The Christmas number 1 single for 2023 in the Official Charts announced

This year's highly-anticipated Christmas number one was finally revealed on Friday evening (December 22). It was a nail-biting race with Wham!, Eurovision's Sam Ryder, Mariah Carey and The Pogues all dominating the charts and vying for the all-important top spot.

But at last, Wham! has secured the UK’s Official Christmas Number One with Last Christmas, a record-breaking 39 years after first being denied it. Written and produced by George Michael with the aim of landing the Christmas Number one in 1984, festive classic Last Christmas was famously kept off the top spot upon release thanks to Band-Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? which is the second best-selling single of all time.

Almost four decades on, Last Christmas finally claims the coveted festive chart crown, in a victory for ‘80s pop duo WHAM! and their legions of devoted who have campaigned to rewrite history for years. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley make Official Chart history in the process; at 39 years in the making, Last Christmas now sets the record for the longest ever journey to the UK Christmas Number One.

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Speaking to Official Charts, WHAM!’s Andrew Ridgeley said: "Last Christmas has finally ascended to the much-cherished and sought-after Official Christmas Number One, which was always the main goal. George would be beside himself [that] after all of these years, [we’ve] finally obtained Christmas Number One.

"Yog [George] said that he wrote Last Christmas with the intention of writing a Christmas Number One. It’s mission accomplished!”

Last Christmas was