Wham!’s classic tune “Last Christmas” is the festive No 1 for the second year running.
The Eighties pop duo, comprising Andrew Ridgeley and the late George Michael, released the track in 1984 but topped the Christmas chart with it 39 years later in 2023, marking the longest ever journey to No 1.
The band have now made chart history again by securing two consecutive Christmas No 1s with the same song, as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.
“Thirty-nine years to Christmas No 1, and then like London buses they all come along at once!” Ridgeley told the Official Charts Company.
“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.”
He continued: “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.
“I’d like to thank everyone who has listened to, downloaded, bought, streamed ‘Last Christmas’ and been a part of history. Thanks so much and Merry Christmas!”
“Last Christmas” fended off fierce competition this year from pop singer Gracie Abrams, who enjoyed a sudden surge in the charts with her hit single “That’s So True”, which ultimately landed in the No 2 spot.
Mariah Carey’s immortal hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” came in at No 3, having topped the Billboard 200 in the US this year and 30 years since it was first released.
Meanwhile, singer-songwriter Tom Grennan achieved his highest chart position to date with a No 4 single, the Amazon Original “It Can’t Be Christmas”.
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“To everybody that has supported me, wherever you are, thank you for supporting me, you are always gonna be part of my family and a part of my Christmas dream,” Grennan said. “So thank you from the bottom of my heart, it’s been amazing, and I love you all.”
Wham!’s second year at the top of the charts sees them join a rare group of artists to have achieved the Christmas No 1 multiple times, alongside Queen, The Beatles, the Spice Girls and novelty pop duo Ladbaby.
“Artists of that calibre and songwriters, of which George was one, transcend the ages and decades and endure because of their quality. I think that’s the reason why ‘Last Christmas’ has endured,” Ridgeley said.
He also congratulated Grennan on his achievement, commenting: “I wish Tom every success in the future, the business relies on up-and-coming talent. He’s gonna have his work cut out writing something like Last Christmas, everyone will, but at some point someone will, I’m sure of it.”
Further down the charts, a grassroots campaign resulted in Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers protest track “Freezing This Christmas” landing in the Top 40 (No 37).
The parody song is based on Mud’s 1974 Christmas No 1 “Lonely This Christmas” and took aim at prime minister Keir Starmer’s decision to strip 10 million pensioners of the winter fuel payment.
The lyrics include the lines: “It’ll be freezing this Christmas, without fuel at home/ It’ll be freezing this Christmas, while Keir Starmer is warm/ It’ll be cold, so cold, without fuel at home, this Christmas.”
The track was written by freelance writer Chris Middleton, 33, and performed by Rat Pack tribute singer Dean Ager.
Middleton told The Telegraph that he was inspired to write the song after hearing about elderly people struggling to heat their homes.
“The changes to winter fuel allowances weren’t in Labour’s manifesto, which implied they wouldn’t hurt pensioners,” he said.
“Looking at those old clips where [Starmer] is criticising the Tories, saying 4,000 people would die if the allowance was scrapped, the hypocrisy is plain to see.”
Labour’s own research, when the party was in opposition under Jeremy Corbyn, suggested that then-Conservative plans to means test the winter fuel payment could lead to 3,850 additional deaths.
