The King of Rock and Roll still holds the title of best-selling Christmas album of all time with over 10 million copies sold. In 2012, the RIAA awarded its Diamond award to the Elvis Presley Estate for “Elvis’ Christmas Album,” which has sold the most copies of any Christmas album in the United States. Second to Presley is Kenny G’s Miracles: The Holiday Album which has sold 7.37 million copies.
The Diamond certification awarded in 2012 represents sales from the 1970 version. That means that both editions have sold a total of 13 million copies. The album has sold an additional 2 million copies in the rest of the world.
One of the songs on the album was a source of controversy when it was released in October 1957. The composer of “White Christmas,” Irving Berlin, did not like Presley’s version of the song and tried to get it banned from radio stations across the country. Presley sang the song in the same style as The Drifters R&B version. However, The Drifters rendition did not cause as much controversy because it was only played on black radio stations.
Most radio stations refused to comply with Berlin’s request to stop playing Presley’s version. “Elvis’ Christmas Album” hit the album charts every year for the next five years.
[Note: See the 2020 updated version of this article – click here]
Elvis News Examiner 
Just wonder… When checking this story a couple of years ago, several sources could tell us that the story about Irving Berlins wish to ban the song is just a story, fake news if we should use todays language…
“One of the songs on the album was a source of controversy when it was released in October 1957. The composer of “White Christmas,” Irving Berlin, did not like Presley’s version of the song and tried to get it banned from radio stations across the country.”
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I’m not sure what your sources are, but Elvis’ friend and Memphis DJ George Klein has told the same story on air, and he was there!
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Well… Check out this…
https://silentmovieblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/29/elvis-presley-irving-berlin-and-white-christmas/
Do you actually have other information that this? When did George mention this for the first time…?
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This is interesting! Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I heard George Klein say it on air in the last 5 years – and he also mentioned it in his book. I looked it up in the Elvis Day by Day book by Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen and they say that Irving Berlin wrote to every major radio station in the country requesting a ban of Presley’s version. That means there must be an actual letter that existed. I’d have to do some more research and maybe write an article about this for next Christmas season!
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It is also more about it here, and still is the year 1990 and not beyond further down…
http://www.elvisinfonet.com/Spotlight-the-Truth-about%20Elvis-Christmas-Album.html
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FYI – After researching the controversy around “White Christmas”, I’ve updated this article. Here’s the link: https://elvis-news.com/2020/10/18/elvis-presleys-best-selling-album-ever-is-also-number-one-christmas-album-of-all-time/
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