The Christmas-themed song; it’s a tradition that stretches all the way back from Bing Crosby crooning in the ’40s, right up to this year’s Lily Allen commercial and Triple J’s all-star charity single.
While they these commercial hymnals to the holidays might be among some of the most grating and cheesy in music, a certified Christmas hit can provide an endless amount of yuletide cheer for musicians as one of the most lucrative money-earners in the business.
Think about it, as far as annual traditions go, they get churned out year after year as much as tinsel, mistletoe, and novelty crackers – and all those repeat listens can really add up.
New research proves just how lucrative a musical stocking stuffer can be for a band; for instance, ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ the Love Actually-aided signature track of Mariah Carey, will net the diva warbler more than £364,431 (approx. $AU 656,069) in royalties come Christmas Day. And she’s only the third highest earner in a list of the Top 10 highest earning Christmas songs, as The Independent reports.
Falling just ahead of Mariah Carey, at #2 is The Pogues and their tragedy-gilded classic, ‘Fairytale of New York’. The Kirsty MacColl-featuring anthem will reap over £404,602 ($AU 728,380) in licensing cheques for Shane MacGowan and his ragtag ensemble.
Topping the Christmas royalties list however, is ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ – the soundtrack staple from British rockers, Slade. Though it was penned 40 years ago by guitarist Noddy Holder, the festive tune has already earned an extremely festive £536,000 ($AU 964,830) for the Slade member, and is predicted to rake in as much as £800,000 by year’s end. (Let’s hope Mr. Holder plans to spoil his bandmates come the 25th December).
The estimated profits are drawn from earnings from PRS (Performing Rights Society) royalties – including radio, television, in-store, and jukebox plays – as well as Christmas compilation album sales, and have been calculated by British retailer, Prezzybox.
The Prezzybox Christmas Song Royalty Calculator uses an algorithm to track the earnings of the Top 10 Santa-savvy tunes – which includes Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’, The Pretenders’ ‘2000 Miles’, and 1984 chart-topping Band Aid charity hit, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’.
The bean-counters among you can even track the estimated earnings of the classic festive hits live, by heading to the Prezzybox Christmas Song Royalty Calculator display here.
Not comfortable with watching the hundreds of thousands of dollars tick over into the bank accounts of big-name musicians? Then the folks at national youth broadcaster Triple J have a better, more charitable auction.
With the help of a cast of famous Aussie musicians (and bananas!) the radio station has recorded a charity single that parodies charity singles, with all proceeds of the sale of ‘Christmas Number One’ going towards the Red Cross as the station sets its sights on claiming the #1 chart spot come Christmas Day.
Top 10 Highest Earning Christmas Songs
According to the The Prezzybox Christmas Song Royalty Calculator as of December 11th 2013
“Merry Xmas Everybody” – Slade – £536,390
“Fairytale Of New York” – The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl – £404,609
“All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey – £364,146
“Last Christmas” – Wham! – £315,967
“Mistletoe and Wine” – Cliff Richard – £103,089
“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” – Band Aid – £81,740
“Merry Christmas Everyone” – Shakin’ Stevens – £56,384
“2000 Miles” – The Pretenders – £47,500
“Stay Another Day” – East 17 – £31,656
“Stop The Cavalry” – Jona Lewie – £13,873
