The 10 Highest-Earning Christmas Songs in the UK

It might be Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’, or it could be Mariah Carey’s ‘All I want for Christmas is you’, but no matter your favourite festive song, it’s hard to deny just how popular and nostalgic many of the UK’s classic Xmas tunes are.

It goes without saying that many of the oldest songs played at Christmas are classics, and it stands to reason that they’ve probably earned their artists a pretty penny, what with all the airplay they receive in shops, pubs and homes.

This got us thinking, what are the highest-earning Christmas songs in the UK?

Naturally, it’s tricky to calculate just how much money certain songs have earned their artists, but we can get a good idea based on their popularity.

So, to find out, we used Spotify data to calculate the most popular Christmas songs based on the number of times they’ve been streamed, and then converted their earnings in dollars to pounds using the current exchange rate.

With this data to hand, we can now reveal our top 10 highest-earning Christmas songs in the UK, as well as just how many times they’ve been streamed since being uploaded to Spotify...

The UK’s top 10 earning Christmas songs

Perhaps it should come as no surprise given just how popular it is, but the top-earning Christmas song by far is Mariah Carey’s ‘All I want for Christmas is you’. With a staggering 1,206,753,171 streams on Spotify, this absolute banger has earned Mariah Carey £2,968,613 since first being released on Spotify.

In second place is Wham! Their song, ‘Last Christmas’, is the bane of many people’s festive month, especially if they’re partaking in Whamaggedon. With 934,279,080 streams, this song has brought Wham! £2,298,327 in earnings.

In third and fourth place, we have Ariana Grande’s ‘Santa tell me’, and Michael Bublé’s ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’. With 692,844,336 and 654,549,752 streams respectively, these songs have earned £1,704,397 and £1,610,192 for their artists.

As for fifth place, we have Brenda Lee’s upbeat ‘Rockin’ around the Christmas tree’, with 581,549,994 streams and £1,430,613 in earnings. And Bobby Helm’s ‘Jingle bell rock’ sits in sixth, earning £1,417,597 from 576,258,902 streams. As for seventh place, ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year’, by Andy Williams has earned £1,324,919 from the 538,584,991 people who’ve listened to it.

Finally, rounding out the top ten, we have Sia with ‘Snowman’, Band Aid’s ‘Do they know it’s Christmas time?’, and John Lennon’s ‘Happy Xmas’. These songs have earned their respective artists £1,294,363, £1,011,453, and £929,824 in earnings individually, and have been played 526,163,634, 411,159,598, and 377,977,039 each since their release on Spotify.

Highest earning Christmas songs infographic desktop

Number of streams was taken from Spotify. The amount earned was calculated considering that Spotify pays $0.03 per 10 streams. The amount was then calculated from US$ to GBP using the current exchange rate on 25/11/2022

The lowest-earning Christmas songs in the UK

Just because the songs towards the bottom of our list haven’t been streamed as much as those in the top 10, it doesn’t mean they’re not classic Christmas songs worthy of being added to your playlist.

Leading our bottom five, we have Brett Eldredge’s ‘Baby, it’s cold outside’. An undeniable classic, this song has still been streamed 140,735,387 times for earnings of £346,209. This song is then followed by ‘Little Saint Nick’, by The Beach Boys, which has been streamed 135,887,653 times and earned the band £334,284.

For those looking to add a bit of rock to their festive playlists, you can’t go wrong with some Slade and Wizzard. Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas everybody’ and Wizzard’s ‘I wish it could be Christmas everyday’, have been streamed 101,655,134 and 99,774,712 times each, with earnings of £250,072 and £245,446 respectively.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Donny Hathaway’s ‘This Christmas’. With 95,959,041 streams and earnings of £236,059, it’s still more than worthy of being added to any Christmas setlist this year.

There you have it: the highest-earning Christmas songs in the UK since Spotify began. Of course, you can use all these songs and more to celebrate Christmas, and there are certainly some hidden gems out there that didn’t make our list.

But music or no music, an important aspect of Christmas is spending valuable time with your loved ones and showing them how much you care.

At Reassured, our dedicated team are experts in family life insurance and income protection insurance.

Life insurance can help to provide valuable peace of mind in knowing your family would be financially secure should you no longer be around.

Whilst income protection can help provide financial protection for your loved ones should you be out of work due to accident or sickness.

Get in touch to find out how we can help you prepare for the future and make sure your family are financially secure should the worst happen.

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