Wham! earn Christmas Number One spot with ‘Last Christmas’ after 39 years

nme.com:

Wham! have earned the Christmas Number One with their iconic holiday hit ‘Last Christmas’ after attempting to land the spot for 39 years.The track was penned and produced by the late George Michael with the aim of landing the Christmas Number One in 1984.

However, ‘Last Christmas’ was kept off the top spot upon release by Band-Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, a track that would go on to become the second best-selling single of all time.Today, almost four decades later, ‘Last Christmas’ has earned the festive top spot.

Wham! have also made history by setting the record for the longest-ever journey to the UK Christmas Number One.Speaking about the achievement to Official Charts in a press release, Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley said: “‘Last Christmas’ has finally ascended to the much-cherished and sought-after Official Christmas Number One, which was always the main goal.”He continued: “George would be beside himself [that] after all of these years, [we’ve] finally obtained Christmas Number One.

Yog [George] said that he wrote Last Christmas with the intention of writing a Christmas Number One. It’s mission accomplished!”‘Last Christmas’ was streamed a staggering 13.3 million times over the past seven days, according to Official Charts Company data – the most-streamed Christmas Number 1 ever during Christmas week.