"Silent Night" is UK's Favourite Christmas Carol

The United Kingdom voted for "Silent Night" as its favourite Christmas carol for the first time in 12 years.

The song was written to tide over a midnight mass after mice had damaged a church organ in Austria. It was first translated into English in 1863.

According to The Belfast Telegraph, Mice had nibbled through the belows of the organ at St. Nicholas Church in the town of Obendorf in Austria. There was no time to repair the instrument for the Mass on Christmas Eve 1818, the priest - Father Joseph Mohr, asked his friend Franz Gruber to compose some tune to go with a poem that he had written two years ago.

The song was finally arranged for choir and guitar.  

The song ousted "O Holy Night", which held the top spot since 2003, that now ranks second in the annual poll for Classic FM radio.

A reason behind the song's return to the top position might be that "Silent Night" was sung between the trenches during the Christmas truce in 1914 and this year the United Kingdom had organized a number of events to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

It has been learnt that thousands of Classic FM listeners voted in the annual poll that the radio station conducted. The poll opened Dec. 1, The Independent reports.

Apart from "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night", the other that made it to the list of top five Christmas carols were: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", Holst's version of "In The Bleak Midwinter" and "O Come All Ye Faithful".

The full countdown will be aired on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, from 1 p.m. onwards in John Brunning's show , 'The Nation's Favourite Carol'.