SiriusXM today published its 2026 holiday music lineup: 25 seasonal channels that begin on Monday, November 2, two more than the 23 it ran last season. According to the release, issued from New York at 10:40 AM EDT, 12 of the channels are given a channel number for at least part of the season, while the other 13 are listed for the SiriusXM app alone. One detail is missing. SiriusXM's holiday announcements in 2023, 2024 and 2025 all described the lineup as ad-free in their subheadlines. This year's release does not use the term, and it says nothing either way about advertising on the channels.

In Short

SiriusXM, the satellite radio and streaming company, is bringing back its Christmas and holiday music stations, 25 of them this year, starting November 2. About half are only in the SiriusXM app, while 12 get a channel number, and some of those only switch on in December or for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In past years SiriusXM called these stations ad-free; this year's announcement does not use that word and does not say whether ads will play.

What runs, and when

Most of the lineup follows one calendar. Nineteen of the 25 channels run on the SiriusXM app from November 2 through December 27, a Sunday. Three stay on the app longer, until January 6: Christmas Spirit, which draws on contemporary Christian artists heard on SiriusXM's The Message; Holly, the holiday hits channel built around artists such as Mariah Carey, Michael Bublé and Kelly Clarkson; and Navidad, the Latin Christmas channel. Holiday Traditions is listed as "Available on the SiriusXM app year-round." Radio Hanukkah has its own window, December 2 through December 14. And New Year's Nation, the only channel with no app listing at all, takes over channel 144 from December 28 through January 1.

The release opens the season with a single sentence of scheduling: "The most wonderful time of the year starts Monday, November 2 on SiriusXM, with many channels launching in-car and streaming on the SiriusXM app." The channel-by-channel listings show how uneven that launch is. Only six of the numbered channels start on November 2. Three more join on December 2. Two appear for just two days.

Channel Number Dates on the numbered channel Dates on the app
Jimmy Fallon's Holiday Seasoning Radio 14 November 2 - December 27 November 2 - December 27
Acoustic Christmas 17 December 24 - December 25 November 2 - December 27
Country Christmas 58 December 2 - December 27 November 2 - December 27
Holiday Pops 66 December 24 - December 25 November 2 - December 27
Holiday Traditions 71 November 2 - December 27 Year-round
Smokey's Holiday Soul Town 74 December 2 - December 27 November 2 - December 27
Christmas Spirit 79 December 2 - December 27 November 2 - January 6
Holly 144 November 2 - December 27 November 2 - January 6
New Year's Nation 144 December 28 - January 1 Not listed
Hallmark Radio 300 November 2 - December 27 November 2 - December 27
Jolly Christmas 608 November 2 - December 27 November 2 - December 27
Navidad 626 November 2 - January 6 November 2 - January 6

The 13 channels listed only for the app are 70s/80s Holiday, Cool Jazz Christmas, Holiday Chill-Out, Holiday Instrumentals, Jingle Jamz, Kids Christmas, Mannheim Steamroller Channel, Noël Incontournable, Radio Hanukkah, Real Jazz Holiday, Rockin' Xmas, Sleep Christmas and Trans-Siberian Orchestra Radio. Between them they cover R&B and hip-hop, two styles of jazz, francophone holiday music, children's songs, downtempo electronic and house music, classic and hard rock, and meditative versions of carols intended for sleep.

Three returns and one exit

Set against SiriusXM's November 4, 2025 announcement, which listed 23 channels, the 2026 lineup adds three and drops one, by PPC Land's comparison of the two releases. The additions are 70s/80s Holiday, Acoustic Christmas and Holiday Chill-Out. None of them is new. All three appeared in SiriusXM's 26-channel lineups of 2023 and 2024, and the release describes Holiday Chill-Out as "Back by popular demand." The channel that disappears is Holidays with Anne Murray and Friends, which ran on the app last season and is not mentioned this year.

So the count of 25 is higher than last year but still one short of the 26 channels SiriusXM listed in both November 2023 and October 2024. The start date has drifted too: November 8 in 2023, November 1 in 2024, November 4 in 2025 and November 2 this year. The main app window now closes on December 27 rather than December 26.

Several channel numbers have also moved. Hallmark Radio, on channel 105 last season, is listed on channel 300. Holly moves from 79 to 144, and New Year's Nation follows it to 144 after Christmas. Christmas Spirit, which used channel 65 in December 2025, now takes channel 79. Holiday Pops moves from 78 to 66, Jimmy Fallon's channel from 15 to 14, and Jolly Christmas, an app-only channel in 2025, gains channel 608. Acoustic Christmas, back in the lineup, gets channel 17 for two days. Country Christmas (58), Holiday Traditions (71), Smokey's Holiday Soul Town (74) and Navidad (626) keep last year's numbers. Radio Hanukkah, which ran from December 14 to December 22 last year, moves to December 2 through December 14.

The missing word

Why does a phrase matter? For three consecutive years, SiriusXM used the same claim near the top of its holiday release. In November 2023 and October 2024 the subheadlines referred to 26 ad-free channels, and in November 2025 to 23 ad-free channels. The 2026 subheadline reads differently: "Lineup features channels produced and presented by celebrated personalities and iconic brands, including Jimmy Fallon, Hallmark, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and more." Neither the subheadline nor the body text describes the channels as ad-free or commercial-free, and the release does not state that any of them will carry advertising. Whether the change reflects a decision about the channels or only about the copy cannot be established from the document.

