Despite its enduring popularity, the song initially debuted at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, held off the top spot by Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ However, it finally claimed the coveted Christmas No. 1 position last year, almost 40 years after its release. 

Last Christmas you gave them Christmas Number 1…

…And this year, @WhamOfficial_ have repeated the trick, landing the Christmas Number 1 2024 and making Official Chart history in the process

A huge congratulations to Andrew and George on another incredible achievement… pic.twitter.com/r0uTq1zQe9

— Official Charts (@officialcharts) December 20, 2024

Most notably is Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’. Released in 1994, the song has become a holiday staple for over three decades and is the most streamed Christmas song of all time on Spotify with a staggering 2.08 billion streams. Yet, despite its global dominance, the song has never secured the coveted UK Christmas No. 1 spot. It has repeatedly peaked at No. 2, but this year was surpassed for that position by Gracie Abrams. 

Another modern favourite is The Pogues ‘Fairytale of New York’ featuring Kirsty Maccoll, which has been a UK Christmas favourite since its release in 1987. As the third most streamed Christmas song in the UK (316 million streams), it has cemented its place in holiday playlists. However, it too has fallen short of the UK Christmas No. 1 title, debuting at No. 2 and peaking at No. 10 this year.

Alongside these anthems, Michael Bublé’s iconic cover of ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’, Ariana Grande’s single ‘Santa Tell Me’, and José Feliciano’s cheerful ‘Feliz Navidad’, are all a part of Spotify’s Top 10 Most Streamed Christmas Songs but have never climbed to the top of the UK Christmas charts.

The Official most-streamed Christmas songs in the UK revealed! Who takes the title of most popular Christmas song in the modern age? find out now https://t.co/vf0SYi6oje — Official Charts (@officialcharts) December 23, 2024

Even classic Christmas tunes have faced similar fates. This week, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee and Bobby Helms’ ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ hold positions six and eight on the Official Charts. Both these enduring 1950s classics, each boasting over one billion streams, have never reached the summit of the UK Singles Chart despite their immense cultural impact. 

This trend highlights an intriguing pattern: global popularity and cultural significance do not always guarantee chart-topping success. Given the abundance of both modern and classic Christmas songs, securing the UK Christmas No. 1 spot proves to be a challenging feat. The title often reflects a mix of tradition, novelty, and viral appeal. For example, Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ has topped the charts multiple times, while novelty hits like LadBaby’s sausage-roll-themed songs have outranked beloved Christmas anthems for numerous years.

This year, the Christmas Top 10 featured Tom Grennan’s festive original ‘It Can’t Be Christmas’ at No. 3. Grennan, who humorously vowed to commemorate his fight for Christmas No.1 with a tattoo regardless of the outcome, can keep hoping that his song will claim the title, even if it may take 40 years. 

Ultimately, ‘Last Christmas’ ’s consecutive victories in 2023 and 2024 mark a rare alignment of timeless appeal and chart success. Its achievement serves as a testament to the unpredictable nature of the UK’s festive chart battles. For now, fans of other holiday classics – whether sung by Mariah Carey, Michael Bublé, or Tom Grennan – can only hope that their favourite anthems might one day achieve the recognition they deserve on the UK’s most festive chart.

Catch up on all the Christmas chart glory from yesterday We’re already counting down to #XmasNo1 2025… https://t.co/JmbNjQTC34

— Official Charts (@officialcharts) December 21, 2024

This year marks the 40^th anniversary of “Last Christmas”; for the occasion, special editions were released and the song became the most streamed and physically purchased of the week in the UK. But of course, the song’s popularity is not only due to the release of the new editions: “Last Christmas” is one of the most recognisable Christmas hits that are known all around the world. Plus, it was crowned Christmas number one last year as well, when it peaked at number one for four consecutive weeks between December and January.

 The song was first released in 1984, the year when Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” won the title. It eventually made its way to charts in 2007, when it peaked at fourteen. It then climbed charts year by year, appearing on the UK’s top 100 punctually every December, and finally reached the top five in 2018, peaking at number two right after Christmas. In the first week of 2021, “Last Christmas” finally peaked at number one and again in 2022 it spent two non-consecutive weeks at the top spot around Christmas.

The song finally won the title of Christmas Number One in 2023, where it held on to the number one position all the way through December, 39 years after it was released. It became the song with the longest journey to Christmas Number One in the UK.

