The UK's most popular Christmas song is not the UK's most popular Christmas number 1, judging by your votes. Still, before it was ruined by retailers' annual habit of ploughing into the Christmas compilations in October, hearing Noddy Holder bellowing “IT'S CHRIIISTMAAAAS!” seemed genuinely exciting.

The song's popularity in the UK is likely down to the way that it captures a quintessentially British Christmas - ie, one that's heavily reliant on alcohol - but the song hasn't exactly floundered outside of the domestic market. In fact, in 2007 PRS For Music estimated that about 42% of the world population may have listened to the tune.

Born out of a bleak year that had seen industrial action and government austerity on a major scale (sound familiar?), Holder decided to turn some frowns upside down...

“[At the time], economically, the country was up the creek,” Holder told the Daily Mail in 2007. “I think people wanted something to cheer them up - and so did I. That's why I came up with the line 'Look to the future now, it's only just begun'. Once I got the line, 'Does your Granny always tell you that the old ones are the best', I knew I'd got a right cracker on my hands.”

Pun intended?