Lily Allen's 'Somewhere Only We Know' cover is highest earning John Lewis Christmas ad song

Google searches for ‘John Lewis’ have spiked consistently each Christmas period as their annual advert is released in the United Kingdom, according to analysis by freelance SEO consultant Tom Crewe SEO. The retailer, whose adverts have become a staple of the Christmas period, had their most impactful advert in 2013, with Christmas searches for ‘John Lewis’ steadily declining ever since.

Marketing and SEO expert, Tom Crewe, analysed historical search trend data from Google Trends to establish which advert has had the biggest impact on Brits.

The 2013 advert, The Bear and the Hare, remains John Lewis’ most popular Christmas advert, with searches for John Lewis increasing 156% above the average rate, the highest increase for any advert. The advert featured a cover of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know sung by Lily Allen, which currently has 387 million Spotify streams. According to Spotify streaming calculation analysis, this means Lily Allen has earned an estimated £1,084,960 from streaming royalties.

The second most impactful John Lewis advert was 2012’s The Journey, which saw searches for the retailer increase by 146% above the average rate - the second highest amount. Gabrielle Aplin’s cover of The Power of Love, originally by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, has since been streamed 74.6 million times on Spotify, therefore earning an estimated £208,970 in streaming royalties.

Monty the Penguin, the 2014 Christmas advert for John Lewis, is the brand's third-best-performing advert, according to Google searches. There was a 141% spike in searches for John Lewis after this advert was released. Tom Odell covered John Lennon’s Real Love, and has earned an estimated £182,828 in streaming royalties from 65.2 million streams.

In 2015, John Lewis released their fourth most popular advert, titled The Man on the Moon. This advert caused searches for John Lewis to increase by 133%. Norwegian singer AURORA covered Oasis’ Half the World Away for the advert, and the song has been streamed on Spotify 195 million times, far more than Tom Odell and Gabrielle Aplin’s hits, and has earned the singer an estimated £352,635 in royalties.

The fifth most popular John Lewis advert came in 2016 as Buster the Boxer. Searches for John Lewis increased 123%, the fifth-highest rate of any advert. A cover of Randy Crawford’s One Day I’ll Fly Away was sung by Vaults and has been streamed 4.8 million times, significantly lower than the covers in the other adverts listed. This has earned an estimated £13,575 in Spotify stream royalties.

Commenting on the findings, Crewe said: “The John Lewis Christmas advert has become a staple of British Christmas culture, with many seeing the release of the advert as the true beginning of the Christmas period. However, what is interesting about this data is that the impact of the television adverts has been gradually declining. While they still give an enormous boost above the usual search volume for the brand, the lasting impact of the John Lewis advert is significantly lower than it was a decade ago.

“What this tells us is that John Lewis may need to rethink their approach to advertising around the Christmas season. A big budget television advert may work and it will generate buzz, but in today’s day and age, social media adverts and catering to a new generation is key for the brand going forward to ensure that they still dominate festive marketing.”