How Wham's Last Christmas became an enduring festive classic
The 80s song is on course to be Christmas number one again
Wham's Last Christmas is leading the race to be Christmas number one for a second consecutive year, as the track celebrates its 40th anniversary.
The seasonal staple finally took the crown in 2023 after seeing off competition from Eurovision star Sam Ryder, perennial contender Mariah Carey and US folk musician Noah Kahan.
Bookmakers are now tipping George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley's nostalgia-tingled ballad to secure the coveted spot again. The 1980s favourite returned to number one last week, toppling singer Gracie Abrams's break-up song That's So True, which had reigned for five consecutive weeks.
But how did a 40-year-old track become such an enduring classic, and which songs could stop it becoming the Christmas number one?
How did Wham's Last Christmas become so popular?
Wham singer George Michael penned Last Christmas, a bittersweet track about unrequited love, in his childhood bedroom in the autumn of 1984. The track took less than an hour to write.
Michael, aged just 21, produced the song alone and played every instrument on it, and hoped it would be that year's Yultuide number one. "I thought it would great to finish it [the year] off with a Christmas song," he would later recall.
However, the song was beaten to the top spot by Band Aid's star-studded charity single Do They Know It's Christmas – which also features Michael's vocals – and instead spent five weeks at number two. In a gesture of festive goodwill, the singer donated the proceeds of Last Christmas to the Band Aid Trust.
Four decades on, the track's legacy has endured, with its lovelorn lyrics resonating with generations of fans. Last Christmas become even more poignant after Michael's death on Christmas Day in 2016.
It finally reached Christmas number one last year, completing the longest ever journey to the seasonal summit. It is the UK's third biggest single of all time, according to the Official Charts Company, with a combined lifetime total of more than five million chart units.
Its near-ubiquitous presence during the festive season led to the creation of a game, Whamageddon, which challenges fans to avoid hearing the classic song throughout from December 1 to Christmas Eve. One DJ played it 24 times in a row during a radio show in 2015.
The ballad's 40th birthday was marked by a recent BBC documentary, Wham: Last Christmas Unwrapped, which explored the song's lasting impact.
The track has been covered a vast range of artists, including Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Ariana Grande, Arctic Monkeys and Alanis Morissette. Gen-Z pop singer Sabrina Carpenter duetted the track with Chappell Roan during her Netflix special, A Nonsense Christmas, underscoring its appeal with younger audiences.
Last Christmas even inspired a 2019 romantic comedy film of the same name, with Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke in the leading role. It was soundtracked by several other Wham hits and was a box office success, despite being branded a turkey by critics.
Speaking last year, Michael's bandmate Andrew Ridgeley said getting a festive chart-topper "was always the main goal".
He added: "George would be beside himself [that] after all of these years, [we've] finally obtained Christmas number one. Yog [Michael] said that he wrote Last Christmas with the intention of writing a Christmas number one. It's mission accomplished."
Ridgeley said it was a "huge disappointment" for the pair not to reach the top spot in 1984 as they believed it was "nailed on".
"Had it not been for Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas?, it probably would've been number one," the 61-year-old said. "Thwarted for many years subsequent to that – the perennial bridesmaid – over recent years it seems its become part of the fabric of Christmas for a lot of people."
Will it be Christmas number one in 2024?
The Christmas number one race is the fiercest chart battle of the year, and is likely to go down to the wire. However, Wham's Last Christmas is narrowly leading the midweek charts, having been boosted not only by a surge in streams, but also physical reissues.
Martin Talbot, CEO of the Official Chart Company, told the BBC: "The singles market is very much dominated by streaming these days, in general terms, throughout the year.
"But the Christmas market is the one market where you can sell a lot of physical [copies and] a lot of downloads and actually make a big difference. Because people want to buy gifts. That's where Wham will do really well this year."
Last Christmas' closest rival is Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You. The track, which turns 30 this year, sits at number two in the midweeks, around 200 chart units behind Wham. It missed out on the festive top spot in 1994, being pipped by East 17's Stay Another Day.
Tom Grennan's new festive offering It Can't be Christmas, is also in the mix, having been heavily promoted by streaming service Amazon Music.
Non-Christmas tracks hoping to beat Wham include Gracie Abrams' That's So True, and Rosé and Bruno Mars' K-pop collaboration APT.
YouTube stars LadBaby are not in the running this year. The duo, comprised of husband and wife Mark and Roxanne Hoyle, claimed five successive Yultide chart-toppers between 2018 and 2022, but have since retired from the annual race.
The winner of the festive battle will be announced on Radio 1's chart show this Friday, 20 December, from 4pm. The latest odds from William Hill, as of Wednesday, 18 December, are:
Wham – 1/10
Tom Grennan – 12/1
Mariah Carey – 12/1
Gracie Abrams – 33/1
Rosé and Bruno Mars – 33/1
Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet is on course to top the Christmas album chart, capping a huge breakthrough year for the Espresso hitmaker. Her LP leads Michael Bublé's 2011 festive collection Christmas by around 150 chart units, according the Official Charts Company.
Chappell Roan's debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess sits third in the midweek charts, followed by Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department.
The 2024 Christmas number one will be announced on Radio 1 on 20 December
