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.
