Pogues’ Fairytale voted all-time favourite

Thursday, December 10, 2009

THE POGUES song Fairytale of New York – which has repeatedly missed out on the number one spot – is the all-time Christmas favourite, a survey has shown.

The track made it to number two in 1987 after being held off by Pet Shop Boys hit Always On My Mind and has never managed to top that position after returning to the charts on six more occasions.

But a poll of musicians for musicradar.com found the track was the top choice of festive number one, beating other popular hits such as Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody.

Runner-up in the list was John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band’s hit Happy Xmas (War Is Over).

Slade’s track – a shopping centre sound system favourite in the weeks before Christmas – was ranked third. More than 1,200 musicians cast their votes in the poll, whose top 10 did not feature any song from the last 15 years. The most recent is 1994’s All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey.

The site’s editor-in-chief Mike Goldsmith, said: "In the 22 years since Fairytale of New York was released it has never made number one. This is the song that really should be Christmas number one in 2009, one that musicians believe deserves more credit."

Figures released by the Official Charts Company yesterday showed the biggest-selling Christmas hit of the decade is the 2004 re-recording of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas, while The Darkness’s Christmas Time was second.

The Pogues’ track, which features Kirsty MacColl, is the third biggest seller.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, December 10, 2009