Song · John Lennon
“Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon
Released 1971
“Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon appears on 4 radio countdowns from 1 station between 2001 and 2006. It was first released in 1971. Its best result is #139 on the Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #3,439 alternative song of all time.
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Leave it to John Lennon and Yoko Ono to slip an antiwar placard under the Christmas tree. "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" came out in 1971, credited to the Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir, and it's a holiday song with the Vietnam War on its mind: a protest record dressed up as a carol. Lennon and Ono wrote it and produced it with Phil Spector, and the Harlem Community Choir swells the chorus into something like a congregation. It was his seventh single away from the Beatles.
Britain had to wait until November 1972 for it, and it climbed to number four there; after Lennon was murdered in December 1980 it went back up to number two. Somewhere along the way the protest song turned into a seasonal standard, and in 2012 a British TV poll put it tenth among the nation's favourite Christmas songs.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 194 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 500 |
| 2004 | 139 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 500 |
| 2005 | 478 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 500 |
| 2006 | 387 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006) | 500 |
Also listed as: Happy Xmas (War Is Over); Happy Xmas War is Over.
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