These Are Special Times is the first English-language holiday album by Canadian singer Celine Dion. Released by Sony Music Entertainment on October 30, 1998, it features cover versions of popular Christmas tunes and original material. Dion worked with David Foster and Ric Wake, who produced most of the tracks for the album. Other producers include R. Kelly and Bryan Adams. Critics praised Dion's commitment to the recorded material, as well as the production of the songs.
These Are Special Times was released after two of Dion's most successful albums, Falling into You (1996) and Let's Talk About Love (1997). It includes the U.S. number-one single, "I'm Your Angel" (duet with R. Kelly) and the Golden Globe winning song, "The Prayer" (also featured in Quest for Camelot). These Are Special Times has sold 5,270,000 copies in the United States as of December 17, 2012 according to Nielsen SoundScan, and has been certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA. In Canada, the album has shipped one million copies and has been certified Diamond by the CRIA. These Are Special Times has sold over twelve million copies worldwide and is one of the best-selling Christmas albums of all time.
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