With the amount of times you hear Mariah Carey warbling about what she wants this Christmas, you may think that she’s raking the cash in every year.

And you’re not wrong. But she’s not the highest earner.

Christmas hits are very lucrative, not only do they have staying power – but the nostalgia means that they are wheeled out time and time again in the lead up to the big day for a whole month.

Remember Will Freeman played by Hugh Grant in About A Boy, his character lived a very nice life off a Christmas track’s royalties.

But how much do Christmas songs really earn?

The Daily Mail reports that Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody, which was released in 1973, is the highest-earning track.

Its songwriters Noddy Holder and Jim Lea will reportedly be cashing in on the £500,000 in estimated royalties from their song this year.

Joining them will be The Pogues, who rake in around £400,000 each year from their ballad The Fairytale of New York. Not bad for a cheeky bet! The band were rumoured to have been teased by Elvis Costello that they couldn’t write a Christmas song.

Mariah Carey aka The Queen of Christmas will reportedly earn herself £376,000 each year from All I Want For Christmas Is You. It was meant to be just a teaser track for a Christmas album which was announced as the most-streamed Christmas song of all time this week.

Of course Mariah has since taken it further and is set to make her directorial debut with A Christmas Melody as well as festive concerts, particularly in New York where she was recently paid a reported $300,000.

Wham!’s Last Christmas has earned George Michael, who wrote and produced the song, over £470,000 according to the estimates on PrezzyBox's Christmas Royalty Calculator.

The estimated annual royalty earners in full:

Merry Xmas Everybody, Slade: £500,000

Fairytale of New York, The Pogues: £400,000

All I Want For Christmas, Mariah Carey: £376,000

White Christmas, Bing Crosby: £328,000

Last Christmas, Wham!: £300,000

Wonderful Christmastime, Paul McCartney: £260,000

Mistletoe and Wine, Cliff Richard: £100,000

Stop the Cavalry, Jona Lewie: £120,000

2000 Miles, The Pretenders: £102,000

Stay Another Day, East 17: £97,000