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50 Cent has just about seen it all in the rap game, and he’s never one to mince words when it comes to giving his thoughts on just about everything going on. Last week, Lil Baby shocked fans when he admitted on Lil Yachty’s A Safe Place podcast that he lost about $8 million in […]
Wham!’s “Last Christmas” has become a holiday standard over its 40 years in release — not just because of the extraordinary success of the original 1984 recording by the pop duo (George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley), but also because of its numerous covers by the likes of Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift, among others.
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What’s it been like for Ridgeley to see the song have so many new interpretations by such artists through the years?
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“It’s testament to the brilliance of the song,” he tells the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen to his interview below), “to its appeal as a Christmas record, its appeal as a pop song, its attraction to the younger generation and those that recognize what a really good Christmas song it is.”
“Someone told me there’s over 400 ‘Last Christmas’ covers,” Ridgeley says. “I can’t verify that, but I wouldn’t be too surprised. It’s extremely flattering and I think George (who wrote, produced, and solely performed “Last Christmas”) would have been really really pleased that so many people recognize — so many of his peers, so many of contemporary musicians of this era and in between — recognize it as a definitive kind of Christmas record.”
“Last Christmas” has become a fixture on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the holiday season and recently reached a new peak of No. 3. Ridgeley says it has been “extremely satisfying” to see the tune climb the Hot 100, and adds that Michael (who died in 2017) “would have been utterly delighted… and it would have meant a great deal to him.”
In Ridgeley’s chat with the Pop Shop, he also discusses the continued popularity of Wham!’s overall catalog of music and how it’s “surprised” him a “wee bit” that their music has grown in popularity over the decades with new fans. He says it’s all owed to the “enduring vibrancy and youthful nature of Wham!’s music and Wham! that (the catalog) continues to draw in new cohorts.”
Also in the Pop Shop interview, Ridgeley talks about the new documentary Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped, the possibility of a boxed set with unreleased Wham! material, and if the public will ever hear Michael’s original demo recording of “Last Christmas.”
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
Ariana Grande fans are feeling Christmas all around! The singer-actress surprised her Arianators with a live performance of her holiday hit “Santa Tell Me” on Monday (Dec. 23) to mark the song’s 10th anniversary. “celebrating ten years of Santa Tell Me ! thank you so much for all of the love you have shown this […]
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” sets a new mark for the most time spent at No. 1 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart since its 2013 inception, spending a record 21st week atop the Dec. 28-dated tally. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” reigns with 48 million official U.S. streams earned […]
A select 16 shiny holiday hits have hung like ornaments in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10.
The Chipmunks’ “The Chipmunk Song,” with David Seville, became the first Yuletide track to reach the region, logging for four weeks at No. 1 in the 1958 holiday season.
Two other carols have spent time upon the Hot 100’s highest bow: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” from 1994, for 17 total weeks at No. 1 beginning in 2019, and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” from 1958, for three weeks over the 2023 holiday season.
The two most recently released holiday hits to jingle to the Hot 100’s top 10 do so on the Dec. 28, 2024, dated chart: Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me,” released in 2014, and Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree,” from 2013.
Previously, superstar saxophonist Kenny G boasted the most recently released holiday top 10: his take on “Auld Lang Syne,” released at the end of 1999, hit No. 7 in the Y2K holiday season. (A mix including news clips of noteworthy 20th century events added to the original instrumental’s reach.)
The most vintage seasonal song to have reached the Hot 100’s top 10? Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You).” He unveiled the chestnut in 1946.
Notably, the bulk of holiday hits that have dashed to the Hot 100’s top 10 have done so in the 2020s, as streaming has grown and holiday music has become more prominent on streaming services’ playlists. (Further, for much of the Hot 100’s history, holiday songs were not eligible to make the list, appearing instead on seasonal surveys.)
As for the titles of the 16 top 10 Hot 100 holiday entries, five feature “Christmas” and one “Navidad.” “Tree” has appeared in two titles. (Plus, fittingly per their sleigh positions, “Rudolph” reached the top 10, over the 2020 holidays, before “Santa.”)
Here’s a recap of every holiday song that has made a holly jolly journey to the Hot 100’s top 10, listed from the most recently released to the earliest.
“Santa Tell Me,” Ariana Grande
ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” tops the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts for a ninth week apiece. The song debuted as the stars’ second leader on each list.
Plus, six seasonal songs light up each chart’s top 10.
