Whilst a lot of the detractors for Christmas music bemoan its relentless cheer, there’s at least one festive classic that takes a different spin on things. First recorded in 1948, “Blue Christmas” is now a country/rock standard that’s been covered more than 65 times.

With artists from Elvis Presley to Céline Dion making the song their own, Last.fm Trends looks into the scrobbles for this slice of holiday melancholy.

Elvis’ version unsurprisingly rules the roost, with 359,899 scrobbles from 138,698 listeners. Right behind him, however, is a modern indie artist: Bright Eyes has gained 244,982 scrobbles from 87,107 listeners for his version, the most popular track on 2002′s A Christmas Album.

Céline Dion‘s version has gained a fairly respectable 14,885 listeners, whilst the cover by Johnny Cash is more popular with 23,652 – but it’s Elvis who’ll forever be associated with the track. It’s top of his charts this week, and contributes to an evergreen seasonal spike illustrated in the graph below (click to enlarge).

Discover more music at Last.fm. Meanwhile, Last.fm Trends brings you the news in scrobbles every weekday.