Just a few months ago, on one of those roasting-hot days in July or August, several dozen of our favorite artists slipped into a recording studio somewhere, took a deep breath and started singing "Frosty the Snowman."

Recording albums of Christmas and holiday songs is one of the most familiar rituals of the music business ‹ and also one of its most reliable.

No matter what else happens in any given year, it's a safe bet that when Jack Frost starts nipping at their ¯noses, millions of people will feel an irresistible urge to hear "White Christmas" and "O Holy Night."

Today, then, we take a look at the new holiday CDs this year and sort out which ones deserve a special place ¯under the tree ‹ and which ones should go directly into Santa's landfill.

It might seem that it would be really easy for a famous artist, or a good artist, to make a best-selling record of holiday songs.

After all, you don't need a focus group to tell you that "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" will sell. You probably don't even have to learn the words, because you've heard them every year since you were 2. But there's a catch.

A recent report from Media Monitors, which tracked 50 major radio stations that played all-holiday music last year, noted that every one of the 10 most-played recordings was cut at least 30 years ago. The most recent was John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," recorded in 1971.

That is to say, holiday and Christmas ¯music is an area where traditional favorites are deeply entrenched and very hard to dislodge. Still, because it is the season of hope, new artists keep jumping in, and every year we get some keepers.