The 1970s Crowned BEST Decade for Christmas Celebrations
Christmas nostalgia is making a comeback this year, as Pinterest reports a surge in searches for classic Christmas decorations like nutcrackers and candy canes.
Christmas today may be exciting but it’s hard not to reminisce about Christmases of the past when tinsel was all the rage and a Chopper bike was on every child’s wish list.
As we head into the widely hailed ‘best time of the year’, nostalgia experts at BestBettingSites.com conducted a study to unveil which years and decade had the best Christmas, by delving into factors such as the count of snow days, quality of Christmas movies, and the chart-topping Christmas No.1 songs from 1970 to 2022.
Key findings:
- The 1970s is crowned the GREATEST decade for Christmas, followed by the 1990s and 2000s
- 48 festive films were released in 2017, marking the highest count among the analyzed years
- 2010 claims the record for the whitest Christmas in Britain, boasting an average of 15 snowy days
- The 2020s could be heading towards festive doom, as 2020 and 2021 land among the bottom ten
Top 10 best years for Christmas unwrapped
| Rank | Year | Average days of snowfall in December | No. of Christmas movies released | Average IMDb rating /10 | Christmas No.1 song | Total weeks at No. 1 | Final Christmassy score/10 |
| 1 | 2017 | 2.73 | 48 | 5.99 | "Perfect" | 6 | 8.28 |
| 2 | 1995 | 4.96 | 4 | 7.08 | "Earth Song" | 6 | 8.12 |
| 3 | 1981 | 13.90 | 3 | 6.57 | "Don't You Want Me" | 5 | 7.73 |
| 4 | 1983 | 0.73 | 2 | 7.95 | "Only You" | 5 | 7.72 |
| 5 | 1992 | 0.27 | 5 | 6.22 | "I Will Always Love You" | 10 | 7.50 |
| 6 | 1973 | 1.37 | 3 | 6.73 | "Merry Xmas Everybody" | 5 | 7.48 |
| 7 | 1999 | 1.66 | 6 | 6.77 | "I Have a Dream" / "Seasons in the Sun" | 4 | 7.38 |
| 8 | 2005 | 1.60 | 7 | 6.03 | "That's My Goal" | 4 | 7.25 |
| 9 | 1978 | 2.52 | 7 | 6.71 | "Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord" | 4 | 7.22 |
| 10 | 1982 | 1.19 | 2 | 7.40 | "Save Your Love" | 4 | 7.11 |
The study also reveals that 2017 was the ultimate year for Christmas, scoring an exceptional Christmassy score of8.28/10. With a whopping 48 new Christmas movies released, Netflix’s “Christmas Inheritance” and “A Christmas Prince” have become huge hits with the latter further spawning two sequels. In the same year, Ed Sheeran also won his first Christmas No.1 capping off a “Perfect” 2017 for the singer-songwriter.
In second is 1995 with Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song” claiming the official Christmas No. 1 spot for six weeks. Christmas movies scored remarkably on IMDb earning an average rating of 7.08/10, contributing to the year’s final Christmassy score of 8.12/10.
1981 (7.73/10) and 1983 (7.72/10) secured the third and fourth positions respectively, with 1981 seeing the second highest days of average snowfall (13), trailing only behind 2010 with an average of 15 snowy days. Meanwhile, IMDb engagement for 1983 festive films were exceptionally high, amassing 88,416 votes following the release of the seasonal classic “A Christmas Story”.
Rounding off the top five is 1992 (7.50/10) with Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”, notching up the most coveted chart accolade of the year, boasting an impressive ten-week reign in the UK.
The BEST decade for Christmas, ever
| Rank | Decade | Number of entries in top 20 | Years |
| 1 | 1970s | 6 | 1973 / 1978 / 1979 / 1974 / 1976 / 1977 |
| 2 | 1990s | 5 | 1995 / 1992 / 1999 / 1993 / 1996 |
| 2 | 2000s | 4 | 2005 / 2000 / 2001 / 2004 |
| 3 | 1980s | 3 | 1981 / 1983 / 1982 |
| 4 | 2010s | 2 | 2017 / 2010 |
The best decade was determined by collating the number of years within the decade that placed in the top 20 best Christmas years.
The study crowned the 1970s as the best decade for celebrating Christmas with six entries in the top 20. A decade when the famous “Morecambe and Wise” Christmas specials brought the nation together, 1973 even saw festive tunes like Slade’s “Merry Christmas Everybody”, The Wizzard’s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” and Elton John’s “Stepping into Christmas” fiercely battling it out for the Christmas number one spot!
Following behind in second, Christmas in the 1990s was evidently memorable, gifting us timeless classics like “Home Alone” and “The Muppet Christmas Carol”, while Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” made its unforgettable debut.
Securing the third position is the 2000s, a decade when Christmas rom-coms graced our big screens. Cult favourites like “Love Actually” and “The Holiday” became the talk of the town, joined by classics like “Elf”, “The Polar Express” and “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” which have since become Christmas staples, ranking highly on the list of the most rewatched festive films.
A spokesperson for the researchers, offered insights on the outlook of Christmas in the 2020s:
“Despite being in the early years of the decade, our data have underscored a disheartening trend for Christmas in the 2020s, with 2020 and 2021 emerging among the worst ten years to celebrate the big day. Snowy winters have become increasingly rare due to global warming, and even with both years collectively churning out 152 Christmas movies, audience engagement fell short, averaging just over 3,000 votes on IMDb.
Notably, the festive No. 1 spot has been held by YouTuber LadBaby for five consecutive years since 2018. Despite their wins for charitable causes, this has sparked disappointment among people as we now can only reminisce about the times when A-list stars faced off for the Yuletide top spot, with songs that eventually became household classics.”
