TOP OF THE CHRISTMAS FLOPS

• Brits vote Mistletoe and Wine as the worst Christmas song of all time
• Costa removes Sir Cliff’s song from its playlist across 1,600 stores over the festive season
• National children’s charity, Youth Music, enlisted to revamp traditional Christmas songs and will provide Costa customers with entertainment over the festive period

With the festive season now in full swing, there is no escaping the merry jingle of Christmas music - but not every festive tune is music to the ears. Research* today has revealed that Cliff Richard’s 1988 Christmas number one ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ is officially the UK’s most hated Christmas song of all time.

As a result, the UK’s favourite coffee shop, Costa, has taken the drastic measure of banning the song from all of its outlets during the Christmas period, in order to keep its customers and staff happy. Even the added accolade of it being the UK’s best selling single of that year is not enough save Sir Cliff’s melodic tune from Costa’s cull!

Another song not getting Brits in the festive mood is the 2004 remake and biggest selling single of the noughties, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ which coincidentally features Paul McCartney and Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, both of who also appear in the top 10 most disliked Christmas songs with ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)’ and ‘Wonderful Christmas’ at seventh and 10^th place respectively.

Top 10 most hated Christmas songs:

1. Mistletoe and Wine, Sir Cliff Richard (1988)

2. Blue Christmas, Shakin’ Stevens (1985)

3. Christmas Wrapping, The Waitresses (1981)

4. Little Saint Nick, The Beach Boys (1963)

5. All I Want For Christmas Is You, Mariah Carey (1994)

6. When A Child Is Born, Jonny Mathis (1972)

7. Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End), The Darkness (2003)

8. Do The Know It’s Christmas? Band Aid 20 (2004)

9. Merry Christmas Baby, Mae West (1960)

10. Wonderful Christmas, Paul McCartney (1979)

The survey* of 3,000 Brits also found that because Christmas songs can be heard as early as September, 62% of respondents are already bored with the current repertoire of songs doing the rounds!

To help the Great British public renew their love of festive music, Costa has partnered with national children’s charity, Youth Music, to provide its customers with some fantastic entertainment. Ten groups from Youth Music projects will perform a playlist of re-styled Christmas tunes at ten Costa stores across the UK this Saturday 14^th December. The chosen stores are:

Birmingham - Solihull Mell Square

Exeter - Exeter High Street

Manchester - Trafford Centre

Liverpool - Liverpool One

Newport - Newport Retail Park

Brighton - Churchill Square

Bristol - Yates Shopping Centre

Newcastle - Eldon Square

Leeds - Leeds Briggate

Glasgow - Braehead Shopping Centre

Kevin Hydes, UK Retail Marketing Director from Costa said: “The festive happiness of our customers and staff is our upmost priority and along with banning Sir Cliff from our stores, Youth Music will also perform a number of revamped Christmas songs at ten Costa stores across the country this Saturday 14^th December. Think a jazz version of ‘I Wish It could be Christmas Everyday’ or a rock rendition of  ‘White Christmas’ - it’s not to be missed!”

Costa’s campaign partner, Youth Music, provides more than 90,000 young people with the opportunity to make music every year, helping many of them to overcome the challenges they face in their lives and enabling others to realise their full musical potential. The organisation is being gifted with a £10,000 donation from Costa, which will help continue to provide great opportunities for young people across the country.

Glen Whitehead from Youth Music said: “Youth Music projects work across all music genres, so our young performers are ideally placed to revamp the usual Christmas offering. They will be delighted to show off their music-making talents with creative new takes on old tunes and by adding some new alternatives to the repertoire shoppers usually have to listen to – repeatedly! We are very excited to be working with Costa to provide some uniquely different Christmas music to entertain their customers this Saturday.”

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