In celebration of the 40th anniversary of “Careless Whisper” and the arrival of new “Careless Whisper” merchandise (Amazon Ad) on October 18, 2004, we are looking at George Michael’s most popular videos on YouTube.
Have you ever wondered what George Michael’s most popular videos are? Here are the top 10 George Michael (and Wham!) videos on YouTube with the highest views:
1. Careless Whisper
This iconic track was written when George Michael was only 17 years old. In George Michael’s biography, Bare (Amazon Ad), George said of the song, “I was on my way to DJ at the Bel Air when I wrote ‘Careless Whisper’. I have always written on buses, trains and in cars. It always happens on journeys… With ‘Careless Whisper’ I remember exactly where it first came to me, where I came up with the sax line… I remember I was handing the money over to the guy on the bus and I got this line, the sax line… I wrote it totally in my head. I worked on it for about three months in my head.”
“Careless Whisper” (Amazon Ad) has more than 1.2 billion views and has been captivating audiences for 40 years.
2. Last Christmas
“Last Christmas” (Amazon Ad) was written in George Michael’s childhood bedroom. At the age of 21, George Michael produced, performed, and played every single instrument on “Last Christmas.” The classic video was filmed at a Swiss resort called Saas-Fee, and the ex-girlfriend was played by model, Kathy Hill.
The holiday classic by Wham!, which continues to top the holiday charts, has more than 901 million views.
3. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” was inspired by a note Andrew Ridgeley left his parents. George later saw the note and used the title as inspiration. George Michael talked about “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” (Amazon Ad) in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1984. He said, “I just wanted to make a really energetic pop record that had all the best elements of Fifties and Sixties records, combined with our attitude and our approach, which is obviously more uptempo and a lot younger than some of those records. It’s one of those tracks that gets rid of a lot of your own personal influences; it reminds me of so many different records that I couldn’t actually nail them down.”
This Wham! hit boasts 496 million views.
4. One More Try
Of the song “One More Try,” George Michael said, “I think this is the best thing I’ve ever done. It’s certainly my best vocal. I actually wrote the whole thing from start to finish in eight hours. We recorded it the same day.”
A StereoGum review describes “One More Try” as “a slow and stately ballad that sprawls elegantly over nearly six minutes. But it’s also a simple song, built on a churchy organ and a heartbeat-thump drum pattern. The lyrics don’t try to be clever, and Michael doesn’t try to sing them in a clever way. Instead, he belts them out, and there’s urgency in his heartbreak and in his hunger.”
This soulful #1 ballad has more than 194 million views.
5. Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me
“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” (Amazon Ad) a duet with Elton John, was recorded at the final show of George Michael’s Cover to Cover tour at Wembley Arena in London on March 23, 1991. The video was filmed during a concert at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, Illinois, during George’s Cover to Cover tour on October 19, 1991.
This duet with one of George Michael’s heroes has garnered 183 million views.
6. Freedom ’90
“Freedom ’90” (not to be confused with the Wham! song “Freedom”) was George Michael’s highly autobiographical song about his transition from the top-selling pop of Faith to a more serious Listen Without Prejudice.
At this point in his career, George Michael refused to appear in any videos. The solution? George asked the five models on the January 1990 cover of the British edition of Vogue to star in his video: Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford.
“Freedom ’90” is an iconic video with 145 million views.
7. Father Figure
Of the ballad “Father Figure,” George Michael said: “The initial concept was totally different from the way the song turned out. In fact, the initial concept for ‘Father Figure’ was to make it a kind of mid-tempo dance track. And what happened was I wanted to hear something in my mix so I happened to cut out the snare on the board and suddenly it changed the whole entire mood of the track. Suddenly it seemed really dreamy. And this was halfway through writing it because I was writing the song as I was going along in the studio. And I just thought, well, hey, this is actually much better! So I worked the rest of the feel of the track around this spacey type sound. And it ended up, in my mind, being the most original-sounding thing on the album.”
The video depicts the story of a cab driver played by George Michael and a high-fashion model played by Tania Coleridge.
The sensual “Father Figure” track has 135 million views.
8. Fastlove
Producer Johnny Douglas said of George Michael’s performance in “Fastlove”: “As an artist and studio collaborator, George was unique. He was very uncomfortable with the idea of anybody hearing him mess up, or recording anything that wasn’t 100% perfect. He wasn’t afraid to put as much time as he felt necessary into his craft. He was also the only artist we ever worked with who absolutely refused to have his vocals pitch-corrected. Yet the result of this obsessive attention to detail is the incredible body of work he leaves behind, of which Fastlove is, personally for me, the jewel in the crown of a brilliant artist, sadly missed.”
“Fastlove” (Amazon Ad) is a dance-pop hit with 77 million views.
9. Amazing
The video for “Amazing” was directed by Matthew Rolston and was filmed in London in 2003.
Of the video, George Michael said, “If I’m honest, I’m not very happy with the video. It was done very quickly because my normal director let me down at the last moment actually. And we didn’t have time, the director and I, to really work together before the video, which is what I normally do. I’m normally very involved, and this was very much rushed because I was finishing the album, or had just finished the album, and the single was already on the radio. So, having screwed up the video, we really had to work fast. And you know, I guess it’s okay.”
This song dedicated to then-partner Kenny Goss has more than 56 million views.
10. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)
“Nobody can emulate Aretha Franklin,” George Michael said of his recording with Aretha Franklin for the song, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)”. “It’s stupid to try. I just tried to stay in character, keep it simple – it was very understated in comparison to what she did.”
Of George Michael, Aretha Franklin said: “The first time I heard George was with Wham! and I liked it then. He had a very unique sound, very different from anything that was out there. When Clive [Davis], suggested we get together for ‘I Knew You Were Waiting’, I was all ready. It reminded me of Jerry Wexler. We’d go in the studio and cut songs. If we were happy with what we recorded, Jerry would say, ‘Let’s wait until tomorrow. If we feel the same way [then] that we do now, maybe we have a hit.’ ‘I Knew You Were Waiting’ had that. Musically, it does not grow old.”
“I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” (Amazon Ad) also has 56 million views.
George Michael’s music continues to resonate with fans worldwide, and these videos showcase his incredible talent!
Don’t miss out on our articles about the 40th anniversary of “Careless Whisper,” an unforgettable song by George Michael:
- Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of George Michael’s Careless Whisper
- Top 10 George Michael Videos on YouTube
- New George Michael T-shirts and Hoodies
- George Michael Tops Amazon UK Best Sellers
- George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” is 40 Years Old Today
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About Melanie
Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.
George Michael has once again topped the UK albums chart with the reissue of Listen Without Prejudice.
(Amazon Ad).