Wham! make chart history as Last Christmas takes second festive number one crown
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Wham! have made chart history as Last Christmas becomes the first song to be crowned Christmas number one two years in a row. The festive classic had a 39-year wait to secure the coveted title last year after it was first released in December 1984 by pop duo George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.
Following the release of limited-edition collectibles to mark the track’s 40th anniversary, it has soared up the charts again to become the most-streamed and physically purchased song of the week, according to the Official Charts Company. The Christmas staple, which was originally beaten to the top spot in 1984 by Band Aid’s charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas?, secured the record last year for completing the longest ever journey to make it to number one in time for Christmas Day.
Ridgeley told the Official Charts that his late bandmate Michael, who died on Christmas Day in 2016 at the age of 53, would be “utterly delighted” the song had become a festive classic. He said: “Thirty-seven years to get to number one, 39 years to Christmas number one, and then like London buses they all come along at once!.
“I’m especially pleased for George, he would have been utterly delighted, his fabulous Christmas composition has become such a classic, almost as much a part of Christmas as mince pies, turkey and pigs in blankets. “It’s testament to a really wonderful Christmas song that in a lot of people’s minds evokes and represents Christmas as we would all wish it to be.”.
