Unsung heroes of festive pop: An Official Charts investigation

Fascinating yet overlooked Christmas songs, some even quietly ascending their way to festive classic status.

In partnership with Sony Music Commercial Group

When we think of a British Christmastime, it’s hard not to be reminded of the songs that soundtrack it. Songs we’ve listened to since we were young enough to recognise sounds. Songs that have become part of the make-up of our lives every year when December rolls around (or earlier, you may listen to Christmas songs in the August heat – no judgement here).

But it’s easy to take the songs we hear every festive season – on the radio, in the car, in the shops – for granted. Here at Official Charts, we feel differently!

There is, after all, a story behind every song…and some of the tracks that we listen to (and love) every Christmas have stories worth telling, as do certain hits that are quietly ascending their way to festive classic status.

So, just for a second, let’s peer beyond your Mariahs, WHAM!s and Bublé's, whose seasonal chart successes are well-documented. Today, we're putting some different Christmas tunes under the microscope.

We've curated a collection of some fascinating, if a little overlooked, Christmas songs that have impacted the UK Official Chart in their own unique ways, along with a hand-picked selection of excellent yuletide covers that may have passed you by.

Whether you’re looking for an alternative recording of a Christmas classic to fall in love with, or just seeking some modern options to slap on while prepping your turkey, we've dug deep to investigate a dossier of lesser-known facts, stats and sample clips behind the "unsung heroes" of festive pop to see you through the season.

Let's crack this case wide open...

Feliz Navidad

Quite literally ‘Merry Christmas’ in Spanish, José Feliciano's bi-lingual earworm Feliz Navidad is a bit of a curio when it comes to beloved Christmas songs. Namely, that it took more than 50 years for it to break through as an unlikely UK festive hit.

Originally written in 1970, Feliz Navidad’s composition is deceivingly simple. In fact, the song itself only contains nineteen words repeated throughout its entire run time making this a unique Christmas offering – where else will you see Latin pop and festive music combined? – a true stand out.

Even though it’s been in the public lexicon for more than half a century, it’s only really in the last decade that Feliz Navidad has worked its way up to the status of legit Official Chart Christmas staple. According to Official Charts Company data, Feliz Navidad’s first entry in the Official Singles Chart Top 100 only came in 2016 (78), but it’s exploded in the streaming era, successfully charting every single year since.

Feliz Navidad's rise in popularity in the UK

Rather fittingly, it entered the Top 40 for the first time in its 50th anniversary year in 2020 (40), while 2022 saw the song reach its highest position yet, peaking at Number 21, and it’s hovered steadily just outside the Top 20 for three years running now.

It’s not slowing down either.

With a staggering 113.6 million UK streams now under its belt, last year Feliz Navidad gained its highest-ever streaming week in the UK (9.1 million streams) – could a Top 20 breakthrough be on the cards sometime soon? That would put it in the league of iconic hits such as Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas or Elton's Step Into Christmas, both of which finished between positions 11-20 last year.

Hallelujah

A song so sincere and harrowing it could be considered a hymn, the late, great Leonard Cohen apparently wrote up to 80 initial versions of his signature song, Hallelujah, although like many sacred texts, it would only take on new meaning in the years that followed its initial release.

Initially, the song experienced a renaissance after being covered by the American musician Jeff Buckley in 1994 for his debut (and only) studio album Grace, although Buckley’s alt-rock take on Cohen’s rumination on life, love, death and desire would out-live him; he passed away at the age of 30 in 1997. A decade after his passing, the cover was used in prominent US drama series The West Wing, which spurred renewed interest in Buckley’s Hallelujah.

Then, enter Simon Cowell.

The year was 2008 and The X Factor UK was deep in its halcyon years.

A shortened-down, popped-up cover was chosen as that year’s winners single, when Alexandra Burke triumphed over JLS. Her powerful melodic-driven take of Hallelujah was an instant success, debuting at Number 1 and securing the Official Christmas Number 1 single of that year, becoming 2008’s best-selling single in just two weeks.

Alexandra Burke's Hallelujah - first million-selling single by a British female artist

Alexandra Burke’s victory song had crossed the hallowed one million-sales mark by the beginning of 2009, miraculously making Burke the first British female soloist to ever score a UK million-selling single on The Official Chart.

It’s the UK’s best-selling Christmas song of the 21st century, and the most-downloaded Christmas Number 1 of all time (756,000 digital downloads).

But Burke’s victory wasn’t without its upsets. Buckley fans, taking umbrage at the cover, started a grassroots movement to challenge Burke (and in turn Cowell) for Christmas Number 1.

