‘Last Christmas’ Is the Gift that Keeps Giving – and Getting – for George Michael

Is it too early for Christmas music?

You may love it, you may hate it, but there’s no denying the staying power of “Last Christmas,” the unavoidable holiday classic from Wham!, which has a massive resurgence annually starting almost immediately after Halloween since it was first released in 1984. That’s not hyperbole either, as the song has topped the UK Singles Chart four of the last five years for multiple weeks at a time.

Just this week, it was announced “Last Christmas” is up for the Ivor Novello Award in the Most Performed Work category. Named for the Welsh actor, the prestigious awards celebrate the top British and Irish songwriters and composers. Next month, as in years past, the Ivor Academy will hold the ceremony in London.

The Most Performed Work category recognizes a song that’s been performed the most, as measured by PRS for Music, a UK-based performing rights organization. Up against “Last Christmas” are “As It Was” by Harry Styles, “Houdini” from Dua Lipa, Cassö, Raye, and D-Block Europe’s “Prada,” and “Stargazing” by Myles Smith.

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And while it’s technically credited to Wham!, “Last Christmas” is truly a song by George Michael, who wrote, composed, arranged, produced, and played all the instruments on the track. His partner in the English pop duo, Andrew Ridgeley, had seen the writing on the wall earlier that year that the group might not last, as their song “Careless Whisper” topped the charts and was heavily promoted as a George Michael number. Wham! would somehow make it until the early summer of 1986, performing one final show at Wembley Stadium in London in front of 72,000 fans.

Michael, who subsequently exploded as a solo star, remains the only individual songwriter in history to receive the Ivor Novello Songwriter of the Year award three times, nabbing it in 1985, 1989, and 1997. It was in 1985, at just 21 years old, when he became the youngest recipient of an Ivor Novello as “Careless Whisper” took home Most Performed Work. He was also recognized as Songwriter of the Year at the ceremony, claiming two of the four Novellos for which he was nominated.

Throughout his career, Michael won six Ivor Novello Awards and has now received 13 nominations. The nod for “Last Christmas” marks his first Ivor Novello nomination in two decades and his first posthumously. The singer passed away on Christmas Day 2016, having sold a combined 150 million records – and then some – between his solo career and as a member of Wham!

As for “Last Christmas,” in addition to continued chart success and award nominations, it’s been covered by everyone from Jimmy Eat World to Taylor Swift, had a documentary made about it, and even inspired a film of the same name starring Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding. Finally, next weekend marks halfway to Halloween, so we’re almost at the point where it’ll be back earworming its way into the public consciousness as it does every year.

A version of this article appears in this week’s print and online editions of my syndicated Rock Music Menu column under the title “‘Last Christmas’ is the gift that keeps giving, and getting.“