Starting in November, something happens on radios all across the country: Top 40 hits give way to nostalgic, beloved holiday classics (and more recent, less-beloved pop covers of said holiday classics). Maybe you are firmly Team Christmas Music and love this phenomenon, but maybe you’re…well, not, in which case, you probably feel a swelling of “Oh god, not this again” every time the holiday season rolls around. But, even if you don’t love Christmas-y classics like “Jingle Bells” and you’d rather be decked in the face than listen to another round of “Deck the Halls,” you can still get into the seasonal spirit. What’s more, you might even get away with slyly replacing some holiday playlist airtime with another kind of season-specific music: Winter songs.
“What is a winter song?” you might be wondering. These are songs that make you immediately feel the need to curl up on the couch under a warm, cozy blanket because the weather is straight-up frigid. These are songs that conjure up mental pictures of snow flurries and puffy coats and steaming cups of hot, soul-warming beverages. These are the songs that put you in that winter state of mind. They’re the songs that you can listen to well past December, all the way through the end of February (at least) because they’re about the winter season and not the holiday season. So go make a cup of hot cocoa, slip on your coziest, warmest pair of socks, and prepare for a playlist that sounds like the inside of a snow globe.
[1]
Taylor Swift – Back to DecemberÂ
[2]
Fountaints of Wayne – ValleyÂ
[3]
Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson –Â Winter Song
[4]
 Kanye West – Coldest Winter
[5]
Simon & Garfunkel –Â A Hazy Shade of Winter
[6]
Regina Spektor –Â 20 Years of Snow
[7]Â
 Ariana Grande – Winter Things
[8]
 Belle and Sebastian – The Fox in the Snow
[9]
 Elliott Smith – Angel in the Snow
[10]
Elivs Costello –Â I Felt The Chill Before The Winter Came
[11]
The Doors –Â Wintertime Love
[12]
Khalid –Â Winter
[13]
 Lil Tjay – Ice Cold
[14]
 The Rolling Stones – Winter
[15]
 Animal Collective – Winter’s Love
[16]
Wendy & Bonnie –Â The Winter Is Cold
[17]
 The Walkmen – While I Shovel the Snow
[18]
 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Snow (Hey Oh)
[19]
 XTC – Snowman
[20]
 Cuco – Winter’s Ballad
[21]
 Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal
[22]
 Big Maceo Merriweather – Winter Time Blues
[23]
 Muddy Waters – Cold Weather Blues
[24]
 Queen – A Winter’s Tale
[25]
 Neil Young – Winterlong
Via Cosmopolitan US