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
This Is the Life (Amy Macdonald album) MacLean, "Fairytale of New York", first performed in 1987 by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, and "Mr. Brightside", cover version of a 2004 song by The Killers, written by Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning. The album was particularly successful in Germany, spending 57 weeks in the top 20 of the German Albums Chart, 36 weeks in the top 10 of the German albums chart and a total of 100 weeks on the entire chart; it has been certified 9× Gold (February 2011) for over 900,000 copies sold in the country. It also spent