Brits outraged as 2023 Christmas number one is announced

It’s the Friday before Christmas - which means the big song of this festive season has been announced.

After the past five years of the UK Christmas number one race being taken over by LadBaby and their ‘songs’, this year we had a real race for the top spot again.

In the end, it came down to a couple of classics and a brand-new track.

The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale of New York’ was up there, as was Mariah Carey’s bop, ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ – with neither ever having reached number one.

But in the end, it came down to WHAM!’s ‘Last Christmas’ and new kid on the block, Sam Ryder’s ‘You’re Christmas to Me’.

And for the first time in music history, it was WHAM! that won the 2023 UK Christmas Number One.

Thirty nine years since it was released, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s song achieved the festive milestone, with Ridgely telling the BBC it’s ‘marvellous and humbling to have got there’.

But not all Brits are thrilled that ‘Last Christmas’ has landed the top spot, however.

Instagram/@officialcharts

Many people wrote on X: “Should be the ‘Fairytale of New York’.”

The Pogues track landed the sixth spot in the charts, just weeks after lead singer and the song’s co-writer, Shane MacGowan died.

Clearly not impressed with Ed Sheeran and Elton John landing fifth, one user wrote: “WHY is Fairytale of New York no.6 ? What the f**k is going on.

“It seemed a no-brainer to support The Pogues for #XmasNo1 after Shane McGowan has just died. Terrible result and can’t see how that ginger bloke is doing so well over all these legends.”

Another simply put: “It’s got to be Fairytale of New York.”

Others said the song will ‘always be number one’ to them, as one even wrote: “As a nation we should be (more) ashamed of ourselves.”

Tim Roney/Getty Images

Another said: “It's a travesty - I demand a re-count! Whilst Last Christmas is a great track... I can't believe Fairytale of New York didn't make no.1.”

But other music fans are simply just shocked saying they ‘wouldn’t have put money’ on 'Last Christmas' securing the spot, while some called it the ‘best Christmas song of all time’.

Ridgeley also added that Michael (who died on Christmas Day in 2016) had always wanted ‘Last Christmas’ to get the Christmas number one.

The WHAM! singer said: “He felt any great songwriter should be able to write a Christmas hit to order.

"Unfortunately, it's taken too long for George - but he'd be absolutely over the moon.”

Hey, we all have our preferred taste in tracks – and no one’s stopping you from belting our your favourites.

Topics: UK News, Christmas, Music

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_