The Eagles have raised $3 million with ‘A Philly Special Christmas Special’
Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson's second holiday album raised more than twice as much money for Philly charities as their first.
The numbers are in: A Philly Special Christmas Special, the second holiday album by Philadelphia Eagles Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson, has raised $3 million for Philadelphia charities.
That’s more than double the $1.25 million raised by A Philly Special Christmas, the 2022 debut LP by the singing football players. This year, the biggest beneficiaries of the singing offensive linemen’s efforts are the Children Crisis Treatment Center of Philadelphia toy drive and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Snowflake Station.
Connor Barwin, the former Eagle and head of player development for the team, who is executive producer of the album, said both CCTC and CHOP would receive $250,000.
Other charities receiving smaller amounts of Philly Special funding include Philabundance, Ronald McDonald House, Freed America, Toys for Tots, and Fresh Air Fund plus many area organizations selected by the musicians who played on the album. These include Attic Youth Center, MANNA, Philadelphia Children Alliance, and Rock to the Future.
The doubling of the project’s charitable total is due to its popularity. The Eagles themselves may not have been thriving of late, but the Eagles Christmas album has.
Sixty-one thousand total units have been sold, including a $75 limited-edition red vinyl LP that’s sold out, a $150 gold vinyl double disc that includes both this year’s and last year’s album, and a $50 7-inch single of the Jason Kelce-sung “Santa’s Night” and “Dominick the Donkey,” which is packaged with a puzzle of Peanuts-inspired art by Hannah Westerman. Various configurations are still on sale via phillyspecialchristmas.com.
» READ MORE: All the songs from the Eagles’ new Christmas album reviewed.
“We donated $1.3 million last year, and just over three this year,” Barwin said, despite much higher costs with the stop-motion video by the Mount Airy-based unPOP production company and more people and content involved.
The 11 songs on A Philly Special Christmas Special songs have been streamed over 10 million times across all music platforms.
The album’s popularity “is a testament to the power of music, friendship, community, the city of Philadelphia, and most of all, the enjoyment we had making and sharing these songs,” said producer Charlie Hall in a statement.
In addition to Mailata, Johnson, and the Kelce Brothers — and a star turn by defensive tackle Jordan Davis on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” — A Philly Special Christmas Special includes contributions from Philly musical luminaries Patti LaBelle, Amos Lee, and Lil Dicky.
» READ MORE: The Birds are singing again: Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson have a new Eagles’ Christmas album
“Fairytale of Philadelphia,” the Philly-ized reworking of the Pogues’ holiday standard, “Fairytale of New York,” reached #1 on iTunes. In his final post before his death on X, formerly known as Twitter, Pogues singer Shane MacGowan gave the Kelce brothers’ version his blessing.
An all-star band of local musicians played on the album, including Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian of the Hooters, keyboard players Zach Miller and Luke Carlos O’Reilly, bass player Anthony Tidd, guitarist Kevin Hanson, drummer Justin Faulkner, horn players Matt Cappy and Nasir Dickerson, and steel guitarist Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner.
Plans have not been announced to make a third Philly Special album, but back in September, Hall said that he had a wish list of singers to record with, including Taylor Swift and Boyz II Men, among others. “I think everyone would want to do at least one more, and take last year’s and this year’s and round it out into a trilogy. It’s so fun. It’s hard to imagine not doing more,” he said.