Aussie pop princess Kylie Minogue has landed the Christmas number one spot with her brand new track XMAS, ending WHAM!’s two year reign at the festive chart summit
Kylie Minogue has thwarted Wham! to take the Christmas No1 crown.
37 years after making her debut with I Should Be So Lucky, the Aussie princess is at the top of the pop tree with XMAS – her first-ever UK Christmas No1. Wham! held the top spot for the last two years with their 1984 hit, Last Christmas.
Overjoyed Kylie told the Official Charts: “It’s hard to put into words how special this feels. Being Christmas No1 really is the most wonderful gift! I’m so thankful to everyone who’s been listening and sharing the love and I’m wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!”
It’s an incredible chart comeback marking the Aussie’s eighth UK No1 single, 22 years after her last with Slow way back in 2003.
Seems Last Christmas is so….er Last Christmas, as not only did Kylie end WHAM!’s two-year festive chart reign with her Amazon Music exclusive track, she smashed records along the way.
She’s now the first female artist to boast UK No1 singles across four different decades -the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2020s; surpassing Lady Gaga, Madonna and Mariah Carey, who could only manage three decades.
In fact, only four artists in chart history have achieved the feat full stop. Elvis Presley, Elton John and Queen have managed four decades, while Cliff Richard had No1 singles spanning five decades.
Kylie previously came close to the festive top spot with Jason Donovan duet Especially For You stalling at No2 in 1988 behind Cliff’s Mistletoe & Wine. Although the following year she was part of the Band Aid II crew who reached the chart summit with a revamped Do They Know It’s Christmas?
The Daily Star spoke to Kylie a few weeks ago when she really didn’t think she could topple the likes of WHAM! or Mariah Carey.
“That’s like trying to stop a tidal wave,” she said. “But hey, we’ll see. It would make me feel like it’s 1988 again, which would be a lot of fun. It would be the cherry on top of an amazing year.
Kylie came up with the idea for XMAS a long time ago: “it’s been 10 years in my brain, I knew I had something special.”
Now she is first solo female artist to land the Christmas No1 in 12 years, since Sam Bailey’s Skyscraper in 2013. And Kylie’s only the third international female solo artist to bask in UK Christmas No1 glory ever. She joins Trinidad-born Winifred Atwell, whose Let’s Have Another Party took the crown in 1954, and US superstar Whitney Houston, who managed it in 1992 with I Will Always Love You.
The last Aussie artist to secure the festive UK chart-topper was Nicole Kidman 24 years ago, with 2001 Robbie Williams team-up Somethin’ Stupid.
Kylie enjoyed her biggest week of UK sales and streams in 23 years – since 2002’s Love At First Sight to reach No1. XMAS is also the best-selling physical single of the week in the UK, thanks to its release on 7” gold vinyl, 12” zoetrope vinyl and CD.
Time to pop open some of that Kylie bubbly now!
Kylie’s Official No1 singles in the UK:
I Should Be So Lucky (1988)
Especially For You (1988)
Hand On Your Heart (1989)
Tears On My Pillow (1990)
Spinning Around (2000)
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (2001)
Slow (2003)
XMAS (2025)
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