Why Mariah Carey is still queen of the Christmas charts

Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You matched its original 1994 chart position of number two last week.

But of the 17 Christmas songs which currently feature in the UK top 40, only two are original releases from the last 20 years.

Leona Lewis's One More Sleep came out in 2013 and Ariana Grande's Santa Tell Me was released a year later.

So why are decades-old Christmas songs still reigning supreme?

Radio 1's Official Chart show host Greg James will reveal the UK's Christmas number one this week, with Ed Sheeran's Perfect likely to take the crown.

He thinks it's harder for newer Christmas songs to make an impact because the season "is all about tradition".

"We're a nostalgic nation," Greg told us.

"We watch re-runs of old TV shows. We like traditions and Christmas songs are part of that. We only listen to them once a year."

There has been a campaign by Andrew Ridgeley (l) to get Wham's Last Christmas to number one, to mark a year since his bandmate George Michael's death in 2016

Streaming has played a huge role in the resurgence of older Christmas songs, with plays from seasonal playlists contributing to chart sales.

As a result, classics such as Elton John's Step Into Christmas (1974) and Chris Rea's Driving Home For Christmas (1988) have reached their highest ever chart positions.

Other current songs in the chart date as far back as 1942 (Bing Crosby's White Christmas) and 1963 (Andy Williams' It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas).

In contrast, Sia's highly promoted Santa's Coming For Us - from her album of original Christmas songs - is outside the top 40, at number 65.

Watch the video for Sia's Santa's Coming For Us.

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Singer songwriter Tom Aspaul thinks an original Christmas song is hard to write because "so many ideas are already taken".

"I think Leona Lewis's One More Sleep was a new idea which is why it's done well. If you write a Christmas song you're treading a very thin line because a lot of them are rubbish."

He also says Mariah Carey gets repeated success because she realises that the song is one of her most successful.

"She's like Ms Christmas," he says. "Every year she does a Christmas concert or a Christmas film or a Christmas gimmick."

Ariana Grande's Santa Tell Me is one of the most successful recent Christmas songs

Greg James argues that Sia's Christmas offering might make a dent in "20 or 30 years" but it needs time "to get entrenched in our psyches".

"People associate Christmas songs with specific memories. For me, Brenda Lee's Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree reminds me of Home Alone."

The US country legend currently finds her classic Christmas track sandwiched between Craig David and Post Malone.

That's not to say no-one is making Christmas songs anymore.

This year alone, we've had festive albums from Sia, Gwen Stefani, her boyfriend Blake Shelton, 90s boybands Hanson and 98 Degrees and American Idol winner Fantasia.

Michael Buble's Christmas has also been popular since its release in 2011, but the album largely features covers, with a couple of original songs near the end of the tracklisting.

Brenda Lee's Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree is currently nearing the UK Top 20 once again

2016 could have bucked the trend following the winning song from last year's X Factor victor, Matt Terry.

His song, When Christmas Comes Around, was written by Ed Sheeran - and reached number three in the UK Top 40.

But it hasn't made the same impact a year later.

Capital Yorkshire's drivetime presenter Pete Allison says there's a reason newer Christmas songs aren't doing as well - a lack of stardom.

"At the time Mariah Carey and George Michael were the biggest artists around when they released their Christmas songs," he said.

"If Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift or Dua Lipa released an original Christmas song now, then I'm sure it would be successful and reappear each year. But - with the exception of Sia - they're not doing that so we're not playing them."

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