Sam Ryder paid tribute to the late George Michael on Friday evening in a heartwarming video.
English singer Sam, 34 – who came second in Eurovision for the UK back in 2022 – broke his silence after Wham! beat him to the Christmas number one spot with their iconic track Last Christmas.
George Michael – who died on Christmas Day in 2016 aged just 53 – released the festive tune in 1984 but it had never managed to achieve the coveted top spot over the Yuletide period until Friday night.
It was denied the top spot in the year of its release by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?
Following the Official Chart show, Sam posted a clip of himself to Instagram gushing over landing second place with You’re Christmas To Me, while praising George Michael for ‘inspiring generations.’
Sam Ryder, 34, broke his silence on Friday evening, after Wham! beat him to the Christmas number one spot with their iconic track Last Christmas
George Michael’s 1984 festive song is now Christmas number one for the first time
Sam posted a clip of himself to Instagram gushing over landing second place with You’re Christmas To Me, while praising George Michael for ‘inspiring generations’
Speaking to the camera, Sam said to fans: ‘If you’ve just heard the news, I can let you know with a bursting heart of gratitude that we are the UK’s Christmas number two!
‘Big up Andrew. Big up the whole Wham! team. Just an absolutely unstoppable force, and rightly so. They are icons! They are legends. Do you know what – it feels great to be in the filling in a Wham! and Mariah sandwich.
I can tell you that for sure. And number two, it’s always been a magic number for us, and that won’t change.
‘Just want to say thank you so much for the support and the belief and the faith.
‘This was a position that I can’t explain or stress enough. That it was so unexpected for us to be in and I think you’ve got a responsibility as an artist in the running for a Christmas number one…
‘You’ve gotta… You’ve got to create a race out of it and we threw everything we possibly could at trying to get the number one spot.
‘Do you know why? It’s because we’re inspired by the legends that we’re rubbing shoulders with! Mariah. Wham!
‘These artists didn’t become icons and legends by not ever giving it everything in their career. So we were inspired and followed by their blazingly bright footsteps.
Eurovision star Sam embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign in the battle to get his new song, You’re Christmas To Me, up the charts
‘I think it’s cool to have a tight Christmas number 1 race it’s the most prestigious number one of the year and we wanted to make it entertaining and joyful as possible for all of you at home!
‘Thanks for getting involved! And again so much love to Andrew! I just chatted to him on Radio one with Jack Saunders and I can tell they are related.
‘It’s been a long time coming for them to have that Christmas number one for the actual Christmas week. So I’m sure George is up there, smiling his head off and continuing to inspire generations of singers to come. Me included!
‘Big up Andrew, thanks for continuing that legacy. Yeah I’m stocked! What a day! Blessed! Peace!’
Amid one of the most furiously fought battles for the Yuletide crown in recent memory, the race was almost too close to call as 80s icons wham! fought off the likes of Mariah Carey and The Pogues to claim the title 39 years after its release.
The song became the bookies’ favourite to climb the charts after an earlier rush by fans of The Pogues to get Fairytale of New York to number 1 in memory of the Irish folk outfit’s frontman Shane MacGowan, who died in November.
In the end, the band’s duet with Kirsty MacColl failed to crack the top five, which was rounded out by Eurovision star Sam Ryder’s You’re Christmas To Me, Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, Noah Kahan’s Stick Season and Ed Sheeran and Elton John’s duet Merry Christmas.
Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You came third in the chart
The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York was a contender for the Christmas number one after frontman Shane MacGowan died in November
Speaking about Wham!’s historic achievement, Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts, said: ‘Having claimed the top spot for the first time last year, it is fantastic that WHAM! have claimed the Christmas Number 1 honour at last.
‘Of course, WHAM!’s victory also means that someone has to come second and it is hard to recall harder-working Christmas Number 2 artist than Sam Ryder, who has chalked up more than 30 shows over the past seven days in a bid to take the crown.
‘Sam has made it truly a chart battle to remember – and should be comforted by the many years it has taken a song as iconic as Last Christmas to claim this most prized of chart achievements.’
