The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York has been voted the most popular Christmas song in the UK in a survey by PRS for Music, and was also the most played Christmas song on British radio last year – despite ongoing controversy around its lyrics.

The song has been subject to criticism in recent years for its lyric, sung by Kirsty MacColl: “You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot.” In 2018, Eoghan McDermott, a DJ for Irish national broadcaster RTE, had called for the lyric to be censored, arguing: “Enough vitriol out there without gay people having to feel uncomfortable so people that aren’t affected by an insult can tap their toe.” Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan responded, saying it was “not intended to offend … The word was used by the character because it fitted with the way she would speak and with her character … She is not supposed to be a nice person, or even a wholesome person. She is a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history, and she is down on her luck and desperate.”

The furore hasn’t damaged the song’s popularity. PRS for Music found that it was the most played seasonal track across 50 regional UK radio stations in 2018. Furthermore, in a new survey of 2,000 people asked for their favourite Christmas songs, Fairytale of New York topped the chart. It was followed by Wham!’s Last Christmas, Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody and Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. Per the lyrics to Slade’s hit, those surveyed clearly thought “the old songs are the best” – none of the top 20 songs are from this century, with Cliff Richard’s The Millennium Prayer, released in November 1999, the most recent choice at No 20.

In 2007, the BBC censored Fairytale of New York to remove the words “faggot” and “slut”, though reversed the decision shortly afterwards. Radio 1 boss Andy Parfitt said at the time the decision was “wrong … an embarrassing day for Radio 1”.

This week, Alex Dyke, a DJ for local radio station BBC Radio Solent, said he was “no longer comfortable” playing the song on his show. In a since-deleted tweet, he described the song as “an offensive pile of downmarket chav bilge”.