If you're a regular reader of this column, you'll know I'm a sucker for a cheeky survey, and there's been no shortage lately of festive themed ones. I don't know about you, but I enjoy the build-up to Christmas far more than the day itself, which can feel like something of an anticlimax. I also love digging out the songs that we bury away for the other eleven months of the year, and giving them a spin on Tameside Radio.
Chocolate brand Twix has commissioned a survey looking at yuletide songs that a sample of 2,000 adults would happily never hear again. In tenth place, it's 'Holy Night' by Celine Dion. I'm not having that. Celine is one of my favourite female artists, and I shed a few tears watching her recent Amazon documentary 'I Am : Celine Dion', about her struggle to sing again after some horrendous health battles. In at number nine, it's Wizzard's evergreen 70s classic 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday'. Aside from the slightly sad thought that all the kids in the choir are probably now eligible for a bus pass, I am also incredulous that it would grind anyone's gears enough to vote it into the Top 5.
Number eight goes to Pogues & Kirsty MacColl, which Laura Beth from our Monday evening show says is the greatest Christmas song never to achieve the number one position. I'm glad the row over its lyrics seems to have simmered down in recent years, as that all got a bit tiresome. Michael Buble's 'It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas' takes the number seven spot, whilst 'Santa Tell Me' by Wicked superstar Ariana Grande is at six.
Into the top five, X Factor winner Leona Lewis makes number five with 'One More Sleep', and East 17's 'Stay Another Day' claims number four. The latter is only really a Christmas song because they added sleigh bells, but it saw off a challenge from Mariah Carey, who tops the poll of bin worthy sleighlist songs with 'All I Want For Christmas Is You', also released in 1994. Band Aid and Justin Bieber are at numbers three and two respectively.
None of these are anywhere near as bad as the bleak 'Lonely This Christmas' by Mud, or the truly appalling Ed Sheer & Elton John song that came out a few years back, which sounds to me like it was made in a soulless Christmas song factory. I suppose we all perhaps have one or two that grind our gears, but we aim to play a big variety on Tameside Radio, so that you don't hear the same ones too often. It's interesting that almost a third say there hasn't been a decent Christmas song in years. I'd say Kelly Clarkson's Underneath The Tree, Coldplay's Christmas Lights, and the whole of Kylie's Christmas album scuppers that theory, but admittedly the days of Shaky, Wham and Slade are probably behind us.
Other surveys I've spotted this week...
Alex is apparently the most popular name for people to change their name to, according to a study of changes made through Deed Poll. More people in the UK are choosing to take the name than any other in the past five years.
Gen Z's Christmas dinners are getting a quirky makeover in 2025, with many adding hot sauce, salad cream, barbecue sauce and even ketchup (56%!) to their festive dinner plate. Almost a quarter eat condiments straight from the bottle, according to the Subway sauce research.
And almost half re-gift Christmas presents, according to research from blood cancer charity Leukemia Care. More than a third say they would rather donate to charity than buy a token gift, with "blow up boyfriends", a single sock and "a potato with their name written on it" amongst some of the more quirky, unwanted gifts. Other items on the list of junk include a sign for a cheese shop, cheap novelty mugs, bars of soap, and "a ladybird battery massager". That would make for an awkward moment in the office Secret Santa gift exchange. As someone who used to buy tat on a credit card from the gift section in British Home Stores that I couldn't afford, I'm pleased to say I now buy very selectively. As Martin Lewis says, "is my gift a help or a hindrance"? Step off the treadmill of tat! Better to support local businesses, and avoid getting yourself into a mountain of debt when the January bills hit the doormat.
