owned by WildBrain Ltd., 39% owned by Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., and 20% owned by the family of Charles M. Schulz, who first introduced the world to Peanuts in 1950, when the comic strip debuted in seven newspapers. Since then, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang have made an indelible mark on popular culture. In addition to enjoying beloved Peanuts shows and specials on Apple TV+, fans of all ages celebrate the Peanuts brand worldwide through thousands of consumer products, as well as amusement park attractions, cultural events, social media, and comic strips available in all formats, from traditional to digital. In 2018, Peanuts partnered with NASA on a multi-year Space Act Agreement designed to inspire a passion for space exploration and STEM among the next generation of students.
