Fairytale of New York undergoing rewrites and aborted attempts at recording, and losing its original female vocalist along the way, before finally being completed in August 1987. Although the single never reached the coveted UK Christmas number one, being kept at number two on its original release in 1987 by the Pet Shop Boys' cover version of "Always on My Mind", it has proved enduringly popular with both music critics and the public: to date the song has reached the UK Top 20 on fifteen separate occasions since its original release in 1987, including every year since 2005, and was certified double platinum in
Fairytale of New York 86 weeks on the official UK Top 75 (as of w/e 20 December 2018), making it the fifth most charted song of all time. In late 2012 it was declared a UK million-seller. On 22 December 2005, The Pogues performed the song on a "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" Christmas special on BBC One in the UK, with the female vocals taken by singer Katie Melua. "Fairytale of New York" was announced as Britain's "favourite Christmas song" in a 90-minute special on ITV on 22 December 2012, following a nationwide survey of ITV viewers, despite not being a Christmas song,