Fairytale of New York Christmas number one by the Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Always on My Mind". MacGowan was reported to have said "We were beaten by two queens and a drum machine". MacColl later said that she did not feel they were really in competition with the Pet Shop Boys as they were doing a completely different kind of music. The song was re-released by the Pogues in the UK in 1991 (reaching #36), and again in the UK and Ireland for Christmas 2005, reaching number three in the UK. All proceeds from the latter release were donated towards a mixture of
2008 in British music charts Christmas songs, including Wham!'s "Last Christmas" and "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, returned to the chart throughout December. Alexandra Burke won the fifth series of "The X Factor" on 13 December, and released her debut single - a cover of Leonard Cohen's track "Hallelujah" - on 14 December. The single sold 576,000 copies in its first week of release, and was the Christmas number one single of 2008. The late Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" - originally recorded for his 1994 album "Grace" - charted at number two, following a campaign to raise Buckley's version