About The Song
The song originated one Sunday in 1984 when George Michael and Andrew Ridgely were visiting Michael’s parents. Ridgely recalled to The Mail On Sunday in 2017:
“We’d had a bite to eat and were sitting together relaxing with the television on in the background when, almost unnoticed, George disappeared upstairs for an hour or so. When he came back down, such was his excitement, it was as if he had discovered gold which, in a sense, he had. We went to his old room, the room in which we had spent hours as kids recording pastiches of radio shows and jingles, the room where he kept a keyboard and something on which to record his sparks of inspiration, and he played me the introduction and the beguiling, wistful chorus melody to ‘Last Christmas.’ It was a moment of wonder. George had performed musical alchemy, distilling the essence of Christmas into music. Adding a lyric which told the tale of betrayed love was a masterstroke and, as he did so often, he touched hearts.”
“We’d had a bite to eat and were sitting together relaxing with the television on in the background when, almost unnoticed, George disappeared upstairs for an hour or so. When he came back down, such was his excitement, it was as if he had discovered gold which, in a sense, he had. We went to his old room, the room in which we had spent hours as kids recording pastiches of radio shows and jingles, the room where he kept a keyboard and something on which to record his sparks of inspiration, and he played me the introduction and the beguiling, wistful chorus melody to ‘Last Christmas.’ It was a moment of wonder. George had performed musical alchemy, distilling the essence of Christmas into music. Adding a lyric which told the tale of betrayed love was a masterstroke and, as he did so often, he touched hearts.”
The song didn’t chart on the US Hot 100 after its initial release in 1984, as it was only available as a promotional, not commercially available, 7-inch single. Until “Last Christmas” finally reached #1 in January 2021, it had been the UK’s best-selling single to never reach the top of the singles chart.
Wham!’s festive song finally charted following the unexpected death of George Michael on Christmas Day 2016, when it debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 on the listing dated January 7, 2016. “Last Christmas” reached the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time two years later, when it rose from #43 to #34 on the chart dated December 15, 2018.
This was released as a charity record with its proceeds going to famine relief in Ethiopia. Apart from “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” which prevented it from reaching #1, “Last Christmas” is the biggest selling Christmas song in the UK. George Michael features on both songs.
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