What is the worst Christmas song of all time?
This will come as little surprise to anyone who has worked in retail over the festive period, but a recent UK poll has settled it. Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ has been voted the most annoying Christmas song of all time.
As radio stations across the country wheel out their festive playlists, it comes as no surprise that the ubiquity of Carey’s vocal runs has started to grate. Not that Mariah seems fazed. In fact, she’s doubling down on her Christmas monopoly by reissuing her 1994 ‘Merry Christmas’ album. The 25th-anniversary edition includes a new version of ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’ and a handful of previously unreleased live tracks from her 1994 performance at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
To her credit, the song she penned at 22 on a cheap Casio keyboard has marked the last original track to really make it to the Christmas song big leagues, much to the chagrin of British poll voters who took part in a survey conducted by mobile phone company Huawei. She only marginally beat the Band-Aid charity song ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, which sat at number two on the list, largely unsurprising given its direct association with tragedy and famine. Wizzard’s ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’ sits at number three, followed by Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ at number four. ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! follows suit at number five.
Here’s where it gets controversial. Arguably one of the all-time Christmas classics, ‘Fairytale of New York’ by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, sits at number six. Hearing the festive tune usually just means a drunk guy from the pub will ask you if you knew a speedboat killed her, but according to this list – it’s more likely he’ll ask you to turn it off altogether.
In recent times, the song has triggered much debate about the inclusion of a certain lyric (you know the one). Warner Music caused much furore last year when they created a new radio edit, which replaced the line with “you’re cheap, and you’re haggard,” using vocals from previous performances by Kirsty MacColl, who had been censoring the song before her death in 2000.
Another potential surprise from the list is Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews’ version of ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ coming in at number seven, but then again, Frank Loesser’s 1944 original was dragged into the cancel culture wars for its lyrics. Normality resumes for the last picks, with The Jackson 5’s ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’, Eartha Kitt’s ‘Santa Baby’ and the Andrews Sisters’ ‘Jingle Bells’ taking the final spots.
Unlike the Billboard Top 100, spots on this list are hardly coveted this Christmastime. But you can listen to the winner of the “most annoying” tag below and decide for yourself.
See the full survey results for the most annoying Christmas song below.
- All I Want for Christmas is You – Mariah Carey
- Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Band Aid
- I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday – Wizzard
- Merry Xmas Everybody – Slade
- Last Christmas – Wham!
- Fairytale of New York – The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl
- Baby It’s Cold Outside – Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews
- Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Jackson 5
- Santa Baby – Eartha Kitt
- Jingle Bells – Andrews Sisters
