From the 70s through to the 00s, which decade had the best Christmas music?
Posted by  badge Boss on Yesterday
We’ve got plenty of Christmas classics to chose from (Picture: Getty)

Everyone has their favourite songs which they listen to every single year, with the top songs hotly debated.

Christmas music spans genres from classic carols to pop hits to you might have overlooked.

This year saw a new track from battle it out for the top chart spot against 40-year-old Wham!, who eventually took with Last Christmas.

Even Christmas icons have their favourites with praising 90s hit , by when chatting to Metro.

Meanwhile, he was inspired by ’s festive success last year when he with a new song.

So with constantly evolving, which decade has the best festive songs?

Wham! have taken the top spot for two years in a row (Picture: Michael Putland/Getty Images)
The 70s saw a huge boost in Christmas music (Picture: Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns)

Our obsession with Christmas music really started in the , with hits like Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody and Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday.

The two were locked in a chart battle in 1973, with Slade taking the crown, sparking the beginning of a huge British tradition.

In 1974, we saw Mud’s Lonely This Christmas dominate the charts while released the classic song Step Into Christmas.

The Jackson 5, Boney M, The Temptations, and even Elvis Presley all let their festive side out with covers and new songs during this time.

Momentum had really picked up by the end of the decade and there was a huge boom in new Christmas songs as we moved into the .

Wizzard’s Roy Wood praised modern tracks like All I Want For Christmas (Picture: Ron Howard/Redferns)
The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York is still beloved over 35 years later (Picture: Tim Roney/Getty Images)

In 2022, music licensing company found that 75% of Brits think that the 80s has the best Christmas music.

This era was undeniably iconic as it was defined by the likes of , Wham, Shakin’ Stevens, and The Pogues.

Many of these songs are now considered classics, especially with Band Aid re-releasing every few years.

A close second for the 2,000 people asked was the , which gave us , Spice Girls three year domination, and Mariah’s All I Want for Christmas is You.

However, there was a step drop-off after the turn of the century as .

Mariah Carey has become the Queen of Christmas in recent years (Picture: Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP, file)

Roy Wood explained to Metro that there’s  since the turn of the century and the .

He shared: ‘Strangely enough, I don’t think it’s had a lot of competition over the years. During the period when boy bands started, record companies were thinking, “Well, radio stations stop playing Christmas records just after Christmas Day.â€

‘They were thinking of a way to combat that so that the record continued to be played in the new year. So you’ll find that a lot of times, the [music] videos were Christmasy and snowy and all that but the songs weren’t mentioning Christmas in the [lyrics].

‘I think they did need to try and gain some more air time, so from that time, there haven’t been a lot of Christmas songs written. It’s a shame not to write one because of that reason.

Tom Grennan could be a future Christmas icon (Picture: Matt Crossick/Global/Shutterstoc)

‘All the records like Slade and all that are still doing well purely because there’s been no new stuff.’

The 2010s began to shift once more as the likes of and released festive records, although they’re yet to be certified as ‘classics’.

has also solidified himself as a certified festive crooner with multiple Christmas tracks to his name.

Over the past few years, Christmas fans have been treated to some new songs that have plenty of classic potential.

It could be we love the 80s era because we’ve had 40 years to learn the hits, maybe by 2060 we’ll hold Tom Grennan’s It Can’t Be Christmas in the same esteem.