Starting off strong, 19.5% of Brits have revealed that the Christmas song they hate the most is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You“; but the Mariah Carey hate doesn’t stop there: not only is her Christmas hit the UK’s least favourite festive song, but most of the people interviewed (67%) couldn’t even name another song by Carey. However, the second is currently charting at number three in the UK, and has peaked multiple times at number one since its release thirty years ago; it is also, according to Official Charts, the most streamed Christmas song in the UK. Perhaps that 19.5% is the reason why Carey still has to get that Christmas number one.

At the second spot, 12% of interviewed Brits have said they can’t stand Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe“. The song was first released in 2011, as a lead singer of the Canadian-born artist’s first Christmas album. Currently, it is the UK’s nineteenth most streamed Christmas song, and has previously peaked at number 21 on UK charts in its release year.

At number three, a staple song in UK Christmas music: “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” by Band Aid, which took the Christmas Number One Crown in 1984 and held on to the position for five consecutive weeks in its release year. 11.9% Brits have stated that the song, which counts 110 weeks charting in the UK, is their least favourite. Despite this, even forty years after its release, the song is currently peaking at number twelve and is the seventh most streamed festive song this year.

The fourth spot for most hated Christmas songs, with 11.7% of Brits agreeing, is The Pogues’s “Fairytale Of New York“. The collaboration with Kirsty MacColl was released in 1987, and peaked at number two for two consecutive weeks. Currently, it is charting at number ten and is the third most streamed Christmas song. In 2023, the song was one of the main contenders for the Christmas Number One title due to The Pogues’s frontman Shane MacGowan passing; however, the song failed to achieve the position and only peaked at number four. Despite that 11.7%, a Christmas Number One is definitely in the future of the song.

Number five sees “I Wish it Could Be Christmas Everyday” by Wizzard, which is said to be the least favourite of 10.9% Brits. It was released in 1973, produced and written by frontman Roy Wood; currently, the song is the tenth most streamed and charting at 28, with a previous peak at number ten in 2019.

The following positions include: Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)“, the seventeenth most streamed but disliked by 10.6%; “Christmas Time” by The Darkness is the least favourite of 10.5% Brits, “A Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives with 10.3% and, at number nine, Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad“.

The ten spot is taken by WHAM’s “Last Christmas“, with 10.1% disliking the song. Not only is WHAM!’s hit the second most streamed song according to UK charts, but this year it also won the Christmas Number One title for the second consecutive year. The song is truly the Christmas hit of multiple generations, despite more than one tenth of the population considers it the worst Christmas song.

In an announcement made yesterday (December 22^nd), the clip was again broadcast on his Christmas show with Jo Wiley on BBC2, he said, “Our last proper record will come out in 2025, and after that I think we will only tour,” adding, “maybe we’ll do some collaborative things but the Coldplay catalogue, as it were, finishes then.”.

Although, this news shouldn’t surprise die-hard fans too much, in an interview with NME in October Martin set in stone, “We’re going to make 12 albums. Because it’s a lot to pour everything into making them. I love it and it’s amazing, but it’s very intense too. I feel like because I know that challenge is finite, making this music doesn’t feel difficult, it feels like, ‘This is what we’re supposed to be doing”.  So, there we have it. The band released their 9^th effort Music of the Spheres earlier this year, and its reception was… fine. That means the plan is for 3 more, and now we have a date the band are aiming for. At the moment this is all based on Martin’s word, he may change his mind, they may release a few singles or EPs every once in a while… who knows. Presumably, their most recent live EP Infinity Station Sessions doesn’t count towards the list so we may expect more. See below a little teaser for the project.

Tomorrow // Infinity Station Sessions EP // @AppleMusic#FromAppleMusicWithLove pic.twitter.com/YsYk2NykmA

— Coldplay (@coldplay) December 1, 2021

Fans should not worry too much just yet though, the band are set to begin their 2022 world tour next March, but like many tours, there are yet to be any delays or rescheduled dates. Aside from their pulling out of the Capital FM’s Jingle Bell Ball last week (after crew members caught COVID-19), the tour that is hoping to be “almost entirely [powered] from clean, renewable energy“ is set to go ahead as planned. See the bands full going on here.