That ultimately fell just short, but they did help Buckley’s version all the way to Number 2…and set the stage for what many would deem one of the greatest Christmas Number 1 battles of all time the following year - Rage Against The Machine v Joe McElderry.

Fun chart fact: When Hallelujah debuted at the top of the Official Singles Chart, it was the first time in 51 years that two versions of the same song charted at both Number 1 and Number 2 simultaneously. The last time that had happened was all the way back in 1957 with Guy Mitchell and Tommy Steele's competing versions of Singing The Blues.

Mary’s Boy Child

Mary’s Boy Child holds a very special place in Official Chart history; it’s the only song to ever become Christmas Number 1 twice with two different versions.

The first was by King of Calypso Harry Belafonte which topped the Official Singles Chart in 1957 (fun chart fact; in an era where physical singles were mostly no longer than three minutes long, allowing for adverts and DJ chatter on the radio, Mary’s Boy Child’s runtime of 4 minutes and 12 seconds made it the Number 1 with the longest-ever duration at that point in time).

More than 20 years later, disco/R&B group Boney M’s emphatic take on the track became the Christmas Number 1 of 1978, denying The Village People’s camp classic YMCA the top spot.

But who did it better? Let's look at the stats...

Mary's Boy Child - Boney M v Harry Belafonte

As of 2024, Boney M’s take on the festive standard is the 12th best-selling single of all time in the UK (1.9 million copies sold). In fact, both versions are million sellers, Belafonte’s version also makes the all-time Official Singles Chart Top 100 at Number 98, having sold almost 1.2 million copies to date.

Which one is your favourite? Listen to both below.

Santa Baby

The deliciously materialistic Santa Baby was originally written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer, its most famous iteration coming from American singer, actress and one-time Disney villain Eartha Kitt, who put her feminine, feline wiles as a former Catwoman to good use as the woman who just wants more, more and more!

It would take 54 years for Kitt’s version to chart in the UK for the first time (originally entering at Number 85 on December 16 2007), hitting a new lifetime peak of Number 44 on 29 December 2023 (deserved).

But perhaps most surprising of all is what happened when Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue got her hands on Santa Baby in 2005; Kylie’s take on Eartha Kitt’s festive jazz standard has actually become the most-streamed song of Kylie’s entire career in the UK. Shimmying its way to over 84.5 million streams, it’s proved even more popular than her million-selling Can’t Get You Out Of My Head and 2023 viral sensation Padam Padam. Strewth!

Jingle Bells

Despite being recognized the world over as a Christmas classic, there’s actually no mention of Christmas in the track at all! It was originally written all the way back in 1857, before being adopted by Americans as a Thanksgiving song.

The earliest version of 167-year old Jingle Bells to appear on the Official Singles Chart was a 1978 ska-inspired take by Judge Dread, while the most recent iteration to make a dent on the Top 100 came from doo-wop queen Meghan Trainor as part of Amazon Music’s 2023 exclusive releases, debuting at Number 48. Meghan's Jingle Bells reswizzle is now available on all streaming platforms, listen below.

But what about the highest-charting version of Jingle Bells, we hear you ask? That’s none other than the animated menace Crazy Frog (!) himself. He hopped all the way to Number 5 in 2005. Ding ding!

When A Child Is Born

“A ray of hope flickers in the sky…”

A definite contender for one of the most sentimental Christmas songs of all time, When A Child Is Born was the first and only UK Number 1 single for US vocalist Johnny Mathis, becoming the Official Christmas Number 1 in 1976, two decades into Mathis’s career.

The beautiful hope-filled ballad denied the top spot to Leicester pop group Showaddywaddy (who had to settle for Number 2 with Under The Moon Of Love) and has since been covered by quite the range of acts including Il Divo, Wilson Phillips, Cilla Black, and…uh, The Wurzels!

You’re A Mean One Mr Grinch

Dr Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas is as definitive of a modern Christmas folk tale we have this side of A Christmas Carol. For its first adaption for TV, the seminal 1966 animation starring Boris Karloff as the Grinch, the story’s original author Dr Seuss helped pen this little ditty, all about our favourite green miser.

The song has been present in every other Grinch adaption; from the 2000 live-action film starring Jim Carrey, to the 2018 Pharrell-narrated animation Dr Seuss’ The Grinch starring Benedict Cumberbatch, where it was covered by anarchic rapper, singer and producer Tyler, The Creator.

Tyler The Creator - You're a mean one Mr Grinch

While it’s not (yet!) had a physical release, Tyler’s take on the track is by far its most-streamed outing (7 million UK streams), while You’re A Mean One Mr Grinch’s only-ever appearance on the Official Chart came from its 1966 original with the vocals of Thurl Ravenscroft, which made Number 43 on the Official Independent Singles Chart just last year.

