RouteNote Blog

Image credit: Sony Music.

Topping the chart for the second year in a row, Wham!’s Last Christmas makes history.

Every December, households across the UK find themselves asking the same question: who will be Christmas number one? For the second consecutive year, the answer is none other than Wham!’s timeless classic, Last Christmas.

Breaking records

Originally released in 1984 by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, Last Christmas hit the top spot for the first time last year– an astonishing 39-year wait! Last year’s victory felt bittersweet for Ridgeley, who was “especially pleased” for his late bandmate, who passed away in 2016, as Michael always wanted the song to reach number one. This year, marking its 40th anniversary, the track was reissued on CD and vinyl, propelling it once again to the top spot.

This feat places Last Christmas in elite company. Only a handful of tracks have topped the Christmas chart more than once, and none have achieved it in consecutive years:

• Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen (1975 and 1991).
• Do They Know It’s Christmas, Band Aid (with different versions in 1984, 1989, and 2004).
• Mary’s Boy Child, Harry Belafonte (1957) and Mary’s Boy Child / Oh My Lord, Boney M. (1978).

Christmas classics dominate the charts

This year’s Top 10 proves that nostalgia reigns supreme during the festive season, largely consisting of festive classics:

This year, seven of the top 10 songs were Christmas tracks, with 29 out of the Top 40 being festive-themed. Remarkably, only two new Christmas songs entered the Top 40, both commissioned for Amazon Music. Tom Grennan’s It Can’t Be Christmas and Laufey’s Christmas Magic benefitted from automatic plays in smart speakers, giving them a boost that was unable to topple the classics.

Breaking into the Christmas charts with a new song is no easy task, and the dominance of familiar favourites poses a significant challenge for newcomers attempting to carve out a space in listeners’ holiday rotation.

“It takes time for songs to warm up and become classics, I think it would be a huge feat for something to come along and be number one at the first time of asking.”

Jack Saunders, Radio 1’s Chart Show Presenter

Wham! takes the crown again

While last year’s win for Last Christmas was seen as a “default victory” due to the absence of LadBaby’s sausage roll-enthused charity singles, this year’s triumph was pushed by Gracie Abram’s That’s So True. With 12.6 million streams, and leading physical sales, Wham!’s festive anthem proved it’s still the heart and soul of the UK’s holiday soundtrack.

Last Christmas continues to unite generations in festive cheer, making this festive classic a deserved Christmas number one and history maker!