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The Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
“APT.” rules the Global 200 with 142 million streams and 18,000 sold (down 4% week-over-week in each metric) worldwide Dec. 13-19. The hit now claims nine of the top 10 global streaming weeks among songs released in 2024:
224.5 million, “APT.,” ROSÉ & Bruno Mars, Nov. 2
207.5 million, “APT.,” Nov. 9
176.8 million, “Fortnight,” Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone, May 4
162.2 million, “APT.,” Nov. 16
160.6 million, “APT.,” Dec. 7
149.9 million, “APT.,” Dec. 14
147.7 million, “APT.,” Dec. 21
146.4 million, “APT.,” Nov. 23
142 million, “APT.,” Dec. 28
132.7 million, “APT.,” Nov. 30
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” keeps at No. 2 on the Global 200. Released in 1994, the song has spent a record 18 weeks at No. 1 dating to the chart’s start (five each over the 2023 and 2022 holidays and four in both the 2021 and 2020 holiday seasons).
Five other carols rank in the Global 200’s top 10: Wham’s “Last Christmas” (No. 3), Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (No. 5), Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” (No. 6) all hold in place, followed by Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me” (10-9) and Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree” (11-10). The songs have hit respective Nos. 2, 2, 4, 5 and 6 highs.
Plus, Lady Gaga and Mars’ “Die With a Smile” is steady at No. 4 on the Global 200, following eight weeks at No. 1, the most for any song this year, beginning in September. It drew 125.6 million streams (up 4%) worldwide in the latest tracking frame and has tallied over 100 million streams globally in each of the last 16 weeks, the longest such streak since the chart began.
“APT.” concurrently tops Global Excl. U.S. with 124.9 million streams (down 4%) and 12,000 sold (up 1%) outside the U.S. Dec. 13-19.
“Die With a Smile” repeats at No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S.. following eight weeks at No. 1 starting in September; Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is steady at No. 3, having spent a record-tying 13 weeks at No. 1; Wham’s “Last Christmas” holds at No. 4, after reaching No. 2; and Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” is stationary at No. 5, following three weeks at No. 1 in August.
Meanwhile, four more holiday hits decorate the Global Excl. U.S. top 10: Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (8-7), Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” (9-8) Sia’s “Snowman” (10-9) and Grande’s “Santa Tell Me” (11-10). The songs have reached highs of Nos. 3, 5, 4 and 5, respectively.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Dec. 28, 2024) will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Dec. 24. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
21 Savage is in the spirit of giving back to the community this holiday season. Alongside his Leading by Example Foundation, Savage hosted his sixth annual holiday toy drive on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 21) in DeKalb County, Ga. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The Atlanta native […]
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See which is the No. 1 video of the year, according to Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors.
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André 3000 and Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) joined forces for the cathartic “Life of the Party” in 2021, which landed on the deluxe version of West’s Donda album. It was an untraditional road to eventually landing on streaming services, as Drake actually leaked the track on his Sound 42 SiriusXM radio show first. And now, André is explaining why he wanted off the collab.
Three Stacks joined The New York Times’ Popcast on Saturday (Dec. 21), where he — in addition to performing in the NYT newsroom — sat down for a nearly 90-minute interview. Part of the discussion included him detailing and debunking everything surrounding his “Life of the Party” team-up with Ye in 2021.
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With André and Ye both losing their moms and the album being named after Ms. Donda West, Three Stacks credited West with inspiring him to speak on the tragic loss. “I was speaking as if I’m speaking to his mom to tell a message to my mom,” he said. “That song opened me up to say things that I couldn’t have said without Kanye.”
However, Yeezy didn’t want any cursing on the project, so the Outkast legend offered to have his verse taken off the song altogether, since he didn’t approve of there being strictly clean versions of such a poignant record.
“Ye was at a point where he didn’t want any curse words on the album and I said, ‘Yeah I’m cool with it.’ I’m totally fine with no curse words,” André 3000 said. “But take me off the song because I’d written it a certain way. I was cool with beeped versions, but you have to put the dirty version of it out too.”
Dre continued: “He told me, ‘I told my daughter that I would not have any curse words on the album,’ I said, ‘Yeah, man, the kids for sure. So just take me off.’”
He also clarified that he knew West was going to be taking shots at Drake on the track amid their feud, but attempted to reason with Ye about whether this song was the proper playground for that. “I heard the diss part,” he shared. “Me and Kanye had a convo about it. I had my feelings about it. I was like, ‘Man, do you really want to do this on this type of song? It’s like going and shooting up your mom’s funeral.’”
An explicit version ended up landing on streaming services in November 2021. “Life of the Party” reached No. 3 on the Hot Gospel Songs chart and No. 47 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Watch the full interview below.
This week on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we are finally up to the top two of our Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 list — and even though it’s been an insane year for pop stars, and we’ve discussed some absolutely incredible ones on this podcast already, these are the two who ended up best personifying […]
