Wham! top Christmas Number One charts with major record tying with Whitney Houston
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Wham! have secured a 10th non-consecutive week at the top of the UK singles chart with their festive hit Last Christmas. The group, consisting of George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley, Shirlie Holliman and Pepsi (Helen DeMacque) made chart history this year when Last Christmas became the first song to be crowned Christmas number one two years in a row.
Initially released in December 1984, the song had a 39-year wait to claim the coveted title, first reaching the top of the singles chart on January 1, 2021, over five years after Michael's passing on Christmas Day in 2016 at the age of 53. According to Ridgeley, Michael would be "utterly delighted" that the song has become a festive classic.
As Last Christmas maintains its position at number one, Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You has moved up to second place. Carey previously reached the top of the charts with the song in 2020, but was initially beaten to the summit by East 17's Stay Another Day upon its release in 1994.
This week, Tom Grennan's new track It Can't Be Christmas, a collaboration with Amazon Music Original, has risen from fourth place to third place. Tom had pleaded with fans after the initial Christmas Number 1 was released, asking them to continue streaming his new track.
Taking to his Instagram, the Coventry City supporter said: "Oh we didn't get the Number One but that's alright. Congrats to Wham! like Andrew said in his interview, Last Christmas is definitely the fabric of what Christmas is. To be up there with the likes of Wham! is an incredible achievement, I'm very, very proud, thank you everybody who's bought the record, streamed the record, now we still could get a Number One at Christmas, next week, unofficially a Number One at Christmas, if you keep streaming, keep buying, around the Christmas dinner table, tell Alexa play 'It Can't Be Christmas'.".