YEAR | SONG | SINGER |
---|---|---|
2023 | Last Christmas | Wham! |
2022 | Food Aid | LadBaby |
2021 | Sausage Rolls for Everyone | LadBaby ft Ed Sheeran and Elton John |
2020 | Don’t Stop Me Eatin’ | LadBaby |
2019 | I Love Sausage Rolls | LadBaby |
2018 | We Built This City | LadBaby |
2017 | Perfect | Ed Sheeran |
2016 | Rockabye | Clean Bandit ft Sean Paul and Anne-Marie |
2015 | A Bridge Over You | Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir |
2014 | Something I Need | Ben Haenow |
2013 | Skyscraper | Sam Bailey |
2012 | He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother | The Justice Collective |
2011 | Wherever You Are | Military Wives with Gareth Malone |
2010 | When We Collide | Matt Cardle |
2009 | Killing In The Name | Rage Against The Machine |
2008 | Hallelujah | Alexandra Burke |
2007 | When You Believe | Leon Jackson |
2006 | A Moment Like This | Leona Lewis |
2005 | That’s My Goal | Shayne Ward |
2004 | Do They Know It’s Christmas | Band Aid |
2003 | Mad World | Michael Andrews and Gary Jules |
2002 | Sound of the Underground | Girls Aloud |
2001 | Somethin’ Stupid | Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman |
2000 | Can We Fix It | Bob The Builder |
1999 | I Have a Dream/Seasons in the Sun | Westlife |
1998 | Goodbye | Spice Girls |
1997 | Too Much | Spice Girls |
1996 | 2 Become 1 | Spice Girls |
1995 | Earth Song | Michael Jackson |
1994 | Stay Another Day | East 17 |
1993 | Mr Blobby | Mr Blobby |
1992 | I Will Always Love You | Whitney Houston |
1991 | Bohemian Rhapsody | Queen |
1990 | Saviour’s Day | Cliff Richard |
1989 | Do They Know It’s Christmas | Band Aid II |
1988 | Mistletoe and Wine | Cliff Richard |
1987 | Always On My Mind | Pet Shop Boys |
1986 | Reet Petite | Jackie and Wilson |
1985 | Merry Christmas Everyone | Shakin’ Stevens |
1984 | Do They Know It’s Christmas | Band Aid |
1983 | Only You | The Flying Pickets |
1982 | Save Your Love | Renée and Renato |
1981 | Don’t You Want Me | The Human League |
1980 | There’s No One Quite Like Grandma | St Winifred’s School Choir |
1979 | Another Brick In The Wall Part Two | Pink Floyd |
1978 | Mary’s Boy Child – Oh My Lord | Boney M |
1977 | Mull of Kintyre/ Girls School | Wings |
1976 | When A Child Is Born | Johnny Mathis |
1975 | Bohemian Rhapsody | Queen |
1974 | Lonely This Christmas | Mud |
1973 | Merry Xmas Everybody | Slade |
1972 | Long Haired Lover From Liverpool | Jimmy Osmond |
1971 | The Fastest Milkman In The West | Benny Hill |
1970 | I Hear You Knocking | Dave Edmunds |
1969 | Two Little Boys | Rolf Harris |
1968 | Lily The Pink | The Scaffold |
1967 | Hello, Goodbye | The Beatles |
1966 | 1964 ‘I Feel Fine’ 5 1965 ‘Day Tripper”https://www.dailymail.co.uk/”We Can Work It Out'[nb 3] 5 1966 Tom Jones ‘Green, Green Grass of Home’ | Tom Jones |
1965 | Day Tripper/ We Can Work It Out | The Beatles |
1964 | I Feel Fine | The Beatles |
1963 | I Want To Hold Your Hand | The Beatles |
1962 | Return To Sender | Elvis Presley |
1961 | Moon River | Danny Williams |
1960 | I Love You | Cliff Richard and The Shadows |
1959 | What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For | Emilie Ford and The Checkmates |
1958 | It’s Only Make Believe | Conway Twitty |
1957 | Mary’s Boy Child | Harry Belafonte |
1956 | Just Walkin’ In The Rain | Johnnie Ray |
1955 | Christmas Alphabet | Dickie Valentine |
1954 | Let’s Have Another Party | Winifred Atwell |
1953 | Answer Me | Frankie Laine |
1952 | Here In My Heart | Al Martino |