Top 10 most shared Christmas ads of all time: Featuring Minions, John Lewis, Sainsbury's and Burberry

The hotly-anticipated campaign marks the beginning of ad land's festive arms race as retailers clamber for attention ahead of the festive shopping period.

Ever since the store's 'The Journey' spot, which centred around one snowman's epic quest for a pair of gloves to gift to his other half, sharable Christmas content has been high on the agenda for brands. But who takes the crown for the most shared seasonal spot of all time in the UK?

Figures supplied by video ad tech consultancy Unruly indicate that the most shared ad across social (including Twitter and Facebook) is Universal's 'Minion's Go Caroling' video produced for AMC theaters. The creative shows the Despicable Me characters singing along to Jingle Bells in their own language and was posted on social by fans over 3.9 million times.

John Lewis does in fact take the second spot thanks to its 2013 film 'The Bear and the Hare', which clocked up a record 1.2m shares for the retailer. Closely following is last year's emotive 'Monty the Penguin' spot with just over one million posts across social.

Sainsbury’s 'Christmas is for Sharing' campaign, for which it worked alongside the Royal British Legion and AMVBBDO, steals fourth place. The film tells the story of the 'Christmas truce' between British and German troops during WWI.

At number five is John Lewis once more, with 'The Long Wait', created by agency of record Adam&EveDDB.

Burberry, Marks & Spencer, Cartier and Three's 'Dance Pony Dance' complete the list - scroll down to watch all ten ads in full.

1. Universal 'Minions Go Caroling'

2. John Lewis: 'The Bear and the Hare'

3. John Lewis 'Monty the Penguin

4. Sainsbury's 'Christmas is for Sharing'

5. John Lewis 'The Long Wait'

6. John Lewis 'The Journey'

7. Burberry 'From London with Love'

8. M&S 'Introducing Christmas with a Little Magic and Sparkle'

9. Cartier 'Winter Tale'

10. Three '#DancePonyDance - The Pony at Christmas'