Christmas carol "Silent Night" has topped the list of Britain's "most recorded Christmas song of all time," according to music licensing company PPL.
The 190-year-old Austrian carol beat more recent festive compositions such as "White Christmas" and "Winter Wonderland" to the top spot in a list of more than 170 recordings, PPL said in a statement on Monday.
"Silent Night is a beautiful carol which encapsulates the feeling of Christmas entirely”, said Mike Dalby, Lead Reporting Analyst at PPL. “Everyone from punk band The Dickies right through to Sinead O'Connor has recorded it, which exemplifies just how much it resonates with all different types of artists."
PPL compiled the list using a database of about 1,800 Christmas themed recordings to rate the Christmas songs.
Sinead O'Connor's 1991 recording was the most popular version of the carol in Britain, according to PPL. More recent covers have been released from artists such as Christina Aguilera, Susan Boyle, and Annie Lennox, who recorded the song as part of her Christmas compilation album released in the UK last month.
A staple part of carol services across the globe, Silent Night has been translated into 44 different languages from the original German.
The list has also revealed the song to be a versatile track, boasting recordings from range of music genres. The classic Christmas song has spawned a wide variety of covers, including pop, punk and even heavy metal versions.
The original version of the carol "Stille Nacht" was written in 1816 in Austria by the priest Father Joseph Mohr. It was first performed on Christmas Eve in 1818.
音乐专利授权机构PPL公司调查发现，圣诞颂歌《平安夜》位列英国“有史以来灌录次数最多的圣诞歌曲榜”榜首。
PPL公司在周一发布的一份报告中表示，这首奥地利圣诞颂歌已经有190年历史，它击败了《白色圣诞节》和《冬季仙境》等较新的圣诞歌曲，荣登榜首。榜单上共有170多首歌曲。
PPL的首席报告分析员麦克•多尔比说：“《平安夜》是一首优美的圣诞颂歌，它将人们的圣诞心情表达得淋漓尽致。几乎每位艺人——从朋克乐队The Dickies到摇滚歌手西尼德•奥康娜——都翻唱过这首颂歌，这说明它能和各种风格迥异的艺术家产生共鸣。”
PPL公司从一个收录了约1800首圣诞主题歌曲的数据库中选出了170多首制成榜单，并给歌曲打分。
PPL公司发现，西尼德•奥康娜在1991年翻唱的版本在英国最受欢迎。之后，克里斯蒂娜•阿奎莱拉、苏珊•波伊尔和安妮•蓝妮克丝等歌手都翻唱过这首歌。安妮•蓝妮克丝翻唱的版本收录在她上月在英国发行的圣诞精选专辑中。
作为全球圣诞颂歌服务的重要组成部分，《平安夜》从最初的德语版本被译成了44种不同的语言。
榜单上还显示，这首歌的乐曲风格多样化，拥有各种音乐流派的版本。这首经典的圣诞歌曲曾被翻唱成各类音乐，包括流行乐，朋克，甚至重金属音乐。
这首颂歌的最初版本由约瑟夫•莫尔神父于1816年创作于奥地利，它的首次演出是在1818年的平安夜。
Vocabulary:
encapsulate: to express the most important parts of something in a few words, a small space or a single object（简述；概括；压缩）
staple: forming a basic, large or important part of something（主要的；基本的；重要的）
versatile: able to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities（用途、功能多样化的）
spawn: to cause something to develop or be produced（引发，产生）