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Watch the new official video for Slade's 'Merry Xmas Everybody'

14 December 2021, 10:50 | Updated: 14 December 2021, 10:52

Smooth Listeners' Top 10 Christmas Songs

By Mayer Nissim

After 48 years, we've finally got a proper music video for one of the greatest ever Christmas songs.

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The Battle of Christmas 1973: Slade vs Wizzard. 'Merry Xmas Everybody' vs 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday'.

Slade would go on on to win, bagging the Christmas #1, but Wizzard stayed ahead in one important way – they had a fantastic music video for their Christmas hit, but Noddy Holder and the boys had never got round to making one for theirs.

The "video" you've watched on TV in the decades since is actually one of the band's two Top of the Pops performances from the time.

That's because after recording the song in New York that summer, Slade were just too busy to make an actual video for the song.

Until now.

Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody - Official Video

Rather than film the band members today or piece together archive footage, the band have decided to go the animated route to keep things beautifully frozen in time.

"'Merry Xmas Everybody’ by Slade is one of the most iconic British Christmas singles of all time, peaking at number one in the UK in 1973, having sold over a million copies on its first run," said the band.

"This single has never officially had a video until now, for the first time Slade are releasing 'Merry Xmas Everybody' for all to see."

Merry Christmas Everybody - Slade

Despite lacking a proper video for all this time, it's estimated that 'Merry Xmas Everybody' earns Slade around £500,000 every single year in royalties.

The current Slade lineup features founding member Dave Hill, as well as John Berry, Russell Keefe and Alex Bines.

Fellow founding members Noddy Holder and Jim Lea left the band in 1992, while Don Powell was forced from the lineup in 2020.