Today marks 30 years since the original release of The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl’s classic Christmas song ‘Fairytale of New York’. 

Since its original release in the eighties 'Fairytale of New York' has become one of the most loved Christmas pop songs of all time and has made an appearance in the Top 20 every year since 2005. It has sold over a million copies, is the most played Christmas song of the century (PPL, 2011) and frequently tops polls for people’s favourite Christmas songs of all time.

The song is adored by the public and press alike, with The Observer dubbing it “a secular carol with a spiritual resonance (and) an impregnable slice of dirty realist redemption... Strangely, it's something to believe in.” The Independent call it: “arguably (undeniably) the best Christmas song of all time”. 

Shane MacGowan shared his own thoughts about the impact of the song in The Guardian Arts blog; “In Irish pubs where they still sing, Fairytale has become as much a standard as Danny Boy or The Fields of Athenry. So I'm like the writers of all those traditional standards, except I'm not anonymous. Or dead. The best surprises in life are the ones you never dream about."