A Mary Christmas

It was confirmed in June 2013 that Blige had been working on a Christmas album, in an interview with Charleston Scene.[2] In that interview, Blige revealed featured artists to be on the record would be Jessie J, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and Barbra Streisand, with whom she duets a "jazzy version" of "When You Wish Upon a Star."

This album is the first collaboration between legendary producer and hit-maker David Foster and Blige. The album will also be released on The Verve Music Group, in which Foster is the chairman of. Foster is also the producer of multi-platinum Christmas albums by Michael Bublé, Rod Stewart, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Celine Dion.[3] Chris Walden wrote two arrangements for the album.[4]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	49/100[5]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[6]
The Guardian	[7]
The Independent	[8]
Los Angeles Times	[9]
Slant Magazine	[10]

A Mary Christmas received generally mixed or average reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 49, based on 5 reviews.[5] Andy Kellman of AllMusic rated A Mary Christmas three out of five stars. He felt that the album "won't likely reach the high status of, say, Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas, but it's a full-effort holiday release that many of her fans should be able to enjoy for several years."[6] Tim Jonze of The Guardian gave the album 2 stars, saying that it seemed very similar to a formula used by The X Factor contestants of putting out Christmas albums. He applauded Blige's vocals, but specifically criticized her cover of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, calling it unlistenable.[11] Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine gave the album 2.5 out of 5 stars, criticizing the album for not taking any risks, along with the kid-friendly songs included on the album.[12] Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times gave the album 2 stars, criticizing the album's overproduction, stating the production made the songs very overwhelming.[13]

A Mary Christmas debuted at number 23 on the US Billboard 200 and at number 5 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums with first week sales of 12,000 copies. After four weeks of fluctuating on the chart, A Mary Christmas entered the top 20 for the first time in its sixth week, rising from number 22 to number 13 with a 110% sales increase to 31,000 copies.[14] In its seventh week, the album experienced an 82% increase to 57,000 copies sold, despite falling two positions to number 15.[15] In its eight-week, the album rose to number 10 despite a 10% drop to 51,000 copies, giving Blige her 12th top ten album.[16] A Mary Christmas rose less than 1% to 52,000 copies sold in its ninth week, falling one spot to number 11.[17] In its tenth week, A Mary Christmas fell to number 13 with a 25% increase to 64,000 copies sold, the album's best-selling week.[18] In its eleventh week, the album sold approximately 32,000 copies (a decline of 49% from the previous week) and placed at number 21 on the Billboard 200, reflecting the end of the 2013 holiday season.[19][20][21] A Mary Christmas was the third best-selling Christmas album of 2013 with 328,000 copies sold for the year.[22]

On December 4, 2013, the album was certified Gold by the RIAA.[23]

All songs produced by David Foster.

• MaryJBlige.com — official site