VINCE GUARALDI TRIO’S BELOVED HOLIDAY CLASSIC
A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS
IS CERTIFIED 6X PLATINUM BY THE RIAA

THE 1965 SOUNDTRACK BECOMES THE BEST-SELLING JAZZ ALBUM OF ALL TIME

For over 60 years, Vince Guaraldi Trio’s timeless soundtrack has brought the beloved PEANUTS animated specials to life, thanks to classic originals like “Linus and Lucy” and “Christmas Time Is Here,” alongside sophisticated jazz arrangements of traditional holiday favorites, including “O Tannenbaum,” “What Child Is This,” and “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”

Craft Recordings celebrates the landmark album this holiday season with new limited-edition vinyl pressings

Pictured above: Craft Recordings exclusive liquid-filled “Snow Globe” pressing

Click here to pre-order A Charlie Brown Christmas or stream the album.

Los Angeles, CA (August 13, 2026)—Following last year’s 75^th anniversary celebrations of PEANUTS® and the 60^th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas, the album has now been officially certified 6X Platinum by the RIAA—commemorating six million album sales and streaming equivalents in the U.S. and making it the best-selling jazz album of all time.

To celebrate this feat, Craft Recordings will offer an array of limited-edition pressings of A Charlie Brown Christmas this fall. For over 60 years, the 1965 soundtrack has been an essential part of the PEANUTS holiday tradition, thanks to the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s enduring cues—from classic originals like “Linus and Lucy” and “Christmas Time Is Here,” to sophisticated jazz arrangements of traditional holiday fare, including “O Tannenbaum,” “What Child Is This,” and “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.”

The rollout begins on August 28^th with a Silver Emerald pressing available exclusively at Walmart. On September 25^th, two more exclusives arrive: a picture disc from Barnes & Noble, replicating the iconic album artwork, and an Iridescent Snow-colored LP from Target including an exclusive poster. Urban Outfitters follows on October 2^nd with an exclusive Sapphire colored pressing. Then, on November 6, Craft caps off the collection with its most limited edition: a liquid-filled “Snow Globe” LP, complete with floating snowflakes and limited to just 300 copies. The Walmart, Target and Urban Outfitters pressings will be housed in a special blue foil jacket. All formats are available for pre-order today.

For those seeking an audiophile experience, Craft’s Original Jazz Classic series will reissue the album on 180-gram vinyl, with lacquers cut from the original master tapes (AAA) by Matthew Lutthans, pressed at QRP and housed in a Stoughton tip-on jacket, available October 9^th. Additionally, the collectible zoetrope LP, originally released for the 2025 holiday season, has been repressed after selling out multiple times and is once again available via CraftRecordings.com.

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When A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired on December 9, 1965, few could have guessed that the animated half-hour special would go on to leave such a lasting mark. Based on Charles M. Schulz’s beloved PEANUTS comic strip, the special—later honored with Emmy® and Peabody® Awards—drew in nearly half of the television-watching public that night, a feat that helped turn it into a perennial holiday tradition and set the stage for one of the 20^th century’s most enduring franchises. Yet the roots of both the special and its now-iconic score trace back a full year earlier.

It was 1964 when seasoned producer Lee Mendelson began shooting A Boy Named Charlie Brown, a TV documentary about Schulz and his enormously popular strip. Looking for a composer, he brought on Vince Guaraldi, a Bay Area jazz pianist celebrating the GRAMMY®-winning success of his recent hit, “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.” While the documentary never aired, Guaraldi’s sophisticated score left an impression on Mendelson. When A Charlie Brown Christmas got the green light a year later, he brought Guaraldi back on board—kicking off a collaboration that would prove both long-lasting and incredibly productive.

With trio members Fred Marshall (bass) and Jerry Granelli (drums) rounding out the sessions, Guaraldi gave PEANUTS its musical identity through a set of original compositions, including the instantly recognizable theme “Linus and Lucy,” the wintry “Skating,” the bossa nova-tinged “Christmas Is Coming,” and both vocal and instrumental takes on “Christmas Time Is Here,” which quickly became a holiday standard in its own right. The trio also put its West Coast jazz stamp on a handful of traditional carols, reworking the likes of “O Tannenbaum,” “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” and “What Child Is This.”

Just as the animated special found lasting success year after year, its soundtrack struck a chord right away with the American public, and Guaraldi continued to score PEANUTS specials until his passing in 1976. Decades later, his melodies have become touchstones of American culture, while A Charlie Brown Christmas has earned recognition as one of the most enduring holiday albums ever recorded. Among other honors, the album was inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame and added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. Now, with its 6X Platinum RIAA certification, it stands as the best-selling jazz album of all time.

L-R: Silver Emerald Vinyl (Walmart), 2026 Picture Disc (Barnes & Noble), “Iridescent Snow” Vinyl + Exclusive Poster (Target), Sapphire Vinyl (Urban Outfitters)

Click here to see all editions and pre-order

A Charlie Brown Christmas 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*

*The OJC reissue omits “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 Joan Baez, John Coltrane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Celia Cruz, Miles Davis, Isaac Hayes, John Lee Hooker, Little Richard, R.E.M., and Joan Sebastian. Plus, the catalog recordings of celebrated contemporary acts including A Day to Remember, Daddy Yankee, Evanescence, Alison Krauss, 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, 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, and its productions have also earned Grammy and Academy Award nominations. LMFP has also released numerous other Vince Guaraldi records, for more information visit LMFPINC.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube

About Peanuts:

The characters of Peanuts and related intellectual property are owned by Peanuts Worldwide, which is 80% owned by the Sony Group and 20% owned by the family of Charles M. Schulz. First introduced to the world in 1950 in the Peanuts comic strip, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the 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 brand around the world 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. Peanuts recently celebrated its 75th Anniversary with unprecedented worldwide exhibitions and activities, collaborations, digital marketing campaigns, and more.

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