Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
For the second time in a row, Amazon Music’s attempt at festive dominance is meeting the stiff resistance of a 40-year-old song.
The Christmas No 1 isn’t announced until Friday, but for now ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! is holding off Tom Grennan’s ‘It Can’t Be Christmas’ – a song commissioned by Amazon Music and released exclusively through its platform.
Grennan’s healthy streaming numbers are partly as a result of his song being placed on Amazon Music’s festive playlists, to which listeners are directed when they ask Alexa to “play some Christmas music”.
Last year Wham! beat another track commissioned by Amazon Music, a song by Sam Ryder, to land its first Christmas No 1. But a second chart win for ‘Last Christmas’ wouldn’t quite be a victory of old over new.
TikTok videos using the Wham! song have racked up millions of likes and billions of views, which seems to suit both the band and the social media platform.
Last Friday, TikTok co-hosted the Last Christmas Experience in London. The surviving member of Wham!, Andrew Ridgeley, was in attendance.
