Last Christmas

"Last Christmas"
UK vinyl sleeve for the original 1984 and international release
Single by Wham!
from the album Music from the Edge of Heaven and The Final
A-side"Everything She Wants" (various)
B-side
Released3 December 1984 (1984-12-03)
RecordedAugust 1984 (1984-08)
StudioAdvision, London
Genre
Length4:27
Label
Songwriter(s)George Michael
Producer(s)George Michael
Wham! singles chronology
"Freedom"
(1984)
"Last Christmas"
(1984)
"Everything She Wants"
(1984)
Back cover
Back cover of original 1984 UK gatefold edition
Music video
"Last Christmas" on YouTube

"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!. Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in several European countries. The song has been covered by many artists including Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Whigfield, Crazy Frog and Billie Piper.

Upon its initial release in 1984, "Last Christmas" spent five consecutive weeks at number two in the UK singles chart—it was held off the top spot at Christmas by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (on which Michael also performed). After many chart runs in subsequent years, which included three more weeks at number two, and which saw the recording become part of RCA Records' catalogue, the song finally reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on New Year's Day 2021 (chart week ending date 7 January 2021), more than 36 years after its initial release; in doing so, it became the fifth UK number one single for the duo. Prior to it reaching number one, "Last Christmas" had for many years held the record as the highest-selling single never to top the charts by the Official Charts Company (OCC) with 1.9 million copies sold (not including streams). This record is now held by "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers. The song reached number one in the UK after it was streamed 9.2 million times in the last week of 2020 and sold 1,555 downloads, resulting in a total of 40,149 combined sales. Having been the Christmas number two again in 2022, "Last Christmas" finally achieved the accolade of Christmas number one in 2023, 39 years after its initial release, and, in 2024, became the first song to be the Christmas number one in back-to-back years. Combining sales and streams, it also became the third biggest song on record in the UK.

Outside the United Kingdom, the song topped the charts in fifteen countries and peaked within the top ten of the charts in several countries including Australia, Canada and the United States. It also reached number two on the Billboard Global 200 in January 2021. Wham! donated all of their royalties to relief efforts for the Ethiopian famine. In a UK-wide poll in December 2012, it was voted eight on the ITV television special The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song and was voted most popular song of the 1980s in Channel 5's Christmas 2020 countdown Britain's Favourite '80s Songs. It was the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK until it was overtaken by "Fairytale of New York" in 2011.