Fairytale of New York is the UKs favourite Christmas tune

Fairytale of New York is the UKs favourite Christmas tune



Love them or hate them, November tends to mark the start of the continuous flood of Christmas songs on the radio.



But with the golden classics that never get old, or the new tracks hoping to secure themselves on the Christmas chart for years to come, a definitive favourite has been revealed.



Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl has been named the nation's most-loved festive song because, according to experts, it's a more realistic representation of how Christmas usually is.





Over the past few years, Fairytale of New York has pipped the likes of Mariah Carey, Wham! and Slade off the charts, and this is because it avoids the 'fluffy' version for Christmas.



Sam Sutton, senior lecturer in music technology at London College of music said: 'It's the distinctly edgier offering from The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl that most appeals to our sensibilities'.



'Perhaps the rousing squabble between the two appeals to Brits because it's somehow more real and closer to our actual experience of Christmas - a heady and sometimes tense mix of friends, family and booze'



After several recording attempts and re-writes, the song was finally released in 1987, but never managed to get to the UK number 1 spot by The Pet Shop Boys. 



Speaking to The Guardian, Shane MacGowan from the Pogues said: 'Every night I used to have another bash at nailing the lyrics, but I knew they weren't right.



'It is by far the most complicated song that I have ever been involved in writing and performing. The beauty of it is that it sounds really simple.'



But despite never quite getting that number one spot, according to The Telegraph it still went on to be the most-played Christmas song in the 21st century.