OK, so - I've had the chance to hear both the 2001 and 2002 Christmas specials. Here's what I've been able to come up with. Fair warning, this might be a bit lengthy.
All songs will have approximated years of when they originated. This, in turn, helps to distinguish between specials.
2001Other than he specifically says it's 2001 right in the opening, it goes like this:
Hour 1Britney Spears "My Only Wish (This Year)" (2000)
'N Sync "O Holy Night" (1998)
Mariah Carey "All I Want For Christmas is You" (1994)
Sugar Ray "Little Saint Nick" (1997)
Macy Gray "This Christmas" (2001)
"Silent Night" montage (Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, Enya, Christina Aguilera, 98 Degrees, Jewel)
Stevie Wonder/Wyclef Jean "Merry Christmas Baby" (2001)
Christina Aguilera "Angels We Have Heard on High" (2000)
Sheryl Crow "Blue Christmas" (1997)
98 Degrees "This Gift" (1999)
TLC "Sleigh Ride" (1992)
Hour 2Natalie Cole "Jingle Bells" (1994)
Nat King Cole "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" (1961)
montage of themes from TV Christmas specials
U2 "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" (1987)
Blues Traveler "Christmas" (1997)
Take 6 "Amen!" (1991)
Christina Aguilera "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (2000)
Little Isidore & The Inquisitors "Christmas of Love" (2000)
'N Sync "I Don't Wanna Spend One More Christmas Without You" (2001)
Bruce Springsteen "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" (1975)
Celine Dion "O Holy Night" (1998)
'The Mystery Caroler' "Merry Christmas (Wherever You Are)" (1985)
Hour 3Brian Setzer Orchestra "Jingle Bells" (1996)
'N Sync "The First Noel" (1998)
Whitney Houston & the Georgia Mass Choir "Joy to the World" (1996)
Jewel "Hands" (Christmas version) (1999)
Elvis Presley "Blue Christmas" (1957)
Mary J. Blige featuring Angie Martinez "Christmas in the City" (1997)
Madonna "Santa Baby" (1987)
Sheryl Crow "Run Rudolph Run" (2001)
Paul McCartney "Wonderful Christmastime" (1979)
Jose Feliciano "Feliz Navidad" (1970)
Toni Braxton "Christmas Time is Here" (2001)
Eve 6 "Noel! Noel!" (2001)
The Carpenters "Merry Christmas Darling" (1970)
Hour 4Vanessa Williams "Star Bright" (1996)
"White Christmas" (1993) - this is from David Foster's "The Christmas Album", but has way too many singers on it to name
Gloria Estefan "This Christmas" (1993)
'N Sync "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" (1998)
Amy Grant "Grown-Up Christmas List" (1992)
Christina Aguilera "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On an Open Fire)" (1999)
Celine Dion "The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)" (1998)
Mary J. Blige & Sheryl Crow "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (1999)
Backstreet Boys "Christmas Time" (1996)
Destiny's Child "Opera of the Bells" (2001)
Nita Whitaker "Heaven Holds the Ones I Love" (2001)
David Foster "Carol of the Bells" (1993)
Notably, Rick played the version of "This Gift" that has the lyric as, "the night is silent/the moment is here" rather than "...and Christmas is here".
Also worth noting: "This Gift" would not have actually entered the Weekly Top 40 until the beginning of 2000! On AT40, it debuted at #33 on 12/11, but with Rick being a week behind them, it makes sense that 98 didn't also hit his countdown that same week. And then, since 12/11 was his last regular countdown of 1999, that automatically pushes them to 2000. (Unfortunately, since Reception doesn't have any January 2000 countdowns listed, I can't check those.)
All this is to say that his 1999 Christmas could very well have been the first time he played that song on the Weekly Top 40 (extras are listed for both 12/4 and 12/11, and "This Gift" is not among them).
2002After opening with the spoof of "Hot in Herre", we then get the segment consisting of 'N Sync/Amy Grant/Christina Aguilera. But Amy Grant gets swapped out for Gloria Estefan - instead, she'll stay in Hour 4.
Segment 1-2: Madonna/Sheryl Crow/Paul McCartney. But Paul gets removed and replaced with The Calling's "Carol of the Bells", a new release that year.
Segment 1-3: Bruce/Celine/Mystery Caroler. But Bruce gets removed and replaced with a multi-artist version of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town", which has these on it: Mary J. Blige, Jon Bon Jovi, Tracy Chapman, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, John Popper, Run DMC, & Vanessa Williams. The odd thing is, that's from 1999.
Segment 1-4: TLC's "Sleigh Ride" is the only one that remains here from 2001, only it gets played second instead of third. Both Sheryl's "Blue Christmas" and 98 Degrees are removed, replaced with Vanessa Carlton's "Greensleeves" and Vertical Horizon's "I Believe in Father Christmas", both new releases. The segment consists of: Vanessa/TLC/Vertical Horizon.
Segment 2-1: The overall segment stays in place, but for whatever reason, Natalie Cole gets removed and replaced with Shania Twain's "God Bless the Child" - which was originally a Country single in 1996!
