ONE HIT WONDERLAND
Ultimate Christmas song rich list including artist who makes £1m a YEAR from number one hit (and it’s not Mariah Carey)
One beloved classic was only written as a bet - but rakes in £400,000 every year
SHANE MacGowan’s estate will no doubt be boosted this Christmas as Fairytale of New York rockets up the charts.
Fans of the legendary Irish punk rocker, who died from pneumonia aged 65 last month, have been leading the charge in a campaign to get it to the top of the charts this year as a fitting final tribute.
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Despite the track topping almost every list of the best Christmas songs, it has never been a number one hit – it was beaten in 1987 by The Pet Shop Boys’ song You Were Always on My Mind.
Fairytale of New York was first released in 1982 and peaked at number two in 1987, but may finally have a good chance of taking the crown.
If it can fend off the competition, royalties could exceed £500,000, which would be split between Shane’s estate and fellow songwriter and bandmate Jem Finer.
But they won’t the only ones benefitting from the endless loops of Christmas classics you can’t get away from at this time of year.
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Indeed, even a one-hit-wonder can make a healthy profit by producing one decent festive single, depending on streams, radio play and advert use.
The Sun’s rich list reveals Christmas’s biggest earners in the music industry, with some surprising entries.
Slade, Merry Christmas Everybody.
Annual royalties: £1million. Total since release: £50million.
Noddy Holder and Slade musician Jim Lea penned the song, which reached number one in 1973.
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It’s stood the test of time since then, re-entering the charts each year, and making a pretty penny for the pair who wrote and composed it.
Today Noddy, 77, has started performing again, six years after he was told he had only six months to live after a diagnosis of oesophageal cancer.
Noddy, worth around £25million, signed up to a chemotherapy trial which saved his life.
The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, Fairytale of New York
Annual royalties: £400,000. Total since release: £14.4million.
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The duet was performed at Shane’s funeral by Glen Hansard and Lisa O’Niell as his family danced in the aisles.
The 1987 song tells the story of a couple arguing on Christmas Eve in New York City.
It was written by Shane and Jem, who said the song started out as a bet when the Irish band's producer at the time, Elvis Costello, joked they'd never be able to write a Christmas single.
Jem, 68, is an artist and musician with an interest in reconfiguring old technologies.
'It's not a blank, vacuous celebration of fun and over-consumption, rather a human story that many people can probably relate to,” he said of the song.
Mariah Carey, All I Want for Christmas is You
Annual royalties: £400,000. Total since release: £11.6million.
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Mariah might not want a lot for Christmas, but why would she when this track makes her millions?
The song, which has appeared in hit films like Love Actually, has become a festive earworm since its release in 1994.
“When I wrote [it], I had absolutely no idea the impact the song would eventually have worldwide,” Carey said in 2021.
“I’m so full of gratitude that so many people enjoy it with me every year.”
She’s probably equally as grateful for the £11million it’s added to her fortune of £270million.
Wizzard, I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day
Annual royalties: £180,000. Total since release: £9million.
Wizzard were a rock band formed by Roy Wood, a former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra.
Their biggest track, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day, was released in 1973 and performed on Top of the Pops.
Famously, it peaked at number two in the charts after losing out to Slade in a battle of the true Christmas classics.
Roy, 77, is still bringing the festive magic with his event ‘Rockmas’, which this year stars features Paul Young.
Chris Rea, Driving Home for Christmas
Annual royalties: £200,000. Total since release: £7million.
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Although this song was released in 1986 as a non-album single, it didn’t capture the public’s attention for another two years, climbing to the number one spot at Christmas 1988.
But all these years later it is still gives families a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
It’s also given Chris’s bank balance enough of a boost to charter a private jet instead of driving.
Jona Lewie – Stop the Cavalry
Annual royalties: £120,000. Total since release: £5.4million
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Jona, whose real name is John, says that thanks to the success of Stop the Cavalry in 1978, he now just "tinkers around" in his studio.
The song is an anti-war protest starting ‘Hey Mr Churchill comes over here…’
He admits he didn’t intend it to become a festive song "I absolutely did not sit down with the idea of writing a big Christmas hit. I don't think I would have been able to.”
Jona added that it provides half of his back catalogue income.
Shakin Stevens Merry Christmas Everyone
Annual royalties: £140,000. Total since release: £5.32million.
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Welsh singer and songwriter Michael Barratt had a hit number one with Merry Christmas Everyone (not to be confused with the near-identically named Slade song) in 1985.
Poor old Shakey himself only gets a small fraction of the £140,000 royalties though, as the key in the writing.
He picks up about £10,000, but the man behind the lyrics, Bob Heatlie, pockets a whopping £130,000 a year.
East 17, Stay Another Day
Annual royalties: £97,000. Total since release: £2.81 million
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Boy band members Brian Harvey, Tony Mortimer, John Hendy, and Terry Coldwell’s iconic video for this chart-topping song saw them trekking through the snow in white fur coats.
After the song was released in 1994 Tony spoke of how he wrote it after losing his brother Ollie to suicide, but changed it into a love song about losing a partner.
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He said: “I find it really awkward to listen to.
"When I go to the supermarket, I pray it doesn’t come on. My family never listen to it.”
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