Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley Says George Michael Would’ve ‘Been Utterly Delighted’ by Continued Success of ‘Last Christmas’

Andrew Ridgeley believes George Michael would have loved to see the lasting impression “Last Christmas” has left.

In a recent interview with Billboard’s Pop Shop Podcast, the musician — one half of the iconic ’80s pop duo Wham — opened up about what he believed his lifelong friend, who died unexpectedly on Christmas Day in 2016, would think about the continued success of the 1984 track, which reached the top-three spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time and became the U.K.’s Christmas No. 1 for a second consecutive year, per the BBC.

According to Ridgeley, 61, Michael would have found the song’s popularity “extremely satisfying.”

“You know, Yog [a nickname for Michael], 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,” he told the publication.

Added Ridgeley of the holiday hit, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year: “So, for the song to achieve its current chart placing … George would have been utterly delighted, as I am. And it would have meant a great deal to him.”

In an interview with Hello! magazine on Saturday, Dec. 14, Ridgeley also revealed that he recently returned to Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where the music video for “Last Christmas” was filmed. The experience, he said, felt “incomplete” without his late bandmate Michael.

“We had a wonderful time and recreating those scenes felt like yesterday,” Ridgeley told the U.K. publication before adding how he wished Michael could have been with him on the Swiss mountains.

He continued: “But it was incomplete because Yog wasn’t with us. I think enough time has passed from his death that we’re able to reminisce and look back largely with fondness. He would have wanted us to enjoy being with each other, even if he weren’t there.”

Ridgeley returned to the snowy mountains to film part of new BBC documentary, Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped, which chronicles the song’s trajectory from Christmas hit to cultural phenomenon.

In November 2023, Ridgeley told PEOPLE that he knew that “Last Christmas” was a hit from the get-go before taking the stage at the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where Michael was inducted posthumously. 

He said its success was “no surprise really, in some ways.”

“The first time I ever heard it, it was absolutely knockout,” Ridgeley said. “It sounded for all the world like a Christmas classic.”

He continued, “It’s Christmas distilled if you ask me. It’s the essence of Christmas.”