Even almost four decades after its release, Wham!'s hit holiday single "Last Christmas" is still relevant and breaking records as it recently made history; what did it achieve this time?
According to Chart Data, the popular Christmas track, which was originally released in 1986, became the biggest single-day streams for a song by a group on the music streaming platform, Spotify.
In one day, the song got a whopping 19.079 million streams on Christmas Eve.
Over the years, the song gets even more popular during the day before the highly-anticipated annual holiday. Check out how the song got famous over time based on its streams. (via Pop Base)
- 2017 - 6.48 million
- 2018 - 9.09 million
- 2019 - 10.6 million
- 2020 - 15.81 million
- 2021 - 15.47 million
- 2022 - 19.07 million
Wham!'s 'Last Christmas' is the Standard Holiday Song
According to Rolling Stone, the song was originally written in February and the band told music journalist Neil Tennant that they have a holiday song that "sends a tingle up [his] spine."
The duo, consisting of vocalist George Michael and guitarist Andrew Ridgeley, then released the track a few months later.
It appears that the singer predicted the song's success as the two wanted to sell millions of copies worldwide at the time. Little did they know, their expectations will be exceeded.
The outlet noted that the song became standard as it would continuously become relevant due to its fresh meaning.
The track revolves around the theme of heartbreak during the Christmas season where the protagonist sings the song a year after he gave his heart to his lover only to give it away the following day.
Wham! Has Been Disbanded for Years
Despite being one of the most successful bands of their time, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley's professional relationship didn't last.
Otaku Kart reported that the duo split in 1986. After having several albums and successful concerts together, fans were surprised to know that they were splitting up.
The reason why they disbanded was because of their different creative approaches. Michael reportedly wanted to create music that targets adult audiences even though the band was primarily marketed to teenagers.
Even though the group had broken up, Michael and Ridgeley maintained their friendship over the next decades as the former clarified that they didn't have any feud that caused the duo's split.
Andrew Ridgeley later released a memoir titled "Wham!, George Michael and Me: A Memoir" in 2019.
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