For all the nay-sayers and Scrooges out there, Christmas pop is an annual scourge of the high street and TV advertising from November onwards, and the uncouth younger sibling of the traditional carol.

Hundreds of new Christmas songs are released every year, but each time December rolls around, the same small handful of classics races to the top of the charts. Will anything new ever break through?

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey and "Christmastime Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi Trio are among the best ...

There's a Christmas song for all tastes – jolly to melancholy – so corralling them into one list is not only futile, but impossible. Still, we try.