This is the OFFICIAL time to start listening to Christmas tunes
The conflict comes around year after year. No household, friendship group or workplace is immune to the big question: When is it ok to whack out the Christmas tunes?
Well, to save arguments this holiday season, we’ve crunched the numbers, asked the nation and analysed streaming data to work out the best time to start listening to Christmas music.
And we can now reveal that the official, most widely accepted time to start enjoying festive tunes is two to three weeks before Christmas Day. This makes the coming Friday 7th December the optimal and publically-approved time to start listening to festive music this year - what a way to start the weekend!
For some however, the deed has been done with one fifth of us starting to listen in November, 6% listening between three and six months before the big day and shockingly, 1 in 20 Brits don’t mind a Christmas song all year round! Though for a huge 64% of us, anything earlier than December is unacceptable.
But whenever we start listening, what are we actually listening to?
The UK’s favourite Christmas songs are:
- Fairytale of New York - The Pogues (37%)
- I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday - Wizzard (36%)
- Last Christmas - Wham! (33%)
- Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade (32%)
- All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey (30%)
- Do They Know It's Christmas - Band Aid (29%)
- Driving Home For Christmas - Chris Rea (26%)
- Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Tom Stacks (23%)
- Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin' Stevens (22%)
- Happy Christmas (War is Over) - John & Yoko (18%)
These songs have endured over the years as the top yuletide tunes, but what about the ones on the other side - what are the worst Christmas songs?
The nation’s worst Christmas songs of all time are:
- Christmas in Blobbyland - Mr Blobby (26%)
- Have a Cheeky Christmas - The Cheeky Girls (24%)
- Mistletoe - Justin Bieber (14%)
- All I Want For Christmas Is You - Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey (9%)
- Santa Baby - Madonna (9%)
- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - The Jackson 5 (8%)
- Funky, Funky Xmas - New Kids on the Block (7%)
- 8 Days of Christmas - Destiny’s Child (7%)
- Christmas Tree - Lady Gaga (6%)
- Oh, Come All Ye Faithful – Twisted Sister (5%)
To get right into the holiday spirit, we’ve put together this playlist of the nation’s favourite Christmas songs, so that, come 7th December (or whenever preferred!), you can get in the festive mood!