The Christmas season may be nearing its end, but there was a late festive treat for Wham! fans today as the group’s iconic track Last Christmas finally topped the Official UK Singles Chart – some 36 years on from the song’s initial release. The track notched up a staggering 9.2 million streams over the last week, rising from third position in the pre-Christmas singles chart to the summit of the first chart of 2021.
We’re proud to say that ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! is officially number 1 in the UK @officialcharts this week for the very first time!
It’s been an incredible 36 years since the track was first released in 1984 and we want to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you pic.twitter.com/1vvhRxZcO4
— George Michael Official (@GeorgeMOfficial) January 1, 2021
In a moving statement on Twitter, surviving Wham! member Andrew Ridgeley reflected on the belated success by paying tribute to his late bandmate George Michael. He said “I am delighted, somewhat amazed & profoundly pleased that WHAM!’s iconic Christmas classic Last Christmas has finally achieved the accolade of becoming a No 1. It’s a fitting tribute to George’s songwriting genius and one of which he would’ve been immensely proud & utterly thrilled.”
Last Christmas has been a defining staple of Christmas playlists ever since it hit the shelves in 1984, when it was released as a double-A side with Everything She Wants. Younger listeners will doubtless be shocked that a track so deeply entrenched in modern Christmas tradition – from its instantly-recognisable synth-laden melody to the seminal, alpine-set will-they-won’t-they music video – was never a number one in the first place.
In fact, it was pipped to the post in 1984 by another track featuring George Michael: Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? Although that track is more commonly associated with its charitable impact than Wham!’s, Michael and Ridgeley also donated the royalties from Last Christmas to relief efforts for the Ethiopian famine. The duo had never lacked a social conscience: just a few months before the release of their Christmas standard, Wham! had played a benefit gig in support of striking miners and their families at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Commenting on the reasons for the enduring appeal of Last Christmas - a song which has been covered by a plethora of artists from Manic Street Preachers to Ariana Grande, Cascada and the cast of Glee – Josh Baines of Vice opines: “The depth of feeling that propels ‘Last Christmas’ lies at the heart of Christmas itself. Even when we’re together around the table, with crackers in our hands and approximations of smiles on our faces, compliments passing around about the turkey and the wine and the new jumpers, jokes told and groaned at and chucked on the floor, the sensation that something is missing is always hanging above us…”
In topping the chart today, Last Christmas has set a new record for the longest time taken for a single to reach number one. Wham!’s 36 year wait surpasses the 33 years and 4 month-long interval between the 1971 release of Yorkshire crooner Tony Christie’s classic singalong anthem (Is This The Way To) Amarillo and its surge to the top of the charts in March 2005 with the support of Peter Kay. The Comic Relief version of the track went on to spend seven weeks at number one, before eventually being knocked off top spot by Akon’s Lonely.
Last Christmas long-awaited success today came at the expense of a number of other festive challengers, including Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You (#2); Jess’ Glynne’s This Christmas (#3) and, ironically, Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? (#7). Wham!’s track has also shaken off the title of the best-selling single not to reach number one in the UK. That accolade has now passed on to Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera’s Moves Like Jagger, which peaked in second spot back in 2011.
