The identical Christmas songs have been within the charts for the final 20 years in a row
It really might end up feeling like Christmas every day – at least when it comes to hearing the same festive songs, a study suggests. Many hits appear ‘on repeat’
Fairytale of New York has made it into the Christmas top 40 for the past 20 years in a row.
The Pogues’ 1987 festive hit, featuring Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl, is set to make its 21st consecutive appearance in the Yuletide charts this year. It’s among a string of Christmas songs that now appear in the rundown “on repeat”, found researchers.
They discovered 63% of tracks in the 2024 Christmas top 40 were exactly the same as the year before. The trend from the past two decades is completely different to 20 years earlier when there was a brand new set of songs in the festive top 40 every year.
Other hits now on a loop include Mariah Carey’s 1994 single All I Want for Christmas Is You, which has charted for 18 years in a row, and 1984’s Last Christmas by Wham, a festive hit for the past 17 years.
The report by Manchester-based web agency Dark Horse said: “The Christmas charts have transformed since the start of the century, going from a brand new set of songs in the top 40 each year to repetition of more than half the singles today. Each year in the early 2000s produced a top 40 that was made up of an entirely different set of songs to the previous year.
“Between 2000 and 2005, not a single song reappeared from one Christmas to the next. Now, in the most recent Christmas chart of 2024, a massive 25 of the top 40, or 63%, was the same as in 2023.”
It added: “The analysis found that the first sign of change was in 2006, when Fairytale of New York, by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, landed in the top 40 for the second year in a row.
“This marked the beginning of a 20-year run, which is likely to continue this year, as the song was already at number 12 in the most recent Top 40.”
The firm’s marketing chief, Libby Mayfield, said: “What this data really shows is that nostalgia has become one of the most powerful forces in modern music. The Christmas charts used to be about new releases fighting for the top spot, but over the last two decades we’ve seen a massive shift towards streaming-driven traditions.”
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