Securing an official Christmas number one has been something historical in the UK for as long as we can remember, with every year an extremely unpredictable chart race taking place; from X Factor icons to punk-rock artists.
Last year, Wham! topped the leaderboard with their classic festive hit, Last Christmas, despite being released 39 years ago. The song completed the longest journey ever to Christmas number 1 and has 1.5 billion streams online.
The band were overwhelming favourites to once again be top of the charts at Christmas this year, and for the first time ever they managed to go back to back.
The 1984 track has made history after claiming back-to-back Christmas number ones, after topping the charts for six weeks in 2023. Meanwhile, Gracie Abrams came close to spoiling the party with her song, That’s So True, in second place.
Mariah Carey secured the Number Three spot with her festive hit, All I Want For Christmas Is You, whilst Tom Grennan posed a challenge in fourth position with his song, It Can’t Be Christmas.
:
Last Christmas could be the first song to claim back-to-back Christmas number ones (Image: Getty)
Wham! were firm favourites to claim the Christmas number one spot once again this year with their winter classic Last Christmas.
Ed Sheeran’s 2017 hit Perfect is the most successful Christmas number one of the last 20 years, with 3 billion streams and almost £11m in estimated royalties.
The second most successful UK Christmas number 1 is Clean Bandit’s Rockabye featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie. Spending a sensational nine weeks at number 1, the song has over 1.6 billion streams.
The band Wham, which comprised of George Michael and Andrew Ridgely, has become the first ever British pop duo to top the festive charts for two years in a row.
George Michael died on Christmas Day in 2016 (Image: Getty)
George Michael died on Christmas Day in 2016 at the age of 53.
Speaking about topping the charts, Andrew told the Official Charts: “I’m especially pleased for George, he would have been utterly delighted, his fabulous Christmas composition has become such a classic, almost as much a part of Christmas as mince pies, turkey and pigs in blankets.”