Does this settle the best Christmas song row? Mariah Carey beats the Pogues after spending two weeks longer in the top 100 of the charts

A nine-year statistical analysis found the most popular Christmas songs
Slade came fifth, Wham, Wizzard, Band Aid and Michael Buble were in the top 10
Dr Craig Anderson, from the University of Glasgow compiled a top 20
All but three of the nation’s favourites were written more than 20 years ago

Published: 23:58 GMT, 12 December 2017 | Updated: 06:12 GMT, 13 December 2017

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It is the age-old festive debate for families fighting over which song to put on at this time of year.

But while the battles rage over whether Wham! or the Pogues is the best, a statistician has announced Britain’s favourite Christmas song.

A nine-year statistical analysis, taking in charts and streaming, has revealed Mariah Carey is in fact the most popular with her song All I Want for Christmas is You.

Mariah Carey released 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' in 1994. It's since made more than $60 million in royalties

The Pogues' Fairytale of New York, released in 1987, came second in the chart

And while modern pop bands may keep trying to write a festive classic, they really do not have what it takes.

Dr Craig Anderson, from the University of Glasgow, who compiled a top 20, found all but three of the nation’s favourites were written more than two decades ago.

Writing on website The Conversation, Dr Anderson, said: ‘The highest placed new song on the list was Michael Buble’s It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, which placed in ninth – and even that is a cover of an older song.

‘The first brand new song is Coldplay’s Christmas Lights, which placed 13th on our list. When Slade sang: “Does your granny always tell you, that the old songs are the best?”, it seems as though she was right.’

Michael Buble, who has had commercial success with Christmas songs in recent years, was the only artist in the top 10 from the last 10 years

Mariah Carey’s song, already a staple of Christmas hits albums, is given an extra boost from appearing in romantic comedy Love Actually.

It appeared in the UK Top 100 in every single week studied by Dr Anderson, with the Pogues’ Fairytale of New York doing so for all but two weeks. Ultimately, Carey came top on account of spending more weeks in the Top 10 than the Pogues.

Dr Anderson, whose work is more often concerned with mapping disease, worked on the definitive Christmas song list in his spare time.

His research team used a points system, allocating a song 10 points for every week in the Top 10, five points for every additional week in the Top 20, two points for each additional week in the Top 40 and one point for each additional week in the Top 100.

To ensure that newer songs were not discriminated against, the figures were adjusted to account for post-2007 release dates.

Wham!'s Last Christmas, released in 1984 came third in the chart. George Michael, who died on Christmas Day last year wrote the song

The top five Christmas songs include Wizzard’s I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday, Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody and Last Christmas by Wham! All of these songs have had at least one appearance in the Top 20 over the past decade and cracked the Top 40 more than 10 times.

Dr Anderson said: ‘For me, one of the best bits about the Christmas season is hearing a favourite Christmas songs on the radio or while out shopping.’

But he found most attempts to judge the most popular song were ‘completely subjective’, so decided to analyse the streaming and chart data himself.

Wizzard, known for their 1973 track 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday' came fourth in the poll

Other top-ranking Christmas songs include Step Into Christmas by Elton John and Santa Baby by Kylie Minogue, as well as Dean Martin’s Let It Snow!Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Where there was a tie in the number of points, the song which reached the highest chart position was placed highest.

Dr Anderson said: ‘Now, when the inevitable debate about festive songs starts while you’re rocking around the Christmas tree or driving home for Christmas, you can add some facts and figures to the discussion.