A Very Special Christmas is the first in the A Very Special Christmas series of Christmas-themed compilation albums produced to benefit the Special Olympics. The album was released on October 12, 1987, and production was overseen by Jimmy Iovine for A&M Records. A Very Special Christmas has raised millions of dollars for the Special Olympics. The cover artwork was designed by Keith Haring.
On January 16, 1998, the album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipment of four million copies in the United States.
As of November 2014, A Very Special Christmas is the 19th best-selling Christmas/holiday album in the United States during the SoundScan era of music sales tracking (March 1991 – present), having sold 2,520,000 copies according to SoundScan.
Contents
Track listing
Notes
^[a]First pressings of the album contain a spoken introduction on The Pretenders' "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", presumably by a child. This introduction was later omitted, shortening the track by about 13 seconds.
^[b]Starting in 1992, "Back Door Santa" was replaced by another Bon Jovi song, "I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas", which originally appeared as a B-side on their single "Keep the Faith".
Personnel
According to the liner notes:
Musicians
Technical personnel