WHAM! now becomes one of the very few artists to have multiple Christmas Number Ones. Other artists on the list are Queen, with two songs, the Spice Girls with three songs and the Beatles with four songs.

Other contenders for this year’s title were Gracie Abrams, who currently charts at number two, Rose and Bruno Mars with “Apt” at number five, Tom Grennan with newly released “It Can’t Be Christmas” and Christmas pop queen Mariah Carey, who loses the title to WHAM! once again. This year marked the 30^thanniversary of “All I want for Christmas is You”, and if took WHAM! 30 years then the next decade might just see Carey finally getting the crown.

The Cure are renowned for their emotionally provoking lyricism and dark tonal melodies which continually resonate with audiences. Smith recently spoke to Radio X during a track by track analysis of The Cure’s latest album, where the frontman went on to confess that he’s written a “really catchy pop song”.

Pop songs are not a typical feature in The Cure’s discography, as Smith prefers an “emotional response” from his music, which is telling given the ever-present themes of loss, isolation and angst within ‘Songs of a Lost World’.

The ‘And Nothing Is Forever’ singer stated: “I always just want an emotional response from what I write… Unless I think, ‘This is a catchy idea’, but those days have kind of gone a little bit’”.

The frontman continued: “Although I have written a really catchy pop song! I’m struggling to figure out how I’m gonna release it. Having been up in town all day, the amount of times I’ve heard [Wham!’s] Last Christmas. I think I just need to stick some Christmas words on it and get it out there!”

It wouldn’t be surprising Smith taking inspiration from Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ given its continued success 40 years on. After all, it’s not unlikely for melancholia to meet festivities, given George Michael wrote the most heart-wrenching lyrics and paired it melodically with sleigh bells to produce one of the most memorable festive tracks of all time. In the same way, Smith could utilise his emotionally vulnerable lyricism sprinkled with Christmas vocabulary and instrumentation to make the next big festive hit.

Although the conversation did not go any further into the specifics of this potential festive track, The Cure are in the momentum of releasing more music, after their 16-year hiatus from releasing albums prior to ‘Songs of a Lost World’. Smith unveiled “there’s 32 unreleased songs at the moment sitting in my house… There are two eight track albums if we wanted”.

Their next album which the ‘Alone’ singer anticipates will have 10 songs, be released next summer and exist as the “companion piece” to ‘Songs of a Lost World’, while the other tracks are “completely random stuff”.

It’s clear The Cure are planning on making a substantial comeback not only with a follow up album to ‘Songs of a Lost World’ on the way but an exciting, experimental festive track that could be gifted to us in time for next year’s festivities.

Wham!, comprised of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley who are known for their boisterous charm within 1980s pop, released ‘Last Christmas’ December 3, 1984. The single, written by Michael, portrays the vicissitude of love and loss, especially during the re-encounter of an ex-significant other during the festive season. The band cleverly juxtapose the track’s heart-wrenching and sorrowful lyrics with sleigh bells and a synth, which maintains the melody, to blur both melancholy and festivities into a realistic perspective of Christmas.

In an interview with This Morning, Pepsi and Shirlie delved into ‘Last Christmas’. They recollected on their time shooting its iconic music video in the Swiss ski resort Saas-Fee, to which Pepsi recalled there was “no acting involved in that moment”, during the many scenes that saw the group drinking wine around a table and having snowball fights near the mountains – the group portrayed an infectious camaraderie during their celebration of Christmas, which has meant according to Shirlie: “the song hasn’t dated and the video hasn’t dated”.

The group recently went back to Saas-Fee for the anniversary, where they saw the unveiling of the local community’s statue of Wham! in commemoration of the music video. As Shirlie claims that when “working with George Michael, it’s going to be a success whatever he did”. Despite this, ‘Last Christmas’ fell short of the Christmas Number 1 in 1984, due to Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, which Michael happens to feature on. The pair revealed all royalties made from ‘Last Christmas’ are still donated to Band Aid, forty years on, a promise made by Michael himself.

The track continues to be labelled as a  ‘favourite’ and ‘traditional’ Christmas song as it fights for the Christmas top spot year after year. However, this accomplishment was 39 years in the making, as the single was finally claimed Christmas Number 1 last year for the first time.

The ‘Heartache’ pop duo share a fondness when discussing their memories of Michael, who would have passed away eight years ago this Christmas Day. Shirlie thoughtfully recalls Michael’s love for Christmas, given his ability to slip away into the crowds and enjoy the festivities around him, due to Christmas being “bigger than him”. The pair revealed to This Morning hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley that the group of friends would go carol singing around London, along with Michael’s annual tradition to host extravagant Christmas parties in his home and decorate his entire street for the occasion.

