Just before the holidays, Wham! reached the top of the UK charts with “Last Christmas”.
After Pogues singer Shane MacGowan died in Dublin on November 30, 2023 at the age of 65, fans online came together to plan to stream “Fairytale of New York” so excessively that, ideally, it would be broadcast at Christmas in the UK – is at the top of the charts – and can thus properly honor the deceased musician. In the end, the fans’ streaming wasn’t enough for first place in the charts: While the Pogues Christmas song can be found at number 6, Wham! First place with “Last Christmas”. MacGowan’s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, reacts to this on X.
“I love Wham!”
The track from Wham! landed at number one in the UK rankings on Friday (December 22). Victoria Mary Clarke wrote: I love Wham!!! We loved George” and posted the YouTube link to the band’s Christmas song.
See Clarke’s Twitter post here:
“Fairytale of New York” was released in 1987 as a duet with Kirsty MacColl. Fans, especially on For example, under the hashtag “christmasnumberone” one user said: “We are so sad about the passing of Shane MacGowan RIP Let’s get ‘Fairytale of New York’ to number 1 for Christmas this year.”
When asked about the campaign in an interview with BBC Radio 4, Victoria Mary Clarke said she was “very much in favor” of her late husband’s song topping the charts again. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it? He should be Christmas number one. He absolutely should.”