See below the full UK dates for the tour:

12/08/22 – Wembley Stadium – London, UK
13/08 – Wembley Stadium – London, UK
16/08 – Wembley Stadium – London, UK
23/08 – Hampden Park Stadium – Glasgow, UK

26 years after its release, it looks like @MariahCarey's All I Want For Christmas Is You could finally reach Number 1 on the Official UK Singles Chart this week: https://t.co/NNS725nYwd

— Official Charts (@officialcharts) November 30, 2020

Streams of Christmas songs are on a surge this year as Official Charts confirm that their is almost a 44% increase compared with last year, as the nation wishes it’s troubles of 2020 away. The track is one of four festive favourites to enter the top 10 in this weeks official charts. Since 2007, when streaming and downloads were first introduced, the song has re-entered the charts every year leading up to Christmas. When first released in 1994, the song peaked at Number 2 having lost out to East 17’s ‘Stay Another Day,’ for the Number 1 spot. In last last few years the song has peaked at Number 2 in the UK, but we will find out on the Radio 1 show with Chris Moyles on Friday 4th December if it can claim it’s first ever Number 1 position.

On talking about the previous success of the track, Mariah said to Entertainment Weekly, “When it first came out, it was more of a gradual thing. It was popular, but it didn’t have what it has now. I feel like people have grown up with the song and it’s become a part of people’s lives in terms of the way they celebrate the holidays. That makes me feel really proud as someone that loves Christmas so much.” When asked about the writing and recording of the festive favourite, Mariah said to Entertainment Weekly, “I wrote the beginning and the middle on the keyboard in a little house in Upstate New York, in a room by myself. I just started thinking about all things Christmas and growing up as a kid that loves Christmas. I think that’s why it’s such a festive record.”

Mariah is set to release a new version of her song ‘Oh Santa’ this coming Friday 4th December, featuring Arianna Grande and Jennifer Hudson. The song will be played on ‘Apple TV + Special Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas’ which airs the same day. As well as the two stars on her latest single release, other guests will include Tiffany Haddish, Billy Eichner, Snoop Dogg and Jermaine Dupri.

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A post shared by Mariah Carey (@mariahcarey)

With the streams being on a high increase, it now places the song a high contender for this years ‘Official Christmas Number 1.’ The race will kick off on December 18th and will be announced on BBC Radio 1 on 25th December with Katie Thistleton, which will then be aired on BBC ‘Top Of The Pops’ later on Christmas day. There is no doubt that the success of the song is felt globally as it reached Number 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 charts last year. The ‘Queen Of Christmas’ will be hoping for the same success in the UK charts this year, with the commemorative song that symbolises Christmas Pop Music.

Hipgnosis, founded by music industry veteran Merck Mercuriadis, is an IP (Intellectual Property) investment company registered in Guernsey. They buy the rights to songs and allow the public to invest in songs as they gain fame, listens, views, and streams over time. Co-founded by CHIC guitarist and frontman Nile Rodgers, Hipgnosis has an already impressive portfolio before this buy with artists like the Kaiser Chiefs, Blondie, and Journey.

With songs like The Chain, and Go Your Own Way from Fleetwood Mac and In Da Club from 50 Cent, this new acquisition was a big one. Adding to their already impressive portfolio of artists, songwriters, and producers this will add more interest to investors both old and new. However, although Fleetwood Mac and 50 Cent are big, the biggest buy may be worth more.

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All I want for Christmas is… 33,000 songs. Our new acquisition of 42 song catalogues from @kobaltmusic Capital brings in a whole package of hits – including the perfectly-timed @mariahcarey hit which last year broke @spotify’s record for most streams in 24 hours.

A post shared by Hipgnosis Songs (@hipgnosissongs) on Nov 2, 2020 at 5:40am PST

Amongst the purchases was 50% of the Christmas hit All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey! The festive staple was co-written by Walter Afanasieff alongside Carey. Afanasieff’s half was the half acquired by the investment giant. With many reasons why this is such a monumental buy, inverters are sure to be quick on this one. With Christmas just around the corner, this is one of the biggest buys and investments that could happen.

All I Want For Christmas Is You…it is a seasonal must. You can’t go a single Christmas without hearing this song basically every day and of course, we always sing along. With almost 700,000,000 streams on Spotify making over $60 million as of last year (2019) the chance to invest in such an era-defining song could be one of Hipgnosis’ best assets to date.

This acquisition couldn’t come at a better time for Hipgnosis. As we are now in November and nearing Christmas, songs such as Carey’s will start to be played as we get our festive playlists ready. Not only is it the right time but it may be the right year also. As many suffer from the pandemic and the world’s mental state weakens many have already started to decorate, plan, and start Christmas to cheer themselves and others up.

Not only is this such a large purchase in the sense of how incredible this is, but it is also large in the fact it is the biggest purchase of its kind in a number of years. This purchase marks the biggest purchase in music publishing since Concord acquired Imagem for over $550m in summer 2017. The only difference is that Concord was for a music company and Hipgnosis bought copyrights.

If you want to invest in songs such as Carey’s and other big names now may be the time.