Despite being a classic song, here’s why it took Wham’s! “Last Christmas” 36 years reach number 1 in the UK. The Holiday season sees all the classic Christmas hits dusted off, including Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” and Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Rock,” in addition to countless others. For some, the arrival of these songs on radio or TV signals the beginning of the Festive season, while others tend to detest them for the same reasons.

While many Christmas songs tend to be cheesy or overly sentimental, there is one song that is almost universally beloved. “Last Christmas” by Wham! is considered one of the best songs about the holiday ever recorded – even though it’s not really about Christmas at all. The song’s origin involved Wham! bandmates George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley visiting Michael’s parents and watching a football match. Suddenly, Michael disappeared upstairs and later emerged with the intro and chorus to “Last Christmas.”

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Wham! – who once reunited for George Michael: A Different Story – had many hits, including “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” or “I’m Your Man,” but “Last Christmas” is still considered their finest hour. The video for Wham’s! “Last Christmas” is also a festive season mainstay and even received an impressive 4K restoration in 2019. “Last Christmas” was a major success in the UK in 1984, but didn’t reach the top spot due to the Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” which Michael also recorded vocals for. “Do They Know It’s Christmas” sold a million copies in its first week of release alone and was a charity single designed to raise funds for victims of the Ethiopian famine. Wham! also donated the profits from “Last Christmas” to this cause.

Over time, “Last Christmas” became a holiday classic, and even inspired the 2019 Emilia Clarke comedy Last Christmas – whose twist was spoiled in trailers – while it has been covered many times by artists like Carly Rae Jepsen. It has charted several times in the years that followed, and “Last Christmas” became known for being the biggest selling single to never hit the UK number one. In 2017, fans of George Michael launched a bid to make “Last Christmas” the UK number one to make the first anniversary of the singer’s death, but it peaked at number two.

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Wham’s “Last Christmas” finally hit the UK number one spot in January 2021, 36 years on from its initial release. It also broke a record for being the longest gap for a single to reach the top of the UK singles chart. This title previously belonged to Tony Christie’s “(Is This The Way To) Amarillo?,” which became a number one hit 34 years after its original release, thanks to Comic Relief – who also made a Four Weddings… sequel short – version featuring Peter Kay that landed in 2005. More than anything, having remained so popular decades on from its first release speaks to the timeless quality of Wham’s “Last Christmas,” and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if it hits the top stop again in future.

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About The Author


Padraig Cotter
(3485 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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