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Driving Home for Christmas

Chris Rea (1951–2025)

Chris is driving home again

Chris Rea (1951–2025)

Chris in a Santa hat in his car, heading home through the snow

Chris Rea died on 22 December 2025, aged 74, after a short illness in hospital, his family announced. This corner is a warm nod to the man behind the song that drives through the living room every winter. I built it with respect, and with a wink at the counter.

The story behind the song

By Rea’s own account he wrote it in 1978, stuck in traffic and snow on the way from Abbey Road Studios in London to Middlesbrough. His wife drove them in her Austin Mini, to save money. He also said he had actually written it for Van Morrison, but never got it to him.

In 1986 it came out as the B-side of ‘Hello Friend’. In 1988 a re-recorded version with strings followed on the compilation New Light Through Old Windows and as a single on The Christmas EP: good for number 53 in the UK chart. After that it grew into an annual phenomenon. It has charted in the UK every year since 2007, and in early 2022 it reached number 10 there, its highest position ever.

According to Wikipedia, Rea only played it live for the first time in 2014, with twelve snow cannons in support.

In the Netherlands

In December 1986 the Dutch TV show TopPop aired the video, mixed with footage of motorways around Hilversum. It was not an instant hit: in the Netherlands it stalled in the tip chart at the time. These days it is a fixture of the Top 2000, and in the Dutch Single Top 100 it reached number 3.

And the money?

A lot is written about what the song earns, and little is confirmed. The gossip site RadarOnline estimated in December 2025 that it brought in around 265,000 dollars a year, without saying how that was calculated. So I only pass it on as an estimate according to media, not as fact.

What is public: in December 2022 BMG bought the royalty interests in seventeen of Rea’s studio albums, including this song. No price was mentioned. I will not speculate about who benefits now.

Sources

Mood image: Chris on his way home.

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