Wham! Make History As Last Christmas Finally Goes Number One 36 Years Later

36 years after its release, Wham!’s classic festive anthem Last Christmas has made it to number one on the Official UK Singles Chart. 

December 25 might be behind us, but it’s clear people are still in the Christmas spirit as the beloved track became the first number one of 2021 yesterday, January 1.

Though being the UK’s most-played track is always an achievement, Wham! also made history with their number one by setting a new record for the longest time for a song to reach number one.

Last Christmas was released in 1986, when it spent five weeks at number two. It ultimately missed out on the Christmas number one spot to Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas, which was released the previous year.

Wham!’s track spent a total of 72 weeks in the charts over the years, but it wasn’t until this week it made it to the top spot.

The new ranking broke the record previously held by Tony Christie’s (Is This The Way To) Amarillo, which took 33 years and four months to reach number one in March 2005.

George Michael’s family and estate said they were ‘overjoyed’ with the news, adding:

After such a difficult 2020 for all of us and at the time of year that was so special to George we are so grateful to everyone who made this possible and know how much it would have meant to him.

We are also pleased to be able to continue donating George’s record royalties from sales/streaming from this track to charitable causes close to his heart as he did for so many years.

Despite only just securing the achievement, Last Christmas has long held a special place with music fans, as it was previously the UK’s best-selling single never to reach number one, having racked up 1.9 million sales to date.

Last Christmas was streamed 9.2 million times over the last week, with plays potentially fuelled by the fourth anniversary of George Michael’s death on Christmas Day.

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