O Holy Night is the official debut Christmas EP by American child singer Jackie Evancho. The album was released on November 16, 2010, only two months after Evancho rose to prominence as a finalist on the reality TV show America's Got Talent. Evancho was ten years old when this EP was released.
The album was certified platinum in the U.S. and Canada. Its success made Evancho the top-selling debut artist for 2010, the youngest solo artist ever to debut in the top 10, the youngest person to ever have a US Top 3 album and the youngest solo artist ever to go platinum.
Background The album includes a two-disc set: a CD with four recorded tracks and a DVD with 12 minutes of footage of Evancho's performances and America's Got Talent appearances. It also includes an exclusive interview. It was released on November 16, 2010, and reached rank #1 on Amazon's bestsellers in music during pre-orders on October 19, 2010. Evancho released a music video of her singing "Silent Night"."Silent Night" sung by Jackie Evancho, featuring Jacob Evancho, on MTV.com, 2010, accessed November 17, 2011. Jacob is transgender and is now called Juliet. See Nelson, Jeff. "Jackie Evancho's Sister Juliet Opens Up About Her Transgender Journey", People magazine, October 12, 2015 The disc was produced by Marius de Vries in only three days in the studio.Mitchell, Gail. "Jackie Evancho On Landing Her First Billboard 200 Hit", Billboard.com, November 29, 2010, accessed April 25, 2012
Chart performance O Holy Night debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 with 239,000 copies sold in its first week and sold 142,000 copies in its second week. It remained in the top five for six weeks.O Holy Night, Billboard 200, Week of January 8, 2011 The release made Evancho the top-selling debut artist for 2010, and the youngest solo artist ever to debut in the top 10."Jackie Evancho Tops Rihanna With Debut CD" , AGT News, November 25, 2010, accessed February 24, 2012 The Guinness Book of World Records lists Evancho as "the youngest person to ever have a US Top 3 album"."Youngest US top 3 album act", Guinness World Records, accessed April 4, 2012 The album also debuted at #1 on the Classical Albums Chart[ "Jackie Evancho: Chart History"], Billboard.com, accessed February 24, 2012 and #2 on the Billboard Holiday Albums chart.Holiday Albums, Billboard.com, accessed November 10, 2011 As of December 10, 2010, the album was certified platinum by the RIAA with shipments in excess of a million copies in the US,It was also certified gold. See "Evancho" results, RIAA's Gold & Platinum Program, accessed May 19, 2014 making Evancho the youngest solo artist ever to go platinum.Richardson, Chris. "Jackie Evancho, Greyson Chance following in Justin Bieber's footsteps?" The Christian Science Monitor, May 24, 2011, accessed March 4, 2012 It also debuted at #1 on the Canadian Classical Albums Chart. In January 2011, after the Christmas season, sales of the album fell, and it left the Billboard 200 and Holiday charts.Holiday Albums, Billboard.com, accessed November 24, 2011
By May 2011, the album had sold over 1,000,000 copies in the US."Columbia Hopes to Watch Jackie Go", HITS Digital Ventures, June 7, 2011 In October 2011, with the approach of Christmas, the album's sales increased; it re-entered the Billboard Holiday Albums chart at #10, and in November 2011 it re-entered the Billboard 200 chart, reaching #60, and moved up to #8 on both the Billboard Catalogue Albums chart and Holiday Albums chart."Holiday Albums", Billboard.com, Week of November 12, 2011[ O Holy Night], Billboard.com, accessed December 15, 2011
In its 2011 year-end charts, Billboard ranked O Holy Night at the top of its Classical Albums chart for the year.""Best of 2011: Classical Albums", Billboard.com, accessed December 9, 2011 It also ranked the album as the #15 best selling album of 2011 in the U.S."Best of 2011: Billboard 200 Albums", Billboard.com, accessed December 9, 2011 and as the #31 Canadian Album of 2011."Best of 2011: Top Canadian Albums", Billboard.com, accessed December 9, 2011 The album was listed on the Billboard 200 for a total of 30 weeks, the Holiday Albums chart for a total of 44 weeks, and the Classical Albums chart for a total of 84 weeks.[ "O Holy Night – Jackie Evancho"], Chart History, Billboard, accessed January 14, 2013
Promotion Evancho's first stop in promoting the album was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on September 23, 2010, where she gave her first late-night talk show interview with Jay Leno. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on October 19, 2010, the day of the EP's release, along with singers Susan Boyle and Debby Boone. She sang one of the songs from the album, "Pie Jesu", during the show.Fera, Jessica. "Jackie Evancho Featured on 'Oprah Winfrey Show'", WPXI.com, October 21, 2010, accessed October 12, 2011 Among several other talk shows and QVC appearances, Evancho performed on The Today Show on November 9, 2010,Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie, Oh! Sings to America", Pine-Richland Patch, December 21, 2010, accessed February 24, 2017 The View on November 15, 2010,Stevenson, Jane. "Young Evancho has Talent", Toronto Sun, December 10, 2010, accessed February 22, 2017 Martha Stewart Living on November 30, 2010,"Christmas Cookies & Jackie Evancho", Martha Stewart Living, November 30, 2010, accessed October 26, 2011 and the Fox & Friends Christmas special, broadcast on December 24 and 25, 2010, each of which appearances also featured interviews.Scott & Todd Podcast (Jackie Evancho), promoting O Holy Night 95.5 WPLJ, accessed November 6, 2011
Evancho also performed the title song from the album in the My Macy's Holiday Parade presented by WPXI in Pittsburgh on November 27, 2010.Song and full interview at YouTube. Retrieved 28 October 2010. On November 30, 2010, Evancho sang "O Holy Night" and, together with Katherine Jenkins, "Silent Night", on NBC's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting special, "Christmas in Rockefeller Center".Jackie Evancho and Katherine Jenkins Sing 'Silent Night' at Rockefeller Center, wn.com. Retrieved March 6, 2010. On December 9, 2010, Evancho performed at the National Christmas Tree lighting event in Washington, D.C., singing "O Holy Night", with President Obama and his family present.Obamas, Jackie Evancho, B.B. King and Santa at Christmas Tree lighting , zap2it.com. Retrieved March 6, 2010. She performed "Pie Jesu" on the 27th annual Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade, which aired on ABC television on December 25, 2010.Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade, tv.com. Retrieved February 15, 2011. Evancho sang Pie Jesu during Muhammad Ali's "Celebrity Fight Night" charity event in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 19, 2011.
Track listing
Disc One (CD)
"Silent Night" (3:32) "Panis Angelicus" (3:46) "O Holy Night" (4:40) "Pie Jesu" (2:57)
Disc Two (DVD)
"Panis Angelicus" (YouTube Audition) "O Mio Babbino Caro" (From America's Got Talent) "Time to Say Goodbye" (From America's Got Talent) "Pie Jesu" (From America's Got Talent) "Ave Maria" (From America's Got Talent) "Exclusive interview"
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2010) Peak position
Year-end charts Chart (2011) Position Canadian Albums (Billboard) 31 US Billboard 200 15 US Top Classical Albums (Billboard) 1
Certifications
References
External links Jackieevancho.com Official video of Evancho's "Silent Night" 2010 Video of broadcast of U.S. National Tree Lighting 2010 Live recording of "Pie Jesu" 2010