BBC Radio 1 announces official Christmas number one song for 2024

This year's highly-anticipated Christmas number one has finally been announced - and it won't be good news for many who try to avoid the song each year. It was a nail-biting race with Wham!, pop queen Gracie Abrams and Mariah Carey all dominating the charts and vying for the all-important top spot.

Last year, Wham! finally secured the UK’s Official Christmas Number One with Last Christmas, a record-breaking 39 years after first being denied it.

And for a second year in a row, the Official Charts Company has named the song Christmas number one again.

Last Christmas had 12.6 million weekly streams and was also the best seller of the week physically too, thanks to a suite of limited edition 40^th anniversary collectibles, including zoetrope vinyl, picture disc and CD.

Behind Wham was Gracie Abrams with That's So True and Mariah Carey's Christmas classic All I Want for Christmas Is You number three.

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.

Speaking of being named Christmas number one, Wham! star Andrew Ridgeley said: "37 years to get to Number 1, 39 years to Christmas Number 1, and then like London buses they all come along at once.

"I’m especially pleased for George, he would have been utterly delighted, his fabulous Christmas composition has become such a classic, almost as much a part of Christmas as mince pies, turkey and pigs in blankets.”

“It’s testament to a really wonderful Christmas song that in a lot of people’s minds evokes and represents Christmas as we would all wish it to be. I’d like to thank everyone who has listened to, downloaded, bought, streamed Last Christmas and been a part of history. Thanks so much and Merry Christmas!”

Jack Saunders announced The number one on Friday evening on BBC Radio 1's Official Chart show. Meanwhile, Sabrina Carpenter's Short N' Sweet was number one album, with Michael Buble's Christmas number two, and Chappel Roan's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess third.

Martin Talbot, Chief Executive, Official Charts, said: "Many, many congratulations to Andrew Ridgeley and Team WHAM! on achieving an incredible piece of Official Chart history this week. It is incredible to think that four years ago Last Christmas was the biggest-selling single never to hit Number 1 – then it finally hit the top in January 2021, finally became a Christmas Number 1 in December 2023 and is now the first consecutive Christmas Number 1 in history, with nine weeks at the summit (in five separate runs) to its name. It is surely, undeniably, established now as the British Nation’s all-time favourite Christmas song.

“Also, of course, we should all take our caps off to Sabrina Carpenter too, whose Short N’ Sweet album tops off what has been an incredible year for her to become the Official Christmas Number 1 album.”

Official Christmas singles chart 2024 top five singles

1. Last Christmas - Wham!
2. That's So True - Gracie Abrams
3. All I Want for Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
4. It Can't Be Christmas - Tom Grennan
5. APT - Rose & Bruno Mars