Sufjan Stevens announces new Christmas compilation, Worst Christmas Ever!

Sufjan Stevens is getting a head start on the holiday season. The singer-songwriter has announced Worst Christmas Ever!, a 16-track compilation arriving November 6 via Asthmatic Kitty Records that distills more than two decades of his famously expansive Christmas recordings into a single collection.

The album brings together 15 songs previously released across Stevens' Songs for Christmas and Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6-10 collections, along with one previously unreleased track, "On This Christmas (It Only Gets Better)." The compilation spans Stevens' original holiday songs, including "Sister Winter" and "Put The Lights On The Tree," alongside his takes on standards such as "Silent Night" and "Joy To The World."

Stevens' Christmas obsession dates back to 2001, when he began recording holiday songs as gifts for friends and family. His annual December sessions, often made at home with whoever happened to be around, eventually grew into nearly five hours of music. Asthmatic Kitty collected the first five installments as Songs for Christmas in 2006, followed by five more EPs on Silver & Gold in 2012.

The recordings also feature an unusually deep roster of collaborators, with Aaron and Bryce Dessner, Richard Reed Parry, James McAlister, Rob Moose, Gabriel Kahane, Rosie Thomas, Shara Nova, and many others appearing across the original sessions. Stevens performed, recorded, and produced the material himself.

For the new compilation, artist Ben Giles created the cover artwork using a series of collages, while Stevens handled the album's layout and design. Worst Christmas Ever! arrives November 6, just in time to give Stevens' sprawling holiday canon another spin.