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Andrew Ridgeley Careless Whisper George Michael Coin Last Christmas Pepsi & Shirlie Wham! Yours Only George

2024 Year in Review for George Michael’s Lovelies

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Careless Whisper (Red marble vinyl)
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Wow! It’s been a fabulous year to be a George Michael fan. So many fun things have come to George Michael’s Lovelies this year! Here’s a quick recap:

In February, we were pleasantly surprised with a George Michael coin from the Royal Mint. George Michael collectable coins are part of the Music Legends series. The coins feature the Faith era look with his trademark sunglasses and an engraving of the refrain of Faith.

On March 22, 2024, Fantastic and Make It Big were released on Vinyl. Wham! also released deluxe editions of Fantastic and Make It Big on BluRay Audio.

“Careless Whisper” reached 1 billion streams on Spotify in May. Earlier in the year, “Careless Whisper” reached 1 billion YouTube views.

Also, in May, George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” topped Smooth’s All Time Top 500 for the 7th Year.

In June, Yours Only George celebrated its 27th anniversary. Thanks to all the fans who continue to visit the site and continue spreading the word about the site as it helps cover the webhosting costs to keep the website open year after year.

June 25th marked what would have been George Michael’s 61st birthday.

In October, we had the 40th anniversary release of “Careless Whisper,” which needless to say, topped the charts once again. With that, we had a number of “Careless Whisper” t-shirts and hoodies as new merchandise.

In November, an animated “Careless Whisper” was also released.

We were once again surprised by a 40th anniversary release of “Last Christmas,” with many “Last Christmas” goodies for our Christmas stockings.

December brought us Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped, a lovely special that brought the friends who starred in the “Last Christmas” back together.

“Last Christmas” topped the charts at number 1 for two weeks in December and topped the Christmas charts for the second year in a row. We also were gifted with a new animated “Last Christmas” video.

We also learned of The George Michael Fund, which will give grants to assist the organizations and issues which were close to George’s heart.

December 25, 2024, marked 8 years since we lost our George Michael.

Last but not least, “Last Christmas” topped the UK Charts for the 10th time for the last week of 2024.

I’m sure I missed a few things. Let me know what I missed in the comments!

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Andrew Ridgeley Last Christmas Wham!

“Last Christmas” Tops UK Charts for 10th Time

40th Anniversary “Last Christmas” CD Single
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“Last Christmas” is the number one song once again on the UK Charts:

WHAM! remain strong at Number 1 with Last Christmas, celebrating the song’s 10th total week at the top of the Official Singles Chart.
Last week, George Michael & Andrew Ridgeley’s pensive Christmas classic became the first song to ever spend two consecutive years as the UK’s Official Christmas Number 1 single. This week it reaches its tenth non-consecutive week at Number 1, having first managed to reach the top of the Official Singles Chart on 1st January 2021.

Official Charts

Likewise, in the US charts, “Last Christmas” is also more popular than ever. According to Forbes:

“Last Christmas” currently sits at No. 3 on the Hot 100. That remains the single’s all-time peak, and it only reached that position earlier this season. The song climbs one rung to return to that position, and it’s yet to be seen if it can improve that number next year.

Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ Is Bigger Than Ever In America

Read more about the 40th anniversary of “Last Christmas” in the following articles:

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Death Last Christmas Personal

The George Michael Fund

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According to the Christmas letter posted by George Michael’s family:

This year we have also launched The George Michael Fund, and to celebrate the 40th anniversary donated a substantial amount from George’s Last Christmas record royalties to some 20 organisations raising money for causes close to George’s heart.

Yioda, Jack and David

When George Michael was still alive, he created The Mill Charitable Trust. George’s family and executors have now decided to continue that work using the title The George Michael Fund to continue his charitable legacy. The George Michael Fund will give grants to assist the organizations and issues which were close to George’s heart.

The George Michael Fund made more than 20 grants to organizations working with children and young people in the United Kingdom from George’s record royalties accumulated from sales of Last Christmas.

Grants from The George Michael Fund helped:

  • disadvantaged children wake up on Christmas morning to a present.
  • organizations supporting children and young people with their mental health.
  • support LGBTQ+ young people who might be estranged from their families or experiencing homelessness.

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Death

The Bittersweet Christmas Anniversary all George Michael Lovelies Face

Growing up in the 80s, a George Michael calendar was one of my favorite gifts at Christmastime. But now a calendar is a reminder that George Michael left us 8 years ago.

I was looking through some of my earlier posts when George Michael died. The first article is stark because I was so shocked.

A second post, a year later, was more representative of how I was dealing with a world without George Michael.

George Michael wanted to be remembered for his songwriting, and this year we did a lot of celebrating of his musical genius through the 40th anniversaries of “Careless Whisper” and “Last Christmas.”

I think this has been a good year of celebrating George Michael’s music. If George had been alive, I highly doubt we would have had “Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped,” and yet that was such a gift to be able to have all those friends together talking about all the things we didn’t know about the song and video.

I am very thankful that Andrew Ridgeley acts as the debonair ambassador for his friend or as he recently said, “He was essentially my other half. I never conceived of a future without him.” I hope George knew that his legacy would be protected and enhanced by Andrew’s promotion of their music in Wham!

As I hear my young child singing “Last Christmas” at this time of the year, I know George Michael will live on through his music for generations to come.

How are all of my fellow Lovelies doing on this day? Let me know in the comments.

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Andrew Ridgeley Last Christmas Pepsi & Shirlie Wham!

“Last Christmas” Is Christmas Number 1!

40th Anniversary “Last Christmas” CD Single
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Happy Christmas indeed!

Wham!’s “Last Christmas” was number 1 in the UK last week and is the Christmas number 1 this week! This is the second consecutive year for “Last Christmas” to be the number 1 song for the week of Christmas in the UK!

Don’t miss out on Andrew Ridgeley’s response to “Last Christmas” topping the Christmas chart again this year:

George Michael would have been delighted that all his Lovelies keep bringing this lovely holiday classic to number 1 year after year! It’s especially wonderful as this is the 40th anniversary of the release of “Last Christmas,” which at the time only reached number 2 because Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” was 1984’s Christmas number 1.

“Last Christmas” also reached #3 on Billboard’s Top 100 on December 14, 2024.

Andrew Ridgeley gave an interview to Billboard and said of “Last Christmas” charting so high on Billboard:

“Well, extremely satisfying. You know, Yog [a nickname for Wham!’s other half, the late George Michael, who died in 2016], we placed a great deal of importance on being a success in the States. It was, for any artist, of that era… you were nowhere unless you were a big deal in the States. You could be a big noise in the U.K., but the States was the golden prize, really. We were fortunate enough… and one or two of our contemporaries, we had great success in the States.”

Andrew Ridgeley, Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley on ‘Last Christmas’ Hitting New Hot 100 Peak: George Michael ‘Would Have Been Utterly Delighted’

We have also had the lovely Christmas gift of “Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped,” which is available for viewing on the BBC2, Roku, and Netflix. The show brings together most of the friends in the “Last Christmas” video, including Andrew Ridgeley, Shirlie Kemp, and Pepsi DeMacque.

What did you think of WHAM!: Last Christmas Unwrapped? Tell us in the comments.

Read more about the 40th anniversary of “Last Christmas” in the following articles:

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