Released: October 12, 1987

By: The Pointer Sisters, Eurythmics, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, The Pretenders, John Cougar Mellencamp, Sting, Run-DMC, U2, Madonna, Bob Seger, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Alison Moyet & Stevie Nicks

For me, this was always the classic Christmas album to turn to. My parents loved it and several of the songs on here are my standards for Christmas albums.

The album was produced by the legendary Jimmy Iovine to benefit the Special Olympics. And, some of the biggest recording artists of the 1980s lent their voices to the album.

Among the highlights are Madonna’s “Santa Baby,” in which she uses the perfect amount of begging to Santa to get what she wants, and U2’s “Baby Please Come Home” – I mean, can you really go wrong with U2? Bruce Springsteen’s “Merry Christmas Baby” is also wonderful and seems to be a live version, which is always when Springsteen is at his best.

Final say: As incredible now as it was 30 years ago. ★★★★★