Pogues top Christmas song list

Shane MacGowan and Kirsy MacColl's 'Fairytale of New York' has been named the most-played UK Christmas song. Photo / File

The Pogues can now raise a glass of the hard stuff after Fairytale of New York was named the most-played UK Christmas song of the century.

The booze-soaked waltz, performed by Shane MacGowan and the late Kirsty MacColl as warring lovers, reached No2 when released in 1987, kept from the top spot by the Pet Shop Boys' cover of Always on my Mind.

It has returned to the Christmas Top 20 on seven occasions, peaking at No3 in 2005 and 2007. This week the song is poised for another tilt at the top.

On its failure to become the Christmas No1 in 1987, MacGowan once ungenerously said: "We were beaten by two queens and a drum machine."

However, its elevation to modern standard has been confirmed by another chart compiled by the music licensing body PPL, which totals up every public airing a song has received - from radio and TV plays to being used as background music in shops, bars, gyms and restaurants - since 2000.

It has leapfrogged Wham's Last Christmas and Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is You to become the most-played festive song this century. It has even outperformed perennials such as Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody and Wizzard's I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday. The Pogues benefited this year from the song's use in a Tesco Christmas TV campaign.

Royalties from its airings have assisted MacColl's family in their campaign to uncover the truth about her death at the age of 41. She was hit by a boat while swimming in Mexico in 2000.

Voted the public's favourite Christmas song in a 2004 poll, Fairytale of New York attracted controversy over its use of the words "scumbag", "maggot" and "faggot". Radio 1 bleeped out "faggot" in 2007 to "avoid offence" but climbed down after complaints from listeners and MacColl's mother, Jean.

Since MacColl's death, The Pogues have continued to perform their tale of a drunken Irish immigrant's reverie using guest singers, including Katie Melua and Imelda May.

The 1980s are the most successful decade according to the PPL chart, providing more than half of the top 20 most popular festive tunes.

- The Independent