The new John Lewis holiday ad comes out on Friday - here are its best ads from Christmas past

On Friday, the British department store will bring the nation to a halt once again with the launch of its holiday ad. John Lewis treats the occasion like a movie premiere, rolling out the red carpet at its flagship store in London to hold a huge screening.

The commercials, created by Adam&Eve DDB, tend to be emotional rollercoasters that are made for TV, but get shared and viewed millions of times online. And the ad's soundtrack usually tops the single charts.

As the John Lewis Christmas ad 2015 countdown nears its close, we asked video advertising technology company Unruly to rank the company's recent festive advertising greats in order of how many shares they received globally across Facebook and Twitter.