All I want for Christmas... is to hear same old songs the

IF you’re getting sick and tired of hearing the same old Christmas songs… there’s probably one that’s been stuck in your head more than most. New analysis has revealed Fairytale of New York is played on UK radio stations than any other Christmas tune.

With the festive season in full swing, the company PRs for Music analysed the 20 most-played songs across 50 regional BBC stations in the UK.

While you might well have expected the most-commonly played song to be All I Want for Christmas Is You, the Mariah Carey belter actually sits in sixth position.

Sitting in first place at the top of the Christmas tree charts is the muchloved duet by The Pogues, featuring Kirsty MacColl.

It is played more often by radio DJs than any other festive tune.

In second place is Wham!’s Last Christmas, followed by Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody, White Christmas by Bing Crosby and Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday.

The oldest song on the list is Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), from 1946.

It is the 13th-most played Christmas song, according to the data.

On the other hand, the youngest song to make the list sits in 20th place.

It’s Cliff Richard’s The Millennium Prayer, released in 2000.

It is important to note that the figures do not include listens from streaming services like Spotify or YouTube, which may tell a different story.

But while it’s UK radio stations’ mostplayed festive tune, Fairytale of New York never actually reached the number one spot.

It was pipped to the post by Pet Shop Boys’ Always On My Mind in 1987.

That’s not the only song that failed to take the coveted Christmas number one spot All I Want for Christmas is You was also beaten in 1994 by East 17’s Stay Another Day.

Separate figures from the Official Charts company show that Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas Time, released in 1984, is the biggest selling Christmas number one.

Not only is it the second biggest selling single of all time, it’s the only Christmas hit to sell more than three million units - 3.82 million to be exact.

The data showed that only 12 of the top 20 best-selling Christmas songs actually addressed the festive season.

Again, the figures refer to sales only and do not include streams.