Last Christmas finally takes the Christmas No.1 spot on the UK Charts

JTithers

Dec 25

After 39 years, in which time George Michael passed away on Christmas Day 2016, Wham's Last Christmas is finally the UK Christmas Number 1 single.

Thankfully, Andrew Ridgeley was around to enjoy the moment for George.

"Last Christmas has finally ascended to the much-cherished and sought-after Official Christmas Number 1, which was always the main goal - George would be beside himself that after all of these years, we've finally obtained Christmas Number 1. Yog said that he wrote Last Christmas with the intention of writing a Christmas Number 1. It's mission accomplished!" - Andrew Ridgeley, WHAM!

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A song that was always intended by Michael to try and claim the Christmas No.1 in 1984, that year it reached No.2 on the charts and stayed there for 5 consecutive weeks, always beaten out by Band Aid and the notorious Do They Know It's Christmas, which Michael was involved in, and it would return to No.2 on no fewer than 4 occasions over the next 36 years, making frequent appearances in the Top 10 come December and January, setting the unwanted record for the greatest selling single to never reach No.1 (Which is now Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger).

Still, this is not the first time Last Christmas has made it to No.1, because it finally reached the UK No.1 position on New Years' Day 2021, setting a record for the longest time taken for a single to reach the No.1 position at 36 years, which was surpassed in 2022 when Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill got to No.1 after 37 years, thanks entirely to Stranger Things.

Last Christmas would completely disappear from the charts the next week, setting another record.

Eventually, Last Christmas got back to No.1 twice in the last three weeks of 2022, once again claiming the No.2 spot on Christmas Day behind LadBaby, but is now back at No.1 for a fourth time, this time finally getting the coveted Christmas No.1, which also now makes it the 5th-biggest single in the UK (Or the 3rd-greatest depending upon who you ask), behind Elton John's 1997 version of Candle In The Wind (1st), the aforementioned 1984 version of Do They Know It's Christmas (2nd), Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (3rd), and Mull of Kintyre by Wings (4th).

This year, to save him from tears, they gave it to someone special.