The 40^th Anniversary of ‘Last Christmas’ along with Pepsi and Shirlie’s remarks on the single’s legacy welcome the release of BBC 2’s newest documentary: ‘Wham! Last Christmas Unwrapped’, to be aired on December 14 at 8:35pm GMT, which sees the creatives behind the iconic single delve into its creation, the memories it ignites 40 years on and its continued cultural legacy. The sentiment of the documentary is clear – Christmas is George Michael’s time of year, “so now we just have to enjoy it in his behalf”.

]]> https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/pepsi-shirlie-reminisce-on-whams-last-christmas-following-its-40th-anniversary/feed/ 0 https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/last-christmas-by-wham-is-this-years-christmas-number-one/ https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/last-christmas-by-wham-is-this-years-christmas-number-one/#comments Sun, 24 Dec 2023 09:19:21 +0000 http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/?p=98422 This year, Wham!’s “Last Christmas” has claimed the title of Christmas number one, a remarkable achievement considering it was first released 39 years ago. In a highly competitive race, this festive classic surpassed Sam Ryder to secure the top spot. Mariah Carey secured third place, while Noah Kahn’s “Stick Season” came in fourth. Originally released in 1984, “Last Christmas” was initially held back from the top spot by Band Aid’s charity single, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” However, this week, UK fans streamed “Last Christmas” a staggering 13.3 million times, making it the most-played song ever during Christmas week.

Interestingly, this is the first time that George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s song has reached number one during Christmas week. Ridgeley expressed his delight and humility at achieving this milestone, stating,“It’s marvellous and humbling to have got there. Top of the pile is a great place to be.” He added that Michael, who died in 2016, had always wanted the song to be a Christmas number one.”He felt any great songwriter should be able to write a Christmas hit to order. Unfortunately, it’s taken too long for George – but he’d be absolutely over the moon.”

The Top Five Christmas Songs

1. Wham! – “Last Christmas”
2. Sam Ryder – “You’re Christmas To Me”
3. Mariah Carey – “All I Want For Christmas Is You”
4. Noah Kahan – “Stick Season”
5. Ed Sheeran and Elton John – “Merry Christmas”

For the past five years, the charity campaigners LadBaby have secured the coveted Christmas number one spot with their singles aimed at raising funds for food-related causes. However, this year they decided not to participate, leaving the title up for grabs. Out of the top 40 songs this week, a total of 33 were Christmas-themed, including popular tracks like Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me” and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.”

“Last Christmas” was written by George Michael in his childhood bedroom in February 1984. In an interview with Smash Hits in 1986, he confidently stated, “As far as I was concerned, it was a number one.” The inspiration for the song struck unexpectedly while the singer was spending time at his parents’ house in Hertfordshire. According to Andrew Ridgeley, Michael’s bandmate, “There was a footy match on the telly and he suddenly jumped up and disappeared upstairs where he had a little four-track studio. About an hour later, he came back and said, ‘Andy Andy, you’ve got to listen to this’. I rarely saw him as excited or as animated as that. And as soon as I heard it, it was so apparent that it had all the hallmarks of a Christmas classic. It was a jaw-dropping moment.”

@smoothradio The story of Last Christmas, told by Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley #lastchristmas #lastchristmaschallenge #georgemichael #andrewridgeley #smoothradio Last Christmas –

The song was then recorded in August at London’s Advision Studios, which Michael adorned with Christmas decorations to create the right atmosphere. When the duo played the song for their families, Ridgeley recalled, “It claimed its first victim. One of my mother’s friends had a romance at Christmas, which is what the song is about. She got jilted and when she heard it, she burst into tears.”

The iconic and cheerful music video, featuring Wham!’s backing singers Pepsi & Shirlie and model Kathy Hill, was filmed later that year in Switzerland. In addition to the memorable chunky knitwear and the prominent silver brooch, the video also marked the final time Michael would be seen without his trademark designer stubble.

Sam Ryder emerged as a strong competitor to Wham! this year with his track “You’re Christmas To Me.” this track received a boost in the charts thanks to support from Amazon. Despite an extensive publicity campaign, Ryder couldn’t surpass Wham!’s dominance but remained enthusiastic about his achievement. The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl also made a bid for the number one spot with “Fairytale of New York,” landing in sixth place.