Tis the season to be jolly – and the Today Show stars certainly know how to get in the mood. Anchors Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker, Craig Melvin, Carson Daly, Sheinelle Jones, Dylan Dreyer and Jenna Bush Hager have all created their own holiday playlists on Spotify for fans – and there may be a few in there that will surprise you.
The Eagles' 'Please Come Home For Christmas,' was on three playlists, while the ultimate Christmas song 'All I Want for Christmas' by Mariah Carey made it to four. There were lots of hymns but Carson Daly took a completely different track, picking covers by his The Voice judges.
© NBCSavannah, for example, picked 18 tracks and amid some classic Christmas carols, she threw in a Meghan Trainor track called 'Holidays,' and Kelsea Ballerini's cover of 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'.
Hoda meanwhile included her own track, 'Carefree Christmas,' which she recorded with Jenna, but the rest of the eight tracks were ultimate classics, from Brenda Lee's 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree,' to Frank Sinatra, Donny Hathaway, and Eartha Kitt.
Jenna's playlist, however, was an eclectic mix of old and new, with Justin Bieber, Carrie Underwood, Madonna and The Pogues, whose frontman, Shane MacGowan, died at 65 last month, all represented. Al was another anchor who clearly loves the classics kicking it off with the upbeat bop 'Step Into Christmas,' by Elton John but also adding in a treat for Peanuts fans with 'Linus and Lucy' by Vince Guaraldi Trio, who are best known for composing the music for the Peanuts strip.
Carson – the former TRL host and music aficionado – also picked classics such as 'What Christmas Means To Me' and 'Winter Wonderland' but all were performed by today's artists such as John Legend, Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire, who are all former or current judges on The Voice which Carson also hosts.
Hoda wasn't the only anchor to pick Donny Hathaway as Craig and Shenielle also had him on their playlists, but Dylan topped her playlist with the 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' by U2, and Run-DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis' – she's clearly a Die Hard fan.
The Today Show stars are preparing for the holiday break with family, but earlier this month made sure they celebrated with their chosen work family, with NBC mainstays Savannah, Al, Hoda, Dylan, Jenna, and more hitting up the work Christmas party.
For their holiday gathering, the hosts visited former NBC colleague Pete Davidson's townhouse-turned-bar Pebble Bar – and Al and Savannah were among those to share details of the bash.
"We crush a party that starts at 3pm. Thanks @pebblebarnyc," Savannah captioned her carousel of snap, while Al – who shortly after celebrated his milestone 45th anniversary of joining the Today Show - also shared photos to his Instagram, writing: "What a great time with our @todayshow co-hosts."
