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George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley of Wham! (archive image)
Photo: imago/United Archives
It took almost 40 years. The song »Last Christmas« by Wham! is at the top of the British Christmas charts for the first time. The pop song by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley was released on December 3, 1984 – but only made it to second place in the week of Christmas. First place went to »Do They Know It's Christmas?« by Band Aid.
Now »Last Christmas« belatedly took the top spot, as the Official Charts Company announced on Friday evening. According to the report, it was streamed 13.3 million times, in addition to sales from special vinyl and CD editions.
In the video, George Michael once trudged through a snowy mountain landscape and decorated the Christmas tree. The fact that it didn't work out after the release of the single was a big disappointment, Ridgeley said in a video message. "George wrote the song with the intention of landing a Christmas number one hit," says the 60-year-old. "George would be beside himself with joy after all these years. Mission accomplished.« George Michael died unexpectedly on Christmas Day 2016. He was 53 years old.
The song has topped the UK charts before, but not right at Christmas. Now it prevailed over Sam Ryder's »You're Christmas To Me« and »All I Want For Christas Is You« by Mariah Carey. » Fairytale of New York« by the Pogues came in at number six after the death of singer Shane MacGowan.
"Last Christmas" is the third-largest in the history of the United Kingdom, according to a metric that combines actual sales with the number of streams. At the top of the list is »Shape of You« by Ed Sheeran, followed by »Do They Know It's Christmas?«.
max/dpa