I searched the Internet for lists of best Christmas movies of all time. Criteria included the movies being ranked, not just listed, and covering all time, not just a decade or Hallmark. The lists were generally created by groups, whether teams or committees or based on general public voting (like Ranker.com).

I was able to find 38 lists. I took the 38 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every film. The total number was over 1300 including all the repeats. I averaged the rankings each movie got and divided that average by the number of lists that movie was on. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists.

The movies that were on the most lists (out of 38) were:

  • It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – 37
  • Home Alone (1990) – 37
  • Elf (2003) – 36
  • National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) – 34
  • Love Actually (2003) – 34
  • Die Hard (1988) – 32
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) – 32
  • Miracle on 34th Street (1947) – 31
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – 31
  • A Christmas Story (1983) – 30
  • Scrooged (1988) – 30
  • White Christmas (1954) – 30
  • The Santa Clause (1994) – 30

Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created:

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