The best classic Christmas songs for your festive playlist

Christmas is upon us, which means it's time to put together a list of the 'best' classic Christmas songs that absolutely no one will agree with.

Asking around The Independent office there were a few obvious favourites, and a nice mix of new-ish pop songs thrown in with some old favourites.

The problem with this kind of list, unfortunately, is that no one has written a really decent Christmas song since Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" - but then again, sometimes it's best to stick with the classics.

Here are our 20 favourite Christmas songs:

20) "Last Christmas" - Wham!

19) "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" - The Jackson 5

18) "Jingle Bell Rock" - Bobby Helms

17) "Jingle Bells" - Michael Buble ft. The Puppini Sisters

16) "White Christmas" - Irving Berlin, Bing Crosby

15) "The Little Drummer Boy" - Johnny Cash

14) "I Believe in Father Christmas" - Greg Lake

13) "Wonderful Christmastime" - Paul McCartney

12) "The Christmas Song" - Nat King Cole

11) "Stop the Cavalry" - Jona Lewie

10) "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - Andy Williams

9) 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas' - Perry Como, The Fontane Sisters

8) 'Winter Wonderland' - Bing Crosby

7) Merry Xmas Everybody' - Slade

6) 'Driving Home for Christmas' - Chris Rea

5) 'Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!' - Dean Martin

4) 'Santa Baby' - Eartha Kitt

3) 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' - Frank Sinatra

2) 'All I Want for Christmas is You' - Mariah Carey

1) 'Fairytale of New York' - The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl

You've got pretty much everything you need in there, from classics like Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" and Bing Crosby's "White Christmas", to slightly more modern but still beloved songs such as Michael Buble's version of "Jingle Bells" with the wonderful Puppini Sisters, and, of course, Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You".

"Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl may seem like an obvious choice, but there's definitely a reason it has been voted the favourite in pretty much every Christmas song poll since its release.

While East 17's heartbreaking "Stay Another Day" didn't make our top 20 you can read about the story behind the song here. We also made a Spotify playlist with loads more classic tunes for you to enjoy.

We hope you like the playlist, but if you didn't, we also made an alternative list of Christmas songs here. Merry Christmas!

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