For your Chanuka party
From Yeshiva to YouTube Fame: The Chanukah Playlist That Changed Everything
It's been fifteen years since the Maccabeats released "Candlelight." As the holiday nears its end, here is a look at some of the top songs in this new era of Chanuka music.
In 2010, a bunch of clean-cut yeshiva kids from New York released a fun Chanuka parody on YouTube and accidentally changed the future of Jewish pop culture. Candlelight went viral, the Maccabeats became stars overnight, and being Jewish became cool, or at least sounded better. The next decade and a half have proved that the Maccabeats started a revolution, not one small flame but a flood of artists taking pop culture and connecting it to their roots, traditions, and religion. As Chanuka nears its end, we take a look back at the songs that have become our Chanuka party playlist. Eight great songs for eight crazy nights, let's go.
1. The Maccabeats – Candlelight (2010)
Parodying Taio Cruz’s Dynamite, this was the song that launched the entire movement. It remains the most-viewed Chanuka song ever and set the template for everything that followed.
2. The Maccabeats – Miracle (2012)
A cover of Matisyahu’s own Chanuka song released the previous year rather than a parody, the Maccabeats proved that Candlelight was no flash in the frying pan and that Chanuka a capella was a real genre, here to stay.
3. The Maccabeats – Latke Recipe (2014)
A 2014 parody of Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass, this song leaned fully into food culture. Its success confirmed that Chanuka music did not need theology, just good vibes and carbs. This is also the song that taught me to make latkes when I was living on my own and still how I cook.
4. The Maccabeats – Burn (2018)
Parodying Ellie Goulding’s Burn, this entry came at a pivotal time as the Maccabeats matured beyond a college a capella group. The music video, focusing on Jewish pride in a less-than-friendly environment, is especially touching.
5. Six13 – Chanukah (Shake It Off parody) (2014)
This Taylor Swift parody arrived right at peak 1989-era dominance. It cemented Six13 as the other major force in modern Chanuka music, joining the Maccabeats and turning Chanuka officially into the a capella holiday.
6. Six13 – Bohemian Chanukah (2016)
A full-scale parody of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, performed with total commitment. One of the most difficult songs in pop turned into the reason I never get the words of the original right when it plays on the radio.
7. Matisyahu – Happy Hanukkah (2012)
The first non-parody on the list. Many had written Matisyahu off when his song Sunshine dropped, as the reggae star shed his hat and payos and seemingly went his own way. He returned to us with a Chanuka present to remind us he hadn't abandoned his roots.
8. Puppy for Hanukkah – Daveed Diggs (2020)
We close out with a song that came from an unexpected direction. Proud Jew Daveed Diggs, star of Hamilton and plenty of other things, drops an unbearably catchy Chanuka song with the Disney Channel that made even me want a puppy for Chanuka.
9. Bonus Shamash - Six13 – Hasmonean (A Hamilton Chanukah) (2016)
Speaking of Hamilton, we finish where we began. A parody of Hamilton released while the cultural moment was still white-hot, the Maccabeats turned one history lesson into another with this beautiful medley. They'll tell the story for eight nights!