White Christmas

Written in 1940 by Irving Berlin, the perennial Christmas standard was first performed by Bing Crosby in 1942, which actually predates the birth of the Official Chart by 10 years!

As such, Bing Crosby wasn't actually the first person to chart White Christmas in the UK - that honour went to crooner Pat Boone in 1957 who reached Number 29, and the song has proven a popular cover choice with other artists ever since.

In fact, White Christmas lays claim to officially being the most covered Christmas song on the Official Chart Top 100. A staggering 12 versions of White Christmas have made it into The Official Chart, with yet another new one on its way this week from K-Pop idol V of BTS.

While Bing’s original is the best-selling and most-streamed version of the track, there’s a host of other excellent versions to wrap your ears around.

White Christmas - The most-streamed versions

One of the most recent came courtesy of UK singer-songwriter George Ezra, appearing on the Christmas edition of his album Gold Rush Kid. Ezra’s 2017 cut of White Christmas is the most-streamed version ever by a British artist (9.2m UK streams).

Michael Bolton’s 1992 outing appeared on his album Timeless: The Classics (Number 3 in the UK) and is the sixth most popular version of the song on streams (4.98m UK streams).

Recorded in 1957, Elvis' White Christmas features on The King's first ever festive release - Elvis' Christmas Album. Elvis' version has been streamed 2.4m times in the UK, while Darlene Love's delectable 1962 Wall Of Sound revamp presents an upbeat take on the song, ringing in 2.3m streams.

Have a listen to these alternative versions, which one's your fave?

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas is one of those Christmas standards with a rich and varied history.

Originally written by Meredith Wilson, its famous early version by Perry Como was released in 1951 a full year before the first incarnation of the UK Official Singles Chart arrived. As such, that version only made its UK chart debut in the noughties (Number 47 peak), it featured in the 2004 film The Polar Express 2007, and has generated 64.6 million UK streams

However, today's king of Christmas, Canadian crooner Michael Bublé has breathed new life into the classic. Bublé's 2011 rework has swiftly become the most-streamed Christmas song released this century, and the fifth most-streamed Christmas song of all time, with 253 million streams to its name. It peaked at Number 6 in 2022.

Revisit the warmth of Perry Como's original.

The 'modern classics': Underneath The Tree & One More Sleep

“Look to the future now…”, Slade once sagely advised.

There’s a handful of modern tracks that will soon be considered vintage Christmas hits too. Released in 2013 and now crossing into their second decade, we reckon within the next ten years, these two hits get the cover treatment, another indicator that they’ve well and truly earned their classic status.

Kelly Clarkson’s sparkly Underneath The Tree, written with Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen, Pink) shows off the original American Idol at her best, with a distinct Wall of Sound sheen and a melody as sugar-sweet as any candy cane.

Despite some modest beginnings (debuting at Number 30 in 2013), Underneath The Tree dug in its snow-covered heels and showed us it’s here to stay. Glancing at the rise and rise of its annual peak placing on The Official Chart, it’s clear the British public don’t disagree, adopting Clarkson’s festive banger just that little bit more with every passing year.

Underneath The Tree - Kelly Clarkson - annual peak chart position in the UK

The song cracked the Top 20 for the first time in 2020, and reached its current peak of Number 12 in 2022. Has Underneath The Tree got what it takes to break a future UK Top 10? It's currently the third most-streamed Christmas song released in the 21st century (193.7 million streams), so we wouldn't rule it out.

In terms of reality TV titans the US has Kelly and the UK has Leona Lewis; two seriously talented vocalists with bite to their voices. We may have shed a tear to Bleeding Love and her cover of Snow Patrol’s Run, but Leona gets the Christmas party started on the Motown-esque One More Sleep, the rare modern Christmas song to earn a peak in the UK Top 10 (Number 3).

According to Official Charts data, One More Sleep is the fourth most-streamed Christmas song released in the 21st century and also one of the Top 20 most downloaded Christmas songs of all time. What's more, music body PPL also recently announced One More Sleep as the most-played modern Christmas song on UK radio and TV having accumulated the equivalent of 14 weeks'.continuous airplay!

Leona herself is no stranger to a festive chart smash either, scoring the Christmas Number 1 2006 with her X Factor winner's single A Moment Like This (which, incidentally enough, was also Kelly’s winner’s single on American Idol).

Everyone has their go-to Christmas song, that one tune they will put on repeat as soon as the weather gets colder. We think that Christmas has so much more to offer.

Like many of the unsung heroes we’ve covered here, the festive season transcends decades and genre, and if you look closely you'll see the popularity of songs (old and new) reshaping before our eyes.

Maybe our one gift to you this Christmas will be helping you to find a brand new festive classic.