The album earned largely negative reviews from music critics, who panned its production and Ashanti's singing. Ashanti's Christmas peaked at number 160 on the Billboard 200 and number 43 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. As for singles, Ashanti released a medley which featured the songs "Christmas Time Again", "The Christmas Song", and "Hey Santa". A video was shot for the medley and it received moderate rotation on BET and MTV. A reworked version of the original song "Time of Year" would later appear on Ashanti's second Christmas project, the 2013 EP A Wonderful Christmas with Ashanti.
Ashanti's Christmas earned largely negative reviews from music critics. Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian found that Ashanti exhibits "zip" on Ashanti's Christmas, further writing: "Her pure tones complement a very contemporary minxy streak that's dying to unwrap all those exciting presents. "Hey Santa" is the stand-out: a list of demands ("How about a diamond bracelet, a baby-blue convertible...") delivered with the charm that typifies the rest of the album."[3]Slant Magazine editor Alexa Camp felt that the "production values on Ashanti’s Christmas are so bargain-basement that they actually match the poor girl’s singing abilities. Occasionally (and I stress occasionally), Ashanti’s voice actually outshines the low-budget, Casio keyboard production and Karaoke machine synth strings."[2]
AllMusic editor David Jeffries found that Ashanti's Christmas features Irv Gotti's "least slick and least satisfying production work. Ashanti's voice fits sweet holiday music well, and she could deliver an excellent Christmas album given the chance, but it seems Gotti can't be bothered to surround her with anything worthwhile [...] A drum machine that chugs on and on before someone has the good sense to turn it off takes up the last 30 seconds of the 20-minute album. It's a perfectly lifeless moment that caps off a perfectly humdrum album."[1] In another negative review, Tracy E. Hopkins from Rolling Stone wrote that "if you're looking for spirit, you won't find it on Ashanti's joyless Christmas album." She noted that "the thin-piped songbird nearly redeems herself, however, on the sentimental "Time of Year" and karaoke-worthy covers of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" and the old standby "Silent Night." But even those songs don't generate enough warmth to shake off the album's bah humbugs."[4]
Chart performance
Ashanti's Christmas debuted at number 167 on the US Billboard 200 in the week of December 6, 2003.[5] It eventually peaked at number 160 two weeks later.[5] It also reached number 13 on the Top Holiday Albums chart.[6] On December 16, 2003, MTV News reported that the album had sold 37,000 copies in the United States.[7]
