Following on from our Halloween post, we thought it would be interesting to share what we’ve seen during the festive period in public performance over the last few years.

We’ll answer all the questions you didn’t know you had such as:

• When does the festive season start in public performance?
• Which types of places play the most Christmas music?
• Which country plays the most Christmas music?
• Which decades are the most popular Christmas songs from?
• Which Christmas songs are played all year around? (I was surprised to see there were quite a few!)

We’ll also reveal our first ever Public Performance Christmas Charts and compare our data with the UK Official Chart Company 2024 Christmas Chart that covers streaming and downloads.

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When does the festive season start in public performance?

…or when is it acceptable to start playing Christmas music?

Over the last few years, we’ve seen that Christmas music accounts for up to 8% of all plays during December, but in Public Performance, we can say that the Christmas period officially starts on the 1st of November.

Which types of places play the most Christmas music?

…or where should I avoid if I’m a scrooge?

It’s not going to be a massive surprise if you’ve been out at this time of year to see that the retail sector tops the festive plays, with pubs, restaurants and accommodation close behind – again, it’s good to see this backed up by real-world data. An unexpected sector in the top five was healthcare (e.g. doctor surgeries and dentists) – they’re also getting into the festive spirit… in summary, you’re not going to avoid it I’m afraid!

Which country plays the most Christmas music?

As we have different numbers of Audio Meters installed in each country, we normalised the data across each country to allow a comparison, giving an average number of plays per premises we’re installed in.

We searched and asked ChatGPT – it cited various articles such as this that concluded that the UK is the most Christmassy country for streamed music. We’re pleased to say that we see the same trend in Public Performance with an average of 50% more plays per installation than other countries!

Which decades are the most popular Christmas songs from?

2025 has seen a big change in the top ten; whilst four of the ten are from the 60s/70s/80s, the remaining six are from the 2000s. So, this year it feels like premises are wanting to change things up a bit.

2024 had a different picture favouring older songs - only two of the top ten were from the 2000s:

Which Christmas songs are played all year around?

I found it surprising that during January to October we still see Christmas music getting played… If we zoom in on that period for 2025, you’ll see 0.01% – 0.04% of plays are Christmas music. The spike in July comes from Australia during their winter and it turns out some folk celebrate Christmas twice there, so again it’s fantastic to see that backed up by our data.

With that in mind, it’s not a surprise that Australia supplies nearly half of the Christmas plays outside of November and December.

The top Christmas songs played January – October 2025 were as follows - there are some classics, but a clear emphasis on dance and recent releases…

The Public Performance Christmas Charts

For the first time, we can now reveal the Audoo Public Performance Christmas charts for 2025…

Top Ten Christmas Artists 2025

As you can see, some big movements this year but once again, Mickey Bubbles is number one... the man is relentless with his Christmas cheer!

Top Ten Christmas Songs 2025

The big movements in the artist chart are of course underpinned by the song charts - every song in the top ten has moved up this year!

This year has been a bit different - what’s happened to Mariah? All I Want For Christmas Is You is sitting at number 17 in our charts! 😱

Despite publishing this exactly one week before Christmas, we’re confident the positions won’t change dramatically now – Kelly Clarkson has been the clear leader from the start…

UK Official Charts 2024

Finally, as a bonus and because the 2025 charts have not been published yet, we thought it would be interesting to compare our 2024 chart to the UK Official Chart Company 2024 Christmas Chart that covers streaming and download music services. While eight out of the top ten are the same, the popularity is different and we can see a couple of older songs in our top ten. As we see all year-round, catalogue songs are popular and generate considerable commercial value in Public Performance.

Merry Christmas!

That's it... we hope you've enjoyed a look into our Public Performance Christmas data and how it differs from streaming charts. We'll be back in the new year with more data stories.

All that remains is for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas from us all at Audoo!

Cheers!

Steve Robbins, CTO