In the United States, "Santa Baby" became the best-selling Christmas song of 1953 and found more success, retrospectively, when it entered various component charts by Billboard in the 2000s and 2010s.

Madonna's cover has sold over 500,000 copies in the United States and was subject to discussion by many music critics, who believed her version revived the popularity of the song.

In August 1953, songwriters Philip Springer and Joan Javits were commissioned to write a Christmas song for Eartha Kitt for the upcoming holiday season.

[9] The same label also distributed a four track promotional extended play titled White Christmas that same year, featuring Kitt's version of "Santa Baby" as the second A-side.

[10] In 1987, Collectables Records released a limited edition 7 inch single of Kitt's "C'est si bon" (1953) paired with "Santa Baby" on the flip side.

[11] In 1960, Kitt recorded a new studio version of "Santa Baby" for her Kapp album Revisited with Maurice Levine as musical director.

[13] According to the official sheet music for the song at Musicnotes.com, "Santa Baby" is set in common time with a moderately slow tempo of 84 beats per minute.

"[1] In a 2019 poll created by Evening Standard, Kitt's version of "Santa Baby" was voted the ninth "most annoying festive song" by British listeners.

[2] RCA Victor, Kitt's label at the time, referred to the single as "far more than a seasonal success [...] but a further tribute to Eartha's art – for, as each of us desires, she can make every day of the year seem like Christmas".

[19] During the week of December 21, 2012, "Santa Baby" peaked at number 11 on Billboard's seasonal Holiday Digital Song Sales chart in the United States.

[32][33] Following the mixed reception that music critics gave to "Santa Baby" in 1953, Springer and Javits reworked the song completely for the upcoming year.

Randall Norberts from the Los Angeles Times insisted that "Madonna was the perfect adapter for the song when she recorded it in 1987", comparing the lyrical messages between "Santa Baby" and her 1985 single "Material Girl".

[1] In Madonna's version of "Santa Baby", the singer heightened her range by half of an octave in order to "reach the aggressively cutesy 'baby voice' that the song has come to be associated with".

[67] In his review for Kansas Pitch, David Cantwell said "Madonna's recording of 'Santa Boy' is so lame that it actually succeeds in making the phrase 'merry Christmas' seem like a contradiction in terms".

"[70] Paris Close, also a writer for Billboard, included the cover in her list of "15 Songs For an LGBTQ Holiday Kiki" and claimed its sex appeal would be enough to "spice up any occasion".

[78] She released a different holiday-themed extended play in Europe titled A Christmas Gift, which featured two tracks from her eleventh studio album Aphrodite (2010) and closed with "Santa Baby".

[81] With the inclusion of streaming data in chart tabulations in the late 2010s, Minogue's version of "Santa Baby" attained most of its commercial success nearly two decades after its initial release.

It reappeared at number 56 the following year, which led Jack White from the Official Charts Company to predict that it would reach the top 50 in Ireland during 2019.

In 2007, American singer Kellie Pickler recorded a cover of "Santa Baby" for the country-themed compilation album, Hear Something Country Christmas.

[105][106] Following the album's release, the song was distributed as a promotional CD single in the United States by BNA Records and Sony BMG Nashville in 2007.

[147] Carolyn Menyes from Music Times ranked it as the best song on Christmas Kisses, awarding particular praise to its production and Grande and Gillies's chemistry.

[162][163] The project was first unveiled in mid-October 2016 and was billed as the couple's first collaborative album, consisting of a combination of duets and solo works from both Yearwood and Brooks.

[164][165] "Santa Baby" does not feature a guest performance from Brooks but Yearwood is joined by Tania Hancheroff, Jon Mark Ivey, Shane McConnell, Lisa Silver, and Kira Small who provide backing vocals.

[181] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine described the style of Stefani's version as a hybrid of Kitt's original slow rendition and the revised uptempo one.

On the November 20, 2017, episode of NBC's Today, Stefani was featured as a guest and performed "Santa Baby", "When I Was a Little Girl", and "Christmas Eve" to the studio audience.

[70] David Smyth, a writer for London's Evening Standard, enjoyed Stefani's version "Santa Baby" and highlighted it as one of the stronger offerings on You Make It Feel Like Christmas.

The video, conceptualized as eerie house party footage with a glitchy, VHS-tape-like crackling quality,[195] kicks off with Kardashian in a blonde bob wig slowly crawling across the floor on her hands and knees.

She passes a donkey alongside a businessman making phone calls, a sleeping elf, women in their underwear on a Twister mat, a man dressed as Jesus raiding the fridge and more "surreal guests" and "absurd vignettes".

"[201] Writing for The Cut, Cat Zhang described the video as "sexy housewife of drug lord drops too much valium into her eggnog and crawls dizzily around the house", and wondered about the purpose of the project: "Is this all just an elaborate Skims advertisement or is Kim just a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick?

[197] Lindsay Lowe of Today, Kimberly Nordyke of The Hollywood Reporter and Logan DeLoye of iHeartRadio also pointed out the fans' polarized reactions.