"Last Christmas" is a song by the English duo Wham!, released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in multiple European countries. It was written and produced by the Wham! member George Michael. He wrote it in February 1984 about a Christmas breakup and recorded it that August.
"Last Christmas" spent five consecutive weeks at number two on the UK singles chart. It was beaten to Christmas number one by the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid, on which Michael also performed. Funds from the sale of "Do They Know It's Christmas" were donated to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia.
Until 2021, "Last Christmas" was the highest-selling UK single never to reach number one. It has entered the UK singles chart every year since 2007, reached number one for the first time on New Year's Day 2021, and became Christmas number one in 2023. Combining sales and streams, it also became the third-best selling UK single, with 5.34 million sales. In 2024, it became the first song to become Christmas number one for consecutive years. "Last Christmas" has also topped the charts in 14 other European countries. In December 2025, it reached number one on the Billboard Global 200.
In the UK, "Last Christmas" was voted eighth on the 2012 ITV television special The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song and voted the most popular 1980s song in Channel 5's Christmas 2020 countdown Britain's Favourite '80s Songs. It has been covered by artists including Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Whigfield, Crazy Frog, Jimmy Eat World and Billie Piper.
Composition "Last Christmas" describes a Christmastime break-up. The engineer, Chris Porter, said the upbeat rhythm track contrasted against the sadness of unrequited love. The same chord progression and melody is used for both the verse and chorus, with no middle eight.
Production
The Wham! member George Michael wrote "Last Christmas" in his childhood bedroom in February 1984, when he and the other member, Andrew Ridgeley, were visiting his parents. Michael played Ridgeley the introduction and chorus melody, which Ridgeley later called "a moment of wonder".
Wham! recorded "Last Christmas" in August 1984, at Advision Studios, London, with Michael having covered the studio in Christmas decorations "to set the mood". Michael produced the song and wrote and performed every part, using a LinnDrum drum machine, a Roland Juno-60 synthesiser and sleigh bells. Though Michael had no musical training, he performed each part himself, playing the keyboards "with two or three fingers", according to Porter. The only other people in the studio were Porter and two assistants, Paul Gommersal and Richard Moakes. In 1985, "Last Christmas" was reissued as the "Pudding Mix", with many rerecorded parts, including Michael's vocals. As of 2025, it has been used for all releases since and the original mix has never been reissued.
Chart performance On its first release, "Last Christmas" reached number two on the UK singles chart, beaten by the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid, on which Michael also performed. Wham! donated their "Last Christmas" royalties to the Ethiopian famine relief fund, the same cause as Band Aid. It was the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK until 2011, when it was overtaken by "Fairytale of New York" (1987) by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.
In December 2019, "Last Christmas" reached number one on the Official Vinyl Singles Chart and the Official Video Streaming Chart. The following week, it was streamed 17.1 million times, a UK record for the most streams in a week. It was the year's best-selling vinyl single in the UK. , "Last Christmas" had sold more than 1.90 million copies, becoming the 10th-bestselling UK single in history and the bestselling single not to reach number one. "Last Christmas" reached number one on 1 January 2021, achieving the record for the longest time for a single to reach UK number one, previously held in 2005 by Tony Christie with "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo?". The record was surpassed in 2022 by Kate Bush with "Running Up That Hill", which took 37 years. In December 2022, "Last Christmas" reached number two on the UK singles chart, behind LadBaby's "Food Aid", a parody of "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
In December 2023, "Last Christmas" became the UK Christmas number one. It also became the third-best selling UK single, with 5.34 million sales, including streams. As of December 2023, it had sold more than 1.93 million physical copies and downloads, making it the eighth-bestselling single ever in the UK. It was certified nine-times platinum in January 2026. In 2024, it became the first song to be Christmas number one for two consecutive years. That year, PRS for Music estimated that "Last Christmas" generates £300,000 of royalties per year. In December 2025, "Last Christmas" reached number two on the UK singles chart, beaten by Kylie Minogue's "XMAS".
"Last Christmas" was voted eighth on the 2012 ITV television special The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song"The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song". ITV. 22 December 2012. and voted the most popular 1980s song in Channel 5's Christmas 2020 countdown Britain's Favourite '80s Songs.
