“Wham’s Last Christmas” is the Christmas number one for the second year in a row

Wham!’s Last Christmas has become the UK Christmas number one for the second year in a row.

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s festive beat classics from Mariah Carey, Gracie Abrams, Tom Grennan and Ariana Grande are topping the charts.

Ridgeley said he was “particularly delighted” by his late bandmate, who died in 2016 and had always wanted the song to go to number one.

“He would have been delighted that his fabulous Christmas composition has become such a classic and is 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 evokes and represents Christmas in many people’s minds in the way we would all want it to be,” he added.

According to the Official Charts Company, the song was streamed 12.6 million times in the week before Christmas.

The only other songs to have topped the Christmas charts more than once are Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975 and 1991) and Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” (with different versions in 1984, 1989 and 2004). Neither has done it in consecutive years.

“Last Christmas” was originally released in 1984, but lost the top spot to Band Aid’s single that raised money for the Ethiopian famine.

The charity competed for the charts again this year, with an “ultimate mix” to mark the 40th anniversary of “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, mixing vocals from the various versions of the song recorded over the years became.

But the re-release failed after a dispute over the lyrics, with critics calling the song outdated and colonialist, and Ed Sheeran opining he was not asked for permission to reuse his voice.

The song ended up at number 12 in the charts, sandwiched between Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath The Tree” and Andy Williams’ 1963 standard “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”.

Last Christmas was written by George Michael in his childhood bedroom in February 1984, “and for me it was number one,” he told Smash Hits in 1986.

Inspiration came out of the blue while the singer was hanging out at his parents’ house in Hertfordshire.

“There was a football game on the TV and suddenly he jumped up and disappeared upstairs where he had a little four-track studio,” Ridgeley told BBC News.

“About an hour later he came back and said, ‘Andy Andy, you’ve got to hear this.’ I have rarely seen him so excited or so animated.

“And when I heard it, I knew straight away that it had all the hallmarks of a Christmas classic. It was a breathtaking moment.”

“Last Christmas” has reappeared in the Top 40 every year since 2007, thanks to the introduction of downloads and subsequent streaming that allowed classic songs to contribute to the chart data.

Since then, nostalgia has been the driving force behind the Christmas charts, with long-running hits like “Fairytale Of New York” and “Jingle Bell Rock” accompanying the holidays.

Jack Saunders, who hosts the Radio 1 chart show, said it was difficult for new songs to compete.

“It takes time for songs to warm up and become classics,” he said.

“I think it would be a great achievement if someone was number one at first glance.”

As a result, 29 of the songs in this year’s Top 40 were Christmas-themed, with only two newcomers among the standards: Tom Grennan’s “It Can’t Be Christmas” and Schwanzey’s “Christmas Magic.”

Both were commissioned by Amazon Music, which automatically played them to anyone who asked their smart speaker to play Christmas music.

That gave the two artists a head start in the sales race, with Grennan’s song ultimately making it to number four.

The Coventry singer fought hard for the position and even got a tattoo that read:Christmas No. 1 is….” on his right thigh, which he would complete with whatever song emerged victorious.

Another song aiming for first place was Freezing This Christmas, a parody of Mud’s Lonely This Christmas, which criticizes the government’s decision to cut winter petrol payments for pensioners.

Despite being the most downloaded track of the week, protest songs tend to struggle when it comes to streaming – they now account for 87.7% of all music consumption in the UK.

In the end, the track barely made it into the top 40, landing at number 37.

US pop star Sabrina Carpenter topped the album charts with Short ‘N’ Sweet, an album that spawned three number one singles during the year.

Michael Buble’s Christmas album took second place, followed by Chappell Roan’s “Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess” in third place.