Christmas Top 10 Songs

It's Christmas time.., I'm dreaming.., Chestnuts roasting on an open fire... However your favourite festive tune begins, doesn't it just warm the cockles of your heart?

When the weather outside is frightful, there really is nothing better than curling up under the duvet, or in the arms of your loved one, and listening to the sounds of the season - from Bing to Nat, Doris to Dean, they're the songs that are as Christmassy as turkey and mulled wine!

This year, Contactmusic.com hit the streets to ask Christmas shoppers for their festive favourites, then we looked at the biggest selling tunes and the most recorded; we jumbled up all our findings and came up with what we can proudly boast is the definitive Christmas countdown.

We hope your festive favourite is on our top 10 list, and we wish you all a very merry Christmas...

The Contactmusic.com Christmas Top 10

1. White Christmas - Bing Crosby

The ultimate festive ballad that remains one of the world's biggest selling singles of all time. Bing's warm voice and the wonderful lyrics conjure up Christmas memories, especially if you're away from loved ones for the holidays. The Irving Berlin song famously ended the fuzzy festive film of the same name, but Bing first sang this classic in Holiday Inn.

2. Do They Know It's Christmas Time - Band Aid

Sting, George Michael, Boy George, Bono... the all-star list goes on and on. This charity classic has become a festive anthem and yet still serves up poignant lyrics about a world many of us know little about, and people we should champion and consider every year at this time.

3. The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole

This annual Christmas crowd pleaser has been recorded over and over but Nat King Cole's 1946 original recording of Mel Torme's tune is still the ultimate version of this old favourite with his hot chocolate voice. You just want to wrap up warm, hold your loved ones in your arms and sip eggnog and gobble chestnuts. The tune is already the most-recorded holiday tune of the 21st century.

4. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley

The King crooned this Billy Hayes tune up a storm for his Christmas With Elvis EP in 1958 and it has been a chilly reminder of lonely yules ever since. The track has been recorded by 150 different artists but Elvis gives it an achingly cool twist.

5. Merry Christmas Everybody - Slade

Noddy Holder and his band of boozy Brits hit Christmas paydirt when they penned this festive anthem in the early 1970s. Now, no Christmas party is complete without Holder screeching 'It's Christmas' at the end of this raucous rocker.

6. Winter Wonderland - Doris Day

This holiday classic has been recorded by over 1,000 different artists but only Doris Day takes you off to the imaginary lanes and meadows in this festive favourite, where young lovers build snowmen, fall in love and warm their frozen bits by the fire. Ooooh, lovely!

7. Last Christmas - Wham!

George Michael's smooth tones and those Christmas bells offer us another festive heartbreaker as the British pop star recalls a romance gone bad. George and his longtime partner Kenny Goss will be singing This Christmas on 21 December (05) when they exchange vows and become a legal couple in a civil ceremony in Britain.

8. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow - Dean Martin

There's something about Dean Martin that just says Christmas to me - whether it's those lovely sweaters he used to wear, his love for a festive brew or the fact he's the eternal merry maker, I'm not sure but this jolly tune about keeping your loved one loved up as the storm bears down is a lovely romantic pop ditty.

9. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Various

Another Christmas favourite that joins the one thousand club - for the amount of times it has been performed by different artists, this dreamy ballad conjures up all that is good and right about Christmas time. Tony Bennett, Toni Braxton and The Carpenters have all recorded terrific versions of this winter warmer but the late Rosemary Clooney nailed it.

10. Peace On Earth/Peace On Earth - Bing Crosby + David Bowie

This makes the list just because it was such an odd but wonderful pairing - spaceman Bowie and old timer Bing, the voice of Christmas. The odd couple teamed up to record this hit in the late 1970s for a TV Crosby Christmas Special and Bowie swears to this day he has no recollection of the performance. Still, Christmas magic all the same - Par-um-pah-pum-pum!