Sam Ryder delights fans with his reaction to missing out on Christmas number one
Sam Ryder has been praised for the gracious way he has celebrated missing out on the Christmas Number 1.
The 34-year-old Eurovision icon came close to topping the chart in time for the festive season with his song, You’re Christmas To Me. However, he was pipped to the post by Wham! with their iconic 1984 song Last Christmas - written and performed by the late George Michael, who passed away on Christmas Day in 2016 at the age of 53. George was in Wham! alongside his surviving bandmate Andrew Ridgeley, 60 and the lads performed with backing singers Shirlie Holliman, 61, and Helen "Pepsi" DeMacque-Crockett, 65.
The 2023 Christmas Top five is awash with old songs - with Wham topping the chart while Mariah Carey placed at number three with her timeless 1994 classic, All I Want For Christmas Is You, while Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John’s 2021 effort, Merry Christmas, hit number five. American singer Noah Khan made a vaguely festive entry at number four with his 2022 song Stick Season which mentions Christmas in passing.
Sam Ryder released his festive song You’re Christmas To Me (FILE)
The singer has been praised for graciously accepting the Christmas Number 2 single (FILE)While some musicians might be disappointed not to scoop the Christmas number 1 song, Sam has been skipping through the streets celebrating his number 2 spot. He said in a statement: "Christmas number two, isn't that bonkers? When we wrote this song, in the blazing month of August, we didn't even expect it to chart. But here we are, in a Mariah Carey and Wham! sandwich, and we're the filling. I'm stoked!"
Sam - who landed second in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest - has been praised by fans for his positive response. Taking to X/Twitter, one fan gushed: “Sam Ryder's role in life is to prove that you can still come second and have all the great things in life, and if anything that's of more value.”
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Another wrote: “Give us all the strength in 2024 to react to things as positively as Sam Ryder.” While another fan typed: “To have a number 2 hit eighteen months after Eurovision isn’t half bad in my book. Maybe if it had been available on Spotify it might just have got to number 1. I imagine it was due to licensing reasons or something like that. Great news though.” And referencing how Sam narrowly missed winning Eurovision for the UK, another suggested: “He should adopt ‘Nice guys finish second’ as a maxim.”
Last Christmas is the 2023 UK Christmas Number 1 (Wham!/YouTube)Wham! singer Andrew has shared his own happiness over his song topping the charts 40 years after it was released. He told the BBC: "It's marvellous and humbling to have got there. Top of the pile is a great place to be."
He added that George would also be delighted by the turn in fate. He said: “He felt any great songwriter should be able to write a Christmas hit to order. Unfortunately, it's taken too long for George - but he'd be absolutely over the moon.” George previously told Smash Hits magazine in 1986 that he was disappointed it didn’t top the charts, saying “as far as I was concerned it was a number one”.
Discussing the inspiration for the song, which George penned in his childhood bedroom, Andre previously told the BBC: “There was a footy match on the telly and he suddenly jumped up and disappeared upstairs where he had a little four-track studio. About an hour later, he came back and said, 'Andy Andy, you've got to listen to this'. I rarely saw him as excited or as animated as that. And as soon as I heard it, it was so apparent that it had all the hallmarks of a Christmas classic. It was a jaw-dropping moment."
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