WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — It’s not even Christmas, but this now famous or infamous Christmas song is already on the Billboard Hot 100. No, it’s not Mariah Carey.
Released on Dec. 3, 1984, as a B-side by the Duo Wham! “Last Christmas” is the only Christmas song currently listed on the Billboard Hot 100. It comes in at No. 38, ahead of Luke Combs “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” from the Twisters soundtrack.
Over the decades since its release, it has spent a total of 39 weeks on the Billboard charts, peaking at No. 4 when it first came out. It was released 40 years ago to compete in the British tradition of Christmas Number One.
Beginning in 1952, it’s become a part of the holiday tradition, and it is considered extremely prestigious in the British music industry to have your song reach number one on Christmas Day.
In 2023, the song was the Christmas Number One, a feat it did not achieve on its original release. It lost out to Band-Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” a song which, ironically, George Michael also sang on.
The song has also become a survival game called Whamageddon, which begins on Dec. 1 and ends on Dec. 24. Participants attempt to go the whole 24 days before Christmas without hearing the song.
If you hear the song during that time period, you have to post about it on social media with the hashtag #Whamageddon. It also has to be the original version of the song, not covers or remakes.
Incidentally, Mariah is back on the Billboard Global 200, coming in at #21 with “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”