Garmin Reveals Most Loved (and Hated) Christmas Pop Songs

SOUTHAMPTON, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--It’s that time of the year again: seasonal pop songs are serenading us wherever we go. There’s no escape – whether you love it or hate it, Christmas music is here! So what’s your favourite?

The sat nav manufacturer Garmin^® has found that Fairytale of New York by The Pogues, featuring Kirsty MacColl and first released in 1987 reaching number 2 in the UK charts, still tops the 2011 Christmas pops as far as drivers are concerned.

In the survey, 21% of motorists said it was their festive song of choice to drive to. Bottom of the poll was Run Rudolph Run by Chuck Berry, released in 1958, obtaining less than 1% of the votes.

The Garmin survey carried out by YouGov asked people to choose from a list what their favourite Christmas song to drive to was – from the old classics such as Let it Snow by Dean Martin to Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) by the Darkness.

The results:

Place	Song	% votes
1^st	Fairytale of New York — The Pogues	21
Joint 2^nd	I Wish It Could Be Christmas — Wizzard	10
Joint 2^nd	Driving home for Christmas — Chris Rea	10
Joint 3^rd	Merry Christmas Everybody — Slade	7
Joint 3^rd	All I want for Christmas is you — Mariah Carey	7
4^th	White Christmas — Bing Crosby	6
5^th	Last Christmas — Wham	5
6^th	Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow — Dean Martin	3
7^th	Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) — The Darkness	2
8^th	Run Rudolph Run — Chuck Berry	0

Fairytale of New York by The Pogues came top of the poll! It was particularly popular in Wales with 34% of people voting it their favourite festive song to have on in the car, while 26% agreed in Scotland.

In the East Midlands Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea was equal top with Fairytale of New York with 14% of those interviewed saying they liked it best to drive to.

All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey varied in popularity with only 4% of people saying it was their favourite Christmas song to drive to in the South East, as opposed to 10% in Yorkshire and the Humber.

SONG FACTS

Song	Release date	Chart position
Fairytale of New York — The Pogues	1987	2
(It has re-entered the top 40 every Dec since 2005 and reached the top 10 on four separate occasions)
I Wish It Could Be Christmas — Wizzard	1973	4
Driving home for Christmas — Chris Rea	1988	53; re-entered in 2007 reaching #33
Merry Christmas Everybody — Slade	1973	1
All I want for Christmas is You — Mariah Carey	1994	2
White Christmas — Bing Crosby	1942	1
Last Christmas — Wham	1984	2
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow — Dean Martin	1966	for the Dean Martin Christmas Album
Christmas Time — The Darkness	2003	2
Run Rudolph Run — Chuck Berry	1958	Reached 36 in 1963

NOTES

Please make contact for a full regional breakdown
5% of those interviewed said they had other favourite songs than those listed.

2% said they didn’t know what their favourite song to drive to was.

20% didn’t have a favourite Christmas song to sing along to.

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2060 adults of whom 1573 were drivers. Fieldwork was undertaken between 31 October and 2 November 2011. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).