Who composed the song 'White Christmas'?

Irving Berlin composed the song “White Christmas.”

Berlin wrote it for the 1942 film musical Holiday Inn, where Bing Crosby first performed it. The song contrasts a longing for snowy, old-fashioned holidays with the warmer California setting mentioned in its original opening verse.

Crosby’s recording became enormously popular during World War II, when its homesick mood resonated with soldiers stationed far from home. The song won Berlin the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards.

A common mix-up is naming Bing Crosby, but he was the best-known singer and recording artist, not the composer. Berlin wrote both the music and lyrics.