The late Pogues singer said he was ‘knocked out’ by the NFL brothers’ cover of the Christmas classic

Eagles center Jason Kelce and his brother Travis Kelce – Taylor Swift’s boyfriend – topped the Billboard charts with their Christmas duet Fairytale of Philadelphia, a spin on The Pogues classic Fairytale of New York.

It comes after frontman Shane MacGowan died yesterday at his home in Dublin following a period in hospital. He was 65.

Fairytale of Philadelphia stormed to No. 1 on Billboard’s Rock Digital Song and Holiday Digital Song sales charts after the Kelce brothers localized the Christmas favorite – a nostalgic tune about an Irish emigrant sleeping off a hangover in a New York City drunk tank and reminiscing on holidays gone by on Christmas Eve – to being about Philadelphia.

In a heartbreaking final tweet exactly two weeks before his passing, MacGowan responded to the sportsmen’s rendition, writing: “Travis Kelce shows off his singing skills! Tell them I am knocked out.” The much-loved track is tipped to be the Christmas No. 1 in Ireland, meaning the song could top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

MacGowan’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke also approved, tweeting: “Not a bad version!” In tribute to the punk icon, Travis said: “Shane’s prowess as a singer, songwriter, and poet was truly a gift to this world. He could make you feel what he was saying and attach his soul to his music.

“Fairytale of New York has long been one of my favorite songs (not just Christmas songs), as it gets to the roots of love, anger, resentment, sacrifice, and companionship. It was an honor for my brother and me to take a stab at such a beautiful song from a different angle, and his acknowledgment of it is beyond surreal.”

A Philly Special Christmas Special, the second holiday album by Jason Kelce and his fellow Eagles offensive linemen Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson, hit streaming services and stores today while preorders for the album’s vinyl began on November 3. The record was sold as a limited-edition red vinyl, limited-edition gold vinyl, and also a double disc vinyl with the first album.

Kelce, Mailata and Johnson also launched a limited-edition apparel line and released an animation special. Sales from the album will go toward the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

MacGowan is survived by his father, Maurice, sister, Siobhan, and wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, who said in an emotional statement: “I am blessed beyond words to have met Shane and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love and joy and fun.”