Segment 2-2: A new release, Rob Thomas's "A New York Christmas", gets added to the beginning of this segment; there's also an interview with Rob. U2/Blues Traveler/Take 6 then follow, as before.
Segment 2-3: This segment remains exactly the same - Christina/Little Isidore/'N Sync, in that order. (I guess it's possible this is a segment mistake on the app, and 2001 shouldn't have this segment in the exact same place there, but considering how these Christmas shows seem to consist of just basically shifting things around and largely leaving whole segments intact, I don't see why it couldn't be true that this exact segment just remained the same from 2001 to 2002.)
Segment 2-4: The Celine/Mary & Sheryl/BSB/Destiny's Child segment moves here, but BSB get split off, leaving the other three in order.
Segment 3-1: BSB instead get moved here, replacing 'N Sync's "The First Noel" - which gets moved to later. Whitney follows either way.
Segment 3-2: This segment remains exactly the same - Jewel/Elvis/Mary J., in that order.
Segment 3-3: Britney/'N Sync/Mariah, which opened the 2001 show, gets moved here.
Segment 3-4: The Jose/Toni/Eve 6/Carpenters segment remains in place, but with one change: Eve 6 get removed and replaced with B2K's "Everyone's Home For Christmas" featuring Marques Houston (another new release that year).
Segment 4-1: The Vanessa/"White Christmas"/Gloria segment remains in place, but since Gloria was moved to a different segment, Amy Grant gets swapped in here.
Segment 4-2: Stevie and Christina, which were in Hour 1 in 2001, get moved here. Stevie + Wyclef get replaced with Stevie and India.Arie's rendition of "The Christmas Song" (another new release that year).
Segment 4-3: The Sugar Ray/Macy Gray/"Silent Night" montage, also in Hour 1 in 2001, get moved here. But Macy gets removed and replaced with Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan's "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". Question: Anyone know if BNL/Sarah appeared in a previous special? I'm seeing that their rendition was originally recorded in August 1996, but I can't find an album that it would have appeared on any earlier than
Maybe This Christmas - which was a new compilation in 2002, and also contains "Greensleeves".
Segment 4-4: The overall feel of this segment is similar to how it was in 2001. 'N Sync's "The First Noel", swapped out from Hour 3 where it was in 2001, gets added to this final segment here. Then, Nita Whitaker gets removed and replaced with Do's "Heaven" - more on that in a bit. David Foster's "Carol of the Bells" is the one song that remains in place here, and both times it's the last song in the show.
Now, "Heaven". That's the Candlelight Mix of "Heaven" that was originally credited to DJ Sammy & Yanou featuring Do - as the original dance remake was. But that was probably done for reasons of familiarity - in reality, this version is actually entirely a solo record by Do - the two DJs were not involved in this recording at all. (That said, it was indeed recorded in response to the dance remake being a smash hit.) But the real reason the closing segment of the 2002 show has a similar feel to the 2001 show is that, Nita Whitaker's song was interspersed with people giving their thoughts, primarily in response to 9/11 - the same thing gets done for "Heaven".
One other thing of note: The last regular weekly countdown, both for the Weekly Top 40 and for AT40, was December 14 - and in both places, "Heaven" was sitting at its peak of #34. That gives the 2002 show the rare distinction of actually containing a then-current hit (as noted above, "This Gift" would have, technically,
just missed).
OTHER NOTES:
- NEW to 2001: Macy Gray "This Christmas", Stevie Wonder/Wyclef Jean, 'N Sync "I Don't Wanna...", Sheryl Crow "Run", Toni Braxton, Eve 6, Destiny's Child, Nita Whitaker.
- Nita Whitaker's is the same song that's the Sure Shot on 9/29/01; refer to the Dees 2K listing.
- I'm not sure when the "Silent Night" montage began, or if that's ever had changes along the way. The presence of Enya makes me wonder if she was added for 2001 (with her having her first hit in 12+ years then), or if she was actually a part of it earlier. If she was, then it would go back to at least 1999, due to Christina. But if he'd been updating it multiple times over the years, then who knows.
- Three guesses as to who "The Mystery Caroler" actually is. You get one hint: It comes from an album titled I'm Not Crazy, which was released in 1985 - thus, the date attribution for that song.
- BSB's "Christmas Time" was originally a B-side to the mainland European release of "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" - which was in 1996; it would later be included on the 1998 edition of Sounds of the Season.
- REMOVED for 2002: Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow "Blue Christmas", 98 Degrees, Natalie Cole, Eve 6, Stevie/Wyclef, Nita Whitaker. This means Macy Gray, Stevie/Wyclef, Eve 6, and Nita Whitaker are exclusive to the 2001 show.
- NEW to 2002: The Calling, Vanessa Carlton, Vertical Horizon, Rob Thomas, B2K, Stevie Wonder/India.Arie, Do. I'm not sure about the multi-artist "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town", due to that originally being from 1999, Shania Twain, due to her single originally being from 1996, or Barenaked Ladies/Sarah McLachlan (see above).