Wham!’s Last Christmas is Christmas #1 for the second year in a row | UK charts

Forty years after it was knocked out of No.1 by Band Aid, Wham!’s Last Christmas is the No.1 Christmas in the UK for the second year in a row.

Andrew Ridgeley, who is one half of Wham! next to the late George Michael, celebrated with the words: “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 huge “I am delighted that his fabulous Christmas composition has become such a classic that is almost as much a part of Christmas as mince pies, turkey and pigs in blankets.”

The epitome of Christmas heartbreak has become arguably the defining contemporary Christmas song: so ubiquitous that it has inspired the game Whamageddon, in which people try not to hear it for as long as possible each year.

It remains extremely popular not only in the UK but also worldwide. It is currently playing 7.7 million times per day worldwide on Spotify and is at No. 4 on the US singles chart this week.

George Michael also appears at number 12 on the charts as part of the 40th anniversary version of Band Aid’s charity classic Do They Know It’s Christmas? The new version, which was assembled from the three previous official versions, caused controversy, with Ed Sheeran and others condemning it for perpetuating stereotypes about the plight of Africans. But co-writer Bob Geldof defended it, saying: “Hundreds of thousands of people, probably millions, are alive because of one little pop song.”

Last Christmas’s nearest competitor in the contemporary holiday canon is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which is at No. 3 on this week’s chart – beaten at No. 2 by pop singer Gracie Abrams’ wholly unfestive “That’s So True,” which recently spent four weeks at number 1.

At number 4 is Tom Grennan with a new song, ‘It Can’t Be Christmas’, part of Amazon’s push to dominate the Christmas charts. In recent years, the retailer has commissioned Christmas songs that it hosts exclusively on its Amazon Music service. With many listeners telling Alexa devices to “play Christmas songs,” Amazon’s own songs are given priority in its playlists, helping them rise up the charts. Smooth jazz singer Laufeny is at No. 19 with Christmas Magic, another Amazon-affiliated title.

Of the songs in this week’s Top 40, 29 are Christmas-themed, with Brenda Lee, Bobby Helms and the Pogues all making the Top 10 with their respective classics. One of the outliers is British singer-songwriter Lola Young, who scored her first Top 10 hit at No. 7 with “Messy,” a slow success after its initial release in May.

It may not have been streamed nearly as much as Christmas classics, but the best-selling song of the week is Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers’ Freezing This Christmas, which is at number 37. Created by freelance writer Chris Middleton and sung by Rat Pack covers artist Dean Ager. The song is a satirical cover version of Mud’s Lonely This Christmas, criticizing Keir Starmer over the Labor Party’s decision to scrap winter petrol payments for pensioners on lower incomes. All proceeds from the song go to Age UK.

Capping off an impressive year that saw her hit No. 1 for 21 weeks with her hits Espresso, Please Please Please and Taste, Sabrina Carpenter remains on the road to success, helped in part by the Netflix show A Nonsense Christmas With Sabrina Carpenter. described in the Guardian as “a brave attempt to bring the sometimes musty Christmas special into the modern era.”

Her song “A Nonsense Christmas” is at No. 16, while her album “Short n’ Sweet” returns to No. 1 for the first time since its release in August – it hasn’t left the top three since. Michael Bublé’s evergreen Christmas collection ‘Christmas’ is at number 2, while South Yorkshire rockers The Reytons have the highest new entry with their live album ‘Clifton Park’ at number 5.