+ UK singles chart Year Peak No. Chart run 1984 2 13 weeks (15 December 1984 – 9 March 1985) 1985 6 7 weeks (14 December 1985 – 25 January 1986) 1986 45 5 weeks (13 December 1986 – 10 January 1987) 2007 14 5 weeks (8 December 2007 – 5 January 2008) 2008 26 5 weeks (6 December 2008 – 3 January 2009) 2009 34 4 weeks (12 December 2009 – 2 January 2010) 2010 53 4 weeks (11 December 2010 – 1 January 2011) 2011 26 4 weeks (10 December 2011 – 31 December 2011) 2012 34 5 weeks (8 December 2012 – 5 January 2013) 2013 36 5 weeks (7 December 2013 – 4 January 2014) 2014 28 5 weeks (6 December 2014 – 3 January 2015) 2015 18 5 weeks (10 December 2015 – 7 January 2016) 2016 7 5 weeks (8 December 2016 – 5 January 2017) 2017 2 6 weeks (30 November 2017 – 4 January 2018) 2018 3 5 weeks (6 December 2018 – 3 January 2019) 2019 3 6 weeks (28 November 2019 – 2 January 2020) 2020 1 8 weeks (19 November 2020 – 7 January 2021) 2021 2 8 weeks (18 November 2021 – 6 January 2022) 2022 1 8 weeks (17 November 2022 – 5 January 2023) 2023 1 9 weeks (16 November 2023 – 11 January 2024) 2024 1 9 weeks (14 November 2024 – 9 January 2025) 2025 1 8 weeks (13 November 2025 – 31 December 2025)
Other territories In Germany, "Last Christmas" is the most successful Christmas single of all time, having spent 169 weeks on the German Singles Chart. It reached number one on 24 December 2021. It has charted every year since 1997. In January 2008, the song fell from No. 4 to No. 64, also making it the biggest fall out of the top 10 on the singles chart. In Ireland the single went to number one on 30 December 2022 and returned to the top of the Irish charts on 27 December 2024.
In Japan, the single was originally released in two different formats with different cover art, a 7-inch and 12-inch vinyl (Long version) both with "Credit Card Baby" as their B-side. The former entered the top 20 of the Oricon Singles Chart peaking at No. 15, while the latter reached No. 47. In 1993, it peaked at No. 17 within Japan, and by that point had sold 120,500 copies there. It was reissued in November 2001 and 2004 as a two-track CD with the single edit and the "pudding mix". "Last Christmas" is the eighth-best-selling single in Japan released by a foreign act, with total physical sales of 683,000 copies.
In the Netherlands, "Last Christmas" reached No. 2 in January 1985 (behind Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?"). In the Dutch Singles Top 100 (one of three charts in the Netherlands that claims to be the "official" chart, but it is the only one that is not broadcast and remains unpublished except on its own official web page), the song has now entered on 16 different occasions, including every year since 2006. Its highest position after 1984 was No. 4 (during the 2016 and 2018 Christmas season). In the Dutch Mega Top 50 (which was first published in 1993), the song reappeared in 1997, 2000, 2007, 2008, and 2013.
"Last Christmas" was not released as a commercial single in the United States until November 2014, when it was made available on 12" vinyl as a Record Store Day exclusive. It has re-entered the Billboard Holiday 100 chart on a regular basis, peaking at No. 2 on 13 December 2025. In November 2016, total US sales of the digital track stood at 751,000 downloads according to Nielsen SoundScan, placing it 10th on the list of best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in US SoundScan history. The song debuted at No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the chart dated 7 January 2017, after George Michael died. In December 2018, the song re-entered the Hot 100, reaching No. 25 in January 2019, and then a new peak of No. 11 in the first issue of 2020. On the issue dated 2 January 2021, "Last Christmas" reached No. 9 on the Hot 100, its first foray into the top 10 and returning Wham! to the top 10 after a 35-year break. The following year, on the issue dated 1 January 2022, the song reached No. 7. On the issue dated 24 December 2022, the song reached No. 6 on the Hot 100. On the year's last issue of the Billboard Hot 100, dated 31 December 2022, "Last Christmas" reached the top five.
In 2024, "Last Christmas" became the first Christmas single to chart during the year-end holiday season, debuting at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending 23 November. On Billboards 50th issue of 2024, dated 14 December, the song reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. On the chart dated 13 December 2025, "Last Christmas" reached a new peak position of No. 2. On 9 December 2025, the digital single was certified nine-times platinum, indicating US sales of 9 million digital copies. In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, "Last Christmas" reached No. 1 on the Swedish singles chart. In December 2025, "Last Christmas" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, a ranking of sales and streams from over 200 territories.
Music video The music video for "Last Christmas" features Michael and Ridgeley accompanying girlfriends at a ski resort, contrasting scenes of a happy Christmas holiday with "wistful memories about past romance". According to Wham!'s manager at the time, Simon Napier-Bell, Michael planned "Last Christmas" as part of a "Christmas package" including the video and a performance at Wembley Stadium. Michael instructed the director, Andy Morahan, to create a Christmas version of the video for Wham!'s single "Club Tropicana". It was filmed in a ski resort in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, with friends and family members, including the Wham! backing singers Pepsi & Shirlie. Michael's ex-girlfriend was played by the model Kathy Hill. The music video features the wooden Chalet Schliechte, which is located on the edge of the village. The interior of the building was already filmed in the nearby Chalet Tita. The clip also shows the operational Felskinn cable car. The band stayed at the Walliserhof hotel during the shooting of the music video.
The music video, originally shot on 35mm film, was re-released on 13 December 2019 in 4K Ultra HD resolution. Morahan had found seven out of the eight rolls of original 35mm rushes and worked with teams at Cinelab London and VFX artist Russ Shaw at Nice Biscuits post production to recreate the video using the higher-resolution film.
Plagiarism allegation On behalf of the writers of the 1975 song "Can't Smile Without You", made popular by Barry Manilow, the publishing company Dick James Music sued Michael for plagiarism in the mid-1980s, claiming that "Last Christmas" had taken its melody. The case was dismissed when a musicologist presented numerous songs from the past century that had a comparable chord sequence and melody.
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