Christmas number 1 2024: WHAM!’s Last Christmas writes official chart history again!

Originally conceived by the late, great George Michael as a contender for the Number 1 Official Christmas of 1984, Last Christmas was originally released by Do They Know It’s Christmas? excluded from the festive top spot by Band Aid. But in 2023 he finally took the coveted festive chart crown, completing the longest ever journey to Christmas Number 1 in 39 years.

“Last Christmas” is now considered Britain’s most popular Christmas song, beating strong competition from Gracie Abrams and Mariah Carey as well as a brilliant attempt by Tom Grennan to shake up the festive chart race.

Last Christmas secures Christmas #1 with 12.6 million streams both digitally and physically and is also the physical bestseller of the week thanks to a range of limited edition 40th anniversary collectibles including Zoetrope vinyl, picture disc and CD .

Andrew Ridgeley of WHAM! speaks exclusively to Official Charts and says:

“37 years to number 1, 39 years to Christmas number 1, and then they all come at once like London buses! I’m particularly happy for George, he would have been 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 a testament to a truly wonderful Christmas song that represents and represents Christmas in many people’s minds the way we would all want it to be.” I would like to thank everyone who listened to, downloaded, purchased and streamed and were a part of history. Thank you and Merry Christmas!”

Pictured: WHAM’s Christmas Number 1 Awards for Last Christmas in 2023 and 2024.

WAM! Now join a rare Official Charts club, as one of the few acts to have made it to number 1 on the Official Christmas Charts multiple times. Her colleagues now include: Queen (2), Cliff Richard (2), Spice Girls (3), The Beatles (4) and current record holders LadBaby (5). How’s that for a valued company?

On WHAM! Andrew joins the likes of Queen and The Beatles, who have several marquee chart-toppers under their belt, and notes:

“Artists of this caliber and songwriters, including George, transcend the ages and decades and endure because of their quality. I think that’s why Last Christmas endures.”

Gracie Abrams’ former chart-topper “That’s So True” ends the week at No. 2 after a last-minute surge ahead of the Christmas competition, confirming her place as one of this year’s biggest breakout acts. That’s So True previously topped the Official Singles Chart for five consecutive weeks.

Christmas queen Mariah Carey may be celebrating 30 years of All I Want For Christmas Is You this year, but she’ll have to settle for No. 3, holding steady week after week.

This week all eyes were also on Tom Grennan and his valiant attempt to snag the Christmas number 1 with his soulful Amazon original ‘It Can’t Be Christmas’. The Bedford singer-songwriter committed to a Christmas tattoo number 1 in 2024 and hoped to add his name to the design at the end of the week.

Ahead of today’s announcement, Tom spoke to Official Charts about his #1 Christmas tattoo:

“Whatever happens, I’m getting someone’s name tattooed on my leg. If it’s WHAM! is, then great, because WHAM! are unreal. But if it’s me, even better! And if it’s Mariah…great too!

But honestly, I think the tattoo is just a way to remember this time.”

But despite his valiant efforts, Tom narrowly misses out and ends the week with a new personal best, instead at number 4, his most successful solo single in the UK to date.

Tom concludes by saying: “To everyone who has supported me, wherever you are, thank you for your support. You will always be a part of my family and a part of my Christmas dream. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart, it was great and I love you all.”

Andrew Ridgeley of WHAM! responds to rival Tom Grennan’s result:

“I wish Tom much success for the future, the company relies on emerging talent. He’ll have his hands full writing something like “Last Christmas,” everyone will do that, but someone will do it at some point, I’m sure.”

Martin Talbot, Managing Director of Official Charts, comments:

“Many, many congratulations to Andrew Ridgeley and Team WHAM! that we achieved an incredible piece of official map history this week. It’s incredible to think that four years ago, “Last Christmas” was the best-selling single that never made it to No. 1 – then it finally reached the top in January 2021, finally became the Christmas No. 1 in December 2023, and is now the first recurring Christmas number 1 in history, with nine weeks at the peak (in five separate runs). It has, without a doubt, undeniably established itself as the British nation’s favorite Christmas song of all time.

“And of course we should all also pay tribute to Sabrina Carpenter, whose Short N’ Sweet album rounds off an incredible year in which it became the official Christmas number one album.”

Pictured: WHAM’s Andrew Ridgeley with his Christmas Number 1 2024 award from the Official Charts for Last Christmas.

BLACKPINK idol ROSÉ and Bruno Mars round off the Christmas top 5 with the dance floor hit APT.

As she names herself a person to watch in 2025, a huge congratulations also goes to Lola Young, who manages to break through the festive noise and secure her first ever UK top with ‘Messy’ (7). -10 single to secure. The indie-pop song has been making waves on social media in recent weeks and is one of three non-Christmas tracks in the top 10 today.

Speaking to Official Charts about her first top 10, Lola Young says:

“This feeling is crazy, my first top 10 single and it feels so surreal. I am beyond grateful for the love and to everyone who has listened and resonated with Messy…you are enough! Big love to you all!”

She dominated the official charts in 2024 – and Sabrina Carpenter couldn’t let the year go by without scoring another hit! Thanks to the Netflix special of the same name, “A Nonsense Christmas” made it into the top 20 (16) for the first time ever.

This year alone, Sabrina has recorded six UK Top 40 singles, including her chart-topping trio ‘Espresso’, ‘Please Please Please’ and ‘Taste’.

Further down, Icelandic-Chinese jazz writer Laufeny maintains her top 20 ranking for the second time with “Christmas Magic” (19), another Amazon original that also appears in the festive blockbuster “Red One,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans is.

In total there are 29 Christmas titles in the UK Top 40 this week. Increases from last week include: Band-Aid Do They Know It’s Christmas? (12), Shakin’ Steven’ Merry Christmas Everyone (14), Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime (18) and José Feliciano’s Feliz Navidad (21).

The British multi-hyphenate KSI is causing a stir even at Christmas. Brand new track Dirty is this week’s highest new entry (31), giving the singer, rapper and social media superstar his 20th UK Top 40 hit.

Other Christmas songs in the Top 40 today include: The Ronettes’ Sleigh Ride (22), Chris Rea’s Driving Home For Christmas (25), Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (28), John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s Plastic Bands Happy Xmas ( War Is Over) (29), Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody” (30), “Merry Christmas” by Ed Sheeran & Elton John (33) and “One More Sleep” by Leona Lewis (36).

Finally, Sir Starmer & Granny Harmer’s protest track ‘Freezing This Christmas’ climbs into the Top 40 (37) after a passionate grassroots campaign, scoring the best-selling and most downloaded single of the week and topping the Official Downloads Chart and Official Singles Sales Chart.