The wording matters to buyers because SiriusXM's music channels have been changing commercially. In July 2025 the company introduced SiriusXM Play, a subscription priced under $7 a month that carries advertising, with an ad load SiriusXM put at about half that of traditional AM/FM radio. Scott Walker, SiriusXM's chief advertising revenue officer, said at the time that the plan opened new inventory for marketers, including premium curated music. The holiday release does not mention Play, nor the $5-a-month Sports Pass that went on sale to new US subscribers on September 1, 2026. It states only that "SiriusXM's holiday channels are available to subscribers in their cars and on the SiriusXM app," without saying which plans include them.

Advertising on SiriusXM's own satellite service remains small next to Pandora. In the second quarter of 2026, SiriusXM reported advertising revenue of $454 million, of which $41 million came from the SiriusXM service, up 8%, on demand around sports including the FIFA World Cup 2026 and college athletics. The Pandora and Off-Platform segment produced $413 million, up 5%, with streaming music ad demand described as softer. Three months earlier, first-quarter satellite advertising revenue fell 10% to $35 million, which the company attributed mainly to weaker demand on news channels.

Hallmark, Fallon and listener messages

The subheadline frames the lineup around brands and personalities rather than genres, and several channel descriptions double as promotion for their partners' own catalogues. Hallmark Radio includes "new music from this year's Hallmark original movies and series." Jimmy Fallon's Holiday Seasoning Radio plays music from his Christmas album, Holiday Seasoning, alongside artists such as Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Bing Crosby and Dolly Parton. Trans-Siberian Orchestra Radio carries the band's Christmas discography and "exclusive concert recordings." On the Mannheim Steamroller Channel, founder Chip Davis presents "more than four decades of the group's iconic Christmas recordings" and the Fresh Aire series. Smokey Robinson fronts Smokey's Holiday Soul Town, built on Motown and 1960s and 1970s soul.

Listeners are also invited to supply material. Through a seasons greetings page, according to SiriusXM, fans can "record a voice or video message to share their favorite holiday memories, request seasonal songs, or send festive shout-outs for a chance to be featured on their favorite holiday channels." Hallmark Radio has its own Joy Line and Jimmy Fallon's channel a Holiday Hotline, each offering a chance to be heard on air. The release does not set out terms for how submitted recordings may be used. The submissions are a form of UGC, and they sit beside a conventional acquisition offer: the release closes by stating that "Eligible customers can get their first three months of SiriusXM for free," with details behind an offer link.

Why it matters for audio buyers

The channels run through the core of the retail calendar. Adobe puts US online holiday spending at $275.1 billion for November 1 through December 31, up 6.7%, and SiriusXM's main holiday schedule, November 2 to December 27, sits almost entirely inside that period. Audio listening overall is under pressure: Comscore data showed the top 20 US audio properties logged about 36 billion fewer minutes in July 2026 than a year earlier, while 58% of surveyed listeners said they preferred free audio with ads to paying.

The release's boilerplate repeats that SiriusXM "reaches approximately 255 million monthly listeners across its platforms" and offers "a complete ecosystem of advertising solutions through SiriusXM Media and AdsWizz." That figure is not a subscriber count. SiriusXM had about 33 million subscribers at the end of June, and the 255 million total, which SiriusXM Media repeated at its Built With Audio event on October 6, includes the reach SiriusXM Media now sells through its exclusive US representation of YouTube's audio inventory, agreed on April 22, 2026. The holiday release gives no listening figures for previous holiday seasons and no audience estimate for the 2026 channels.

SiriusXM reported self-pay monthly churn of approximately 1.4% in the second quarter, the lowest in its history, and the release does not connect the holiday channels to subscriber targets. A year earlier, SiriusXM reported third-quarter 2025 advertising revenue of $455 million, up 1%, with self-pay monthly churn of 1.6%. Third-quarter 2026 results are due tomorrow, October 29, with a conference call at 8:00 a.m. ET, according to SiriusXM's October 5 notice. The holiday channels go live four days later.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Sirius XM Holdings, through its SiriusXM subscription service, with channels presented by Jimmy Fallon, Hallmark, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller founder Chip Davis and Smokey Robinson.

What: SiriusXM set out 25 seasonal music channels, up from 23 in 2025, adding back 70s/80s Holiday, Acoustic Christmas and Holiday Chill-Out and dropping Holidays with Anne Murray and Friends. Twelve channels have a channel number for part of the season and 13 are listed for the app only. Unlike the 2023, 2024 and 2025 releases, this one does not describe the channels as ad-free, and it does not say whether any will carry advertising or which plans include them.

When: The release was issued today, October 28, 2026, at 10:40 AM EDT. The channels start on November 2, most end on December 27, three run on the app until January 6, and New Year's Nation airs December 28 through January 1. Third-quarter results follow on October 29.

Where: Announced from New York, for SiriusXM subscribers in their cars and on the SiriusXM app.

Why: Holiday programming is an annual fixture for SiriusXM and a subscriber offer timed to the peak retail period. For advertisers, the absence of the ad-free wording, set against the 2025 launch of the ad-supported SiriusXM Play, is the detail the release leaves unexplained.