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Every song in the John Lewis Christmas TV adverts... so far
14 November 2024, 09:00 | Updated: 14 November 2024, 11:08
As the nation enjoys the annual dose of festive cheer from the department store, let’s look back at the big tunes that have featured in previous years…
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The official start of the festive season is usually the arrival of the traditional John Lewis Christmas TV ad. So break out the decorations and start decorating that tree, because the 2024 advert is here.
Since 2007, the department store has issued an annual message of festive cheer and sentimentality that has the whole nation talking. But which ads got the mix of tune and visuals right? And which ones are we struggling to remember? Were you a fan of Excitable Edgar, Moz The Monster or Monty The Penguin?
Here is the whole series of ads, starting with the latest....
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2024: Richard Ashcroft /The Verve - Sonnet
Watch the John Lewis Christmas Ad 2024
The latest John Lewis ad features Richard Ashcroft's 2021 reworking of the 1998 Verve single Sonnet. The advert, entitled The Gifting Hour, sees Sally as she desperately tries to find the perfect gift for her sister Lauren. As she's searching through a dress rack, she tumbles through it - Narnia-style, into her memories of their life together. Cue lots of nostalgia and plenty of teary moments of their relationship through the years.
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2023: Andrea Bocelli - Festa
'Snapper' stars in the John Lewis 2023 Christmas Advert
The Italian tenor sings an original composition to soundtrack the tale of a boy who finds the true meaning of Christmas via a sinister looking plant. Someone has obviously been watching The Little Shop Of Horrors - and we all know how that ended.
Titled Snapper, the Perfect Christmas Tree, the campaign was designed to raise money for The Andrea Bocelli Foundation and the John Lewis Partnership’s Building Happier Futures Charity Partners - Action for Children, Home-Start UK and Who Cares? Scotland.
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2022: Postmodern Jukebox - All The Small Things
What's the first thing you think of when the word Christmas is mentioned? That's right, Blink-182. A tear-jerking version of the classic punk-pop hit soundtracked this tale of a foster dad who's trying to connect with a new arrival.
John Lewis release 'The Beginner' Christmas advert for 2022
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2021: Lola Young - Together In Electric Dreams
John Lewis launch 2021 'Unexpected Guest' Christmas advert
The 1984 classic by Giorgio Moroder and Human League frontman Philip Oakey soundtrack to a return to (kind of) normal Christmases after COVID, performed by Lola Young.
The ads sees a boy befriending an alien girl who has no concept of a traditional Chrimbo.
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2020: Celeste - Give A Little Love
Waitrose and John Lewis 'Give A Little Love' Christmas advert
Christmas 2020 was always going to be unusual, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, so John Lewis enlised BRIT Awards Rising Star winner Celeste to perform an original song to a visual that uses different forms of moving art - from animation and claymation to CGI and cinematography.
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2019: Dan Smith - Can’t Fight This Feeling
Christmas advert 2019 - John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners
The 2019 entry featured the voice of the Bastille frontman, who sung a modern cover of REO Speedwagon's Can’t Fight This Feeling to a visual of Excitable Edgar, the dragon who loves Christmas.
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2018: Elton John - Your Song
Look back at Sir Elton John's rise to stardom in the John Lewis Christmas advert
The 2018 ad featured Elton John as seen through the ages, thanks to the magical gift of a piano. The clip coincided with a resurgence of interest in the veteran singer-songwriter, thanks to the biopic Rocketman.
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2017: Elbow - Golden Slumbers
John Lewis Christmas 2017 Advert
Hey, even monsters like Christmas, too. Guy Garvey and co take on an emotional Beatles track and the overall effect is quite sweet.
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2016: Vaults - One Day I’ll Fly Away
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2016
Did you buy one of the soft toys? This cover of Randy Crawford’s 1980 mega-ballad about escaping a terrible relationship seems like an odd Christmas message.
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2015: Aurora - Half The World Away
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2015
The Oasis b-side immortalised as the theme to TV’s The Royle Family gets a makeover. The advert looks like a lost scene from The Mighty Boosh, featuring an old man on the moon who doesn’t look like he’s getting any pressies this year.
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2014: Tom Odell - Real Love
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2014
Penguin and boy get together as the floppy-haired piano player covers a pretty obscure John Lennon demo that was later tinkered with by the surviving Beatles.
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2013: Lily Allen - Somewhere Only We Know
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2013
The singer covers the Keane favourite with surprisingly effective results. The visuals left people bemused, though. Animals don’t have Christmas! Do they?
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2012: Gabrielle Alpin - The Power Of Love
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2012
This snowman-based travelogue is backed by a nice cover of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood Christmas classic. Nice sentiment, lovely song.
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2011: Slow Moving Millie - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2011
Little boy can’t wait for Christmas, soundtracked by a piano cover of Morrissey’s plea for self-gratification. Hard to mess up a Johnny Marr tune and we’ve all been excited for Chrimbo haven’t we? Lovely stuff.
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2010: Ellie Goulding - Your Song
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2010
A solo piano cover of a song that was already a solo piano performance. What would Sir Elton say?
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2009: Taken By Trees - Sweet Child O’ Mine
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2009
An OK cover of the Guns N’Roses classic by Concretes singer Victoria Bergsman. The idea behind the ad was pretty funny too.
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2008: Anon - From Me To You
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2008
A low-fi version of a sprightly Beatles tune, but a bit too cute for our taste. Recorded by John Lewis employees, apparently, and the first appearance of the now-familiar cover version.
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2007: Prokofiev - Morning Serenade from Romeo and Juliet
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2007
Before the John Lewis ads really hit their stride, the original commercial used this classical piece as a backdrop for some shadow-based fun. A nice tune, but we want breathy acoustic covers of classic bangers, come on.
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But are any of them as good as Chris Moyles' prank John Lewis ad...?
Chris Moyles reveals his John Lewis Christmas ad prank
In 2018, the Radio X DJ set tongues wagging when a cryptic clip was 'leaked' which featured a spaceman-themed Christmas bauble and a costumed piano player.
News outlets from all over the UK speculated that Elton John's Rocket Man could be set for that year's John Lewis advert. They were wrong.
