Polar Express Songs

    You wonder if you’ll get there soon
    Anybody’s guess
    ‘Cause that’s the way things happen
    On the Polar Express

    Bustling with upbeat tunes —both familiar Christmas carols and amazing original compositions— the Polar Express soundtrack is a regular feature in our home during the festive season. We’ve jokingly referred to it as our household’s “All I want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey, with the exception that no one is sick of it yet.

    While it might seem a bit unusual for someone to praise a Christmas movie from 2004’s soundtrack this much almost 20 years later, I can guarantee that we’re not the only family hooked on it. Only 3 years after the soundtrack’s release, 8 days before the film’s theatrical release, it had sold three-quarters of a million copies and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Since the Nielsen SoundScan started tracking music sales in 1991, no other film soundtrack/holiday album has beaten it in sales.

    Not to my surprise, the soundtrack continues to be popular to this day, with radio stations around the world blasting the Polar Express hits each Christmas. Feel free to check out the Polar Express on Spotify for yourself! You’ll see millions of views for the original tracks like “The Polar Express” as performed by Tom Hanks, “Believe” by Josh Groban; and several hundred million for the well-known classics like Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” and Perry Como’s “It’s beginning to look like Christmas”.

    As far as individual titles on the soundtrack go, there really is something for everyone to enjoy. I’m a bit of a ‘Grobanite’ myself, and Josh Groban’s “Believe” gets me every time. It’s no wonder that it was the first ever song from an animated film to be nominated for Best Original Song in the Academy Awards. My wife really likes Steven Tyler’s “Rockin’ on top of the world”, and the kids, of course, love “The Polar Express” and “Hot Chocolate”, especially when accompanied by the real thing to sip on.

    That doesn’t mean that the rest of the track is just filler though. The familiar and well-known classic Christmas carols, as well as everything by the talented Alan Silvestri, the film’s lead composer, round out this soundtrack in style, making your home sound like the Polar Express itself.

    If you have kids that are struggling to get into the spirit of Christmas, or you yourself are feeling a bit more Grinch than Santa, I can’t recommend this soundtrack enough to get you right back into the spirit of the season.