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The charts always get into the Christmas spirit every year, reflecting the festive favourites you are downloading and streaming when you're exchanging your presents and chugging down the eggnog.

Let's take a trip down memory lane and revisit the biggest Christmas songs in each year of the decade on the Official Irish Singles Chart.

The Pogues - Fairytale of New York

A Christmas Number 1 in Ireland in December 1987, The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl's cantankerous cracker has been revisited more so than any other Xmas ditty since 2010. Fairytale of New York has been the highest-charting Christmas song four times this decade, reaching Number 9 in 2012, Number 6 in 2015, and Number 3 in 2017 and 2018.

Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson - Winter Song

The power of a TV advert was demonstrated in 2011 when phone operator O2 used Sara and Ingrid's Winter Song in its Irish promotional campaign. The song took the nation by storm, peaking at Number 2.

That same year, a Twitter experiment led to the song being covered by Twitterxmassingle, a collective of 140 members of the Irish public who recorded the song together in Dublin one week after a tweet was sent out by organiser Brenda Drumm, wondering if such a collaboration could be done. Raising money for the Neonatal Unit of Holles Street Hospital, the charity version reached Number 8.

It is safe to say that Ireland is Winter Song's most popular territory; after being originally released in 2008 as part of Epic Records' The Hotel Café Presents Winter Songs compilation album (us neither), the song only charted in Canada at Number 97.

Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You

Queen of Christmas Mariah Carey has revisited the Top 10 every year since 2015. All I Want For Christmas is You peaked at Number 3 on release in 1994, matching that position in 2017. In 2015, the song was the highest-charting Xmas track joint with Fairytale of New York at Number 6, and in 2016, it reached Number 5, taking top honours all for itself.

Songs from John Lewis adverts

High street giants John Lewis are known for their fantastic TV campaigns during the holiday season, with Ellie Goulding and Lily Allen's takes seen as the most popular. While not traditional Xmas songs in their own right, they were used on commercials featuring yuletide joy, festive cheer and actual snow, so they're Christmassy enough for us.

In 2010, Ellie's cover of Elton John's Your Song peaked at Number 5, while Lily Allen topped the Official Irish Singles Chart in 2013 with her take on Keane's Somewhere Only We Know.

Band Aid 30 - Do They Know It's Christmas?

In 2014, the 30th anniversary of Band Aid led to a new version featuring chart stars like One Direction, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Emeli Sandé. The latest version (to date) of Do They Know It's Christmas? spent two weeks at Number that December.

© IRMA