Wham!’s “Last Christmas” is the No. 1 song in the world, snowballing three places to the top of the Billboard Global 200, as the 1984 classic by the British duo of George Michael, who died in 2016, and Andrew Ridgeley, leads the list for the first time.
The song is the second holiday hit to reign since the Global 200 began in September 2020. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has ruled for a chart-record 19 weeks since that December.
A week earlier, “Last Christmas” reached a new No. 2 high on the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100.
Ridgeley marveled to Billboard at how “Last Christmas” has become “beloved by all generations,” upon its rise to the Hot 100’s runner-up rank, citing “the special place the song occupies in so many hearts and one that George Michael would have been immensely proud of. Thank you, everyone who has embraced the song as a little piece of their own merry Christmas.”
Michael’s estate described “Last Christmas” as “a timeless record that embodies the very sound of Christmas and continues to resonate with audiences, while captivating new listeners around the world. Thank you to everyone who keeps this song at the very heart of Christmas.”
The Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts 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.
“Last Christmas” tops the Global 200 with 95.3 million streams (up 19%) and 5,000 sold (up 26%) worldwide Dec. 5-11.
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” holds at No. 2 on the Global 200; HUNTR/X’s “Golden” falls two spots to No. 3 after 18 weeks at No. 1 beginning in July; Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” slips 3-4 after three weeks at No. 1 starting in October; and Brenda Lee’s No. 2-peaking “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” keeps at No. 5.
Four more carols decorate the Global 200’s top 10: Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” which repeats at No. 6; Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me,” steady at No. 7; Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree” (10-8); and Michael Bublé’s “It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas” (11-10). (The songs have hit highs of Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 6, respectively.)
Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” is the only other non-holiday song in the Global 200’s top 10, down 8-9 after 10 weeks at No. 1 beginning in May.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Dec. 20, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Dec. 16. 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.
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