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Perfect Presents for Pentatonix

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CCCU chapter.

That’s Christmas To Me by Pentatonix officially made history when it became the highest charting Christmas album by a group in over forty years this week. The a capella group’s second Christmas album rose from #3 to #2 in its sixth week on the Billboard 200 and is now second only to 1989 by Taylor Swift.

No Christmas album by a duo or group has charted higher since Mitch Miller & The Gang reached #1 with Holiday Sing Along With Mitch in January 1962. The only group to come close were Mannheim Steamroller with Christmas in the Aire, which reached #3 in 1995.

And this isn’t Pentatonix’s first Christmas success story. Their first festive album, PTXmas, also broke the top ten, but only reached #7. But that is still an achievement as only ten other groups have landed Christmas albums in the top ten since 1955. With That’s Christmas To Me, Pentatonix have out-done *NYSNC, New Kids on the Block and the cast of Glee.

That’s Christmas To Me has also officially gone gold in the United States, which means that more than 500,000 copies of the album have been sold.

That would be enough for any group. But the good news wasn’t finished for Pentatonix. On top of their Christmas album success, the five have been nominated in the 2014 Grammy Awards for “Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Capella”.

The song in question is Daft Punk, their medley of songs by the band of the same name, from their 2013 album PTX, Vol. II. Their competitors for the award are The Peter McGuinness Jazz Orchestra, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, Alfredo Rodríguez and Amy Dickson.

With almost 7 million YouTube subscribers, over 3000 patrons on Patreon and a Grammy nomination under their belts, it seems that success is Christmas to Pentatonix.

What do you think of PTX’s success? Do you plan to see them on their 2015 tour? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter (@HerCampusCCCU) or in the comments!

Penny Gotch is an Essex girl living in Kent, where she's studying Creative & Professional Writing. She dabbles in everything. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, script: you name it, she does it. In her spare time, she likes music, baking, and watching wrestling. For more information, please check out her website: www.pennygotch.co.uk