08 December 2023
Newsdesk
Jumping four places to the Official Singles Chart summit, Last Christmas celebrates a fourth outing at Number 1 in the UK today, charging ahead with over 53,000 chart units.
Originally released in 1984, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s contemplative festive ballad set a UK chart record in 2021 for the longest time taken by a song to reach Number 1, 36 years after its initial release (although this record was then broken in 2022 by Kate Bush with Running Up That Hill). It reached Number 1 for a second time in 2022, and for a third at the very beginning of 2023.
It’s also shaping up to be a key song to beat in the most important chart race of the year, as the Official Christmas Number 1 race begins next Friday, December 15.
Speaking exclusively to Official Charts celebrating Last Christmas’s return to Number 1, Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley says:
“Christmas has indeed come early in 2023. I'm delighted that Last Christmas has once again reached the zenith of the Official Singles Chart, continuing a bit of trend in the 2020s. Long may that continue!
“Merry Christmas, Happy New Year…and thank you!”
With the most wonderful time of the year in full swing, Official Charts can also confirm a new record has been set today – with 29 Christmas songs present in the UK Top 40, the most ever.
Wham!’s perennial Christmas rival, Mariah Carey, is also on the up today, with the festive queen jumping four spots to Number 2 with All I Want for Christmas is You, setting up an intense chart battle between the two in weeks to come.
Following the sad news of Shane MacGowan’s death last week, on the day of his funeral, fans of The Pogues have sent the band’s hit Fairytale of New York with Kirsty MacColl, flying back into the Official Chart Top 5, up 14 places to Number 4. The track originally peaked at Number 2 upon its release in 1987, narrowly missing out on the Christmas Number 1 spot to Pet Shop Boys’ Always On My Mind, but could it be a contender this year?
More than half of the Top 10 is made up of Christmas songs today, including; Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (6) and Ed Sheeran & Elton John’s former chart-topper Merry Christmas (7), which was recently named as one of the biggest new Christmas songs of the 21st century.
They’re joined by Michael Bublé’s It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (8), Bobby Helms’ Jingle Bell Rock (9) and Shakin’ Stevens’ Merry Christmas Everyone (10).
Further down, the record-breaking stack of Christmas hits invading the Singles Chart also features; Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me reaching a re-peak (11), Sam Ryder’s 2023 original You’re Christmas to Me (12), Kelly Clarkson’s Underneath the Tree (13), Andy Williams’s It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (15), Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? (16), Dean Martin’s Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (17) and John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s Plastic Band’s Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (19).
Taylor Swift earns this week’s highest new entry with the devastating synth ballad You’re Losing Me. A track released ‘from the vault’ of her 2022 chart-topping album Midnights, it debuts at Number 20 to become the superstar’s 52nd Top 40 hit.
This week’s mega-compilation of Christmas record-breakers is completed by; Michael Bublé’s Holly Jolly Christmas reaching its highest-ever peak (21), Chris Rea’s Driving Home for Christmas (22), Kelly Clarkson & Ariana Grande’s Santa Can’t You Hear Me (23), Elton John’s Step Into Christmas (24), Jorja Smith’s cover of Stay Another Day (26), Sia’s Snowman reaching its highest position yet (27), Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime (28), The Ronette’s Sleigh Ride (29), Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (30), José Feliciano’s Feliz Navidad (32), Justin Bieber’s Mistletoe (38) and Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody (39) which celebrates the 50th anniversary of its 1973 release.
