New Year’s Day 2026

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As usual, I am marking the start of a New Year with some suitable tunes. These are a collection of the usual suspects, so I apologise for anyone sensing a feeling of déjà vu!

I usually start with this one, so I might as well do that again:

ABBA released Happy New Year on the album Super Trouper in November 1980, just in time for me to buy it for my now ex-wife for Christmas. I wouldn’t have claimed to be an ABBA fan – that was her job – but I have to admit that they made some fine records. The album reached #1 in the UK, Sweden, and three other countries, and made the top ten in another seven. It got as high as #17 in the US where, for some reason, the band were never as successful as elsewhere, though chart placings like that still meant massive sales. It was eventually released as a single, but not until 1999 as a trailer for a compilation album, and only reached #34 in their native Sweden. This lyric video is relatively new, though: it was released in late 2022 and included an enhanced version of the original video. Some find this a depressing song, but I disagree: I think that the two people involved are looking ahead and not wanting to make the same mistakes again: a good place from which to begin a new year.

This next one didn’t get an airing last year, so it feels right to bring it back again now:

For me, Van Morrison just oozes class and style, and I absolutely love this song and video, which matches the song’s feel beautifully. I have played this three times before, in 2019, 2023 and 2024, and it is always well-received.  It first appeared on Van’s album Magic Time, released in May 2005, peaking at #3 in the UK Albums chart and at #25 in the US. This track was released as a single but wasn’t a hit – not really chart material, I think.

I’m returning to a couple of my favourites for the next two songs – two women with wonderful voices. First, the delightful Kate Rusby:

The Miner’s Dream Of Home is from Kate’s first (of six) albums of Christmas and seasonal songs, Sweet Bells, which was released in December 2008 and made #91 in the UK. The song isn’t an original of hers, though. There are several attributions, but the generally accepted story is that it was written in 1891 by Will Godwin and Leo Dryden. Dryden sang it in music hall performances and recorded it in 1898. It was also recorded by Peter Dawson (‘Australia’s first man of song’ in case you didn’t know – so not the kiddy-fiddler, then). Dawson’s version is taken a little faster, which I find totally unsuited to what is actually a heart-breaking song from the perspective of a young man looking back at year end, and dreaming of home and family. I think Kate does it far more justice – this is beautiful.

And this is equally lovely:

Over the years I have played several different videos for this song, including one of a live performance in which Mary Chapin Carpenter gave her explanation of its background: New Year’s Day is based on a dream she had about a meeting with a friend, which she noted down and turned into the most beautiful song. As she says, “We dwell on possibility on New Year’s Day.”  The song originally featured on her album Ashes And Roses, released in June 2012, which reached #26 in the UK and #72 in the US. Like everything she does, it is a beautiful record, and comes highly recommended by me.

I’ve played this next one several times previously, including last year, when I gave my usual apology for being a day late with it:

The Foo Fighters are a long-time favourite band of mine. This is very much a stylised ‘looking ahead’ song, and I love its video. They may be one of the loudest rock bands on the planet but when they go into softer mode I think they really excel. This one reached #17 in the US Alternative chart and crept up to #42 in the UK: criminally underrated, in my view. It was also a track on their third album, There Is Nothing Left To Lose, released in November 1999, which peaked at #10 in both the UK and the US. If you never thought you’d see a rock band on the Moon, this is your chance.

As I have done several times in the past – including last year – I’m closing the regular set with this one. This is the standard traditional New Year song, and I have played my favourite recording of it on several occasions, so with absolutely no apologies for playing the same version again, here it is:

You may well remember Mindy Smith from my Advent Countdown. I can never get enough of her beautiful voice, though, and this is so lovely. For the video to accompany her version of the song she asked fans to send her photos of those they loved or had lost, or maybe both. The resulting collage is absolutely wonderful, and is made even better if you watch it on YouTube and see the heartfelt comments from people whose photos were featured. This really does capture the turn of year reflective mood so very well.

That would be it for today, as I have already played six tunes, but I have one more for you. Over the years it has become my custom to give you an encore which is a reminder of my childhood. One of my earliest memories of New Year’s Day is the televised concert of Strauss family music from Vienna, which my late Mum loved and we watched with her and Dad, along with the ski jumping from Garmisch-Partenkirchen which followed it. These were both rare treats in the late 1950s/early 1960s, when daytime TV was still a novelty and before wall to wall TV took over. The closing delight of the concert was always the final encore, the Radetzky March, during which the conductor would turn to the audience and conduct their hand-clapping. This has always seemed to me to be the epitome of the joy and hopefulness that the start of a new year can bring, and I think it is a suitable way to bring my set of New Year’s Day music to a close. This is the 2016 performance, conducted by Mariss Jansons:

My apologies to US readers. I hadn’t realised that this last video was blocked there but you should be able to see this one, which is only blocked in Austria!

And that is definitely my lot for today. It is now concert time for me, and then I’ll be finding the ski jumping to keep my reminiscences going. However you spend the day, I hope it is a good one for you, and that the coming twelve months will be equally good. All that remains is for me to wish you a

57 thoughts on “New Year’s Day 2026”

  5. You can never go wrong with Van Morrison, as far as I’m concerned. I have stuck with him since the earliest days of ‘Them’, and I have even seen him in concert, which was rare of me to make the effort to do that.

    Best wishes, Pete.

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  6. enjoyed the van Morrison song, again. He does ooze style…

    and Kate’s Irish voice goes well with that song 🙂

    another great Mary Chapin Carpenter song. I wonder if she is the artist you have featured most often…

    is the Foo Fighters song a promo video for Elon Musk and Space X? 🙂

    great version of a classic by Mindy. the video is also wonderful.

    the final video was not available for viewing for me, but I watched the last part of the video you posted in your comments – that was great.

    Happy New Year!

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  12. Happy New Year, Clive! You’ve given us a treat with this selection here. I hadn’t heard the Abba song this festive season, so lovely to catch up with that and loving the variety of the rest. Wishing you well in 2026.

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  14. Happy new year, Clive. Some good music here, but what caught my eye was “ski jumping.” I love watching alpine skiing (the gals, mainly) on TV, and I’m the only one I know who engages in this odd behavior!

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    • And Happy New Year to you too, Pete. To be honest I don’t watch much in the way of alpine sports, but the ski jumping was a family tradition for today since I was very little, and gives me a reminder of two lovely parents.

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  20. What I find engaging here is how the day is framed through music rather than through abstract resolution or calendar symbolism. New Year songs often carry an odd emotional duality, part optimism, part residue, and the selections you allude to seem to sit precisely in that in-between space rather than forcing celebration.

    There is something quietly honest about letting music do the work of marking time. Songs remember what dates cannot. They hold memory, mood, and continuity in a way that feels more durable than ritual declarations of change. Approaching New Year’s Day through listening rather than proclamation feels both restrained and humane.

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