Kylie Minogue scores Christmas number one with XMAS, first female artist to top four decades

Kylie Minogue has secured this year's Christmas number one in the United Kingdom with the single XMAS, dethroning Wham!'s Last Christmas. Arriving 37 years after her first UK number one hit, I Should Be So Lucky in 1988, she becomes the first female artist to top the charts in four different decades.

XMAS is part of a new expanded edition of Kylie Christmas and was released exclusively through Amazon, a strategy that industry observers said helped raise its visibility during the key festive week. The release was not available on Spotify or Apple Music, though it benefited from plays on YouTube and from limited-edition vinyl and CD singles. Analysts said the combination of these factors helped push the track to the top.

The Official Charts Company said the race for Christmas number one remained tight through the week, with the top five often separated by small margins. At one point, less than 10,000 copies separated the leading songs, and artists including Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee were in contention as listeners filled playlists with holiday classics. Martin Talbot, head of the Official Charts Company, said: "Kylie really, really targeted this particular race. Her record label pulled out all the stops. When you have a superstar of her status really going for it, she's always going to be in with a chance."

"It's hard to put into words how special this feels," Kylie Minogue said, adding that she would be celebrating Christmas by "obsessing over a jigsaw" with her family in Australia.

Kylie had previously flirted with Christmas no. 1 in 1988 with the duet Especially For You with Jason Donovan, but the single finished runner-up to Cliff Richard's Mistletoe and Wine. Despite the victory, she said she planned a quiet Christmas after finishing her 66-date Tension World Tour, including Boxing Day plans to watch the cricket in Australia while chipping away at a family jigsaw.

Wham!'s Last Christmas has charted every year since 2007 and was the act's signature festive single. It topped the UK chart in 2023 and again in 2024, following a wave of streams and holiday playlist love. While Kylie took the crown in the UK, Last Christmas also topped Billboard's Global 200, underscoring its enduring global appeal. BBC Radio 1's Jack Saunders attributed the song's staying power to its message of family, friendship and togetherness during the holidays. "It's a fantastic pop song," Saunders said, "but it also captures the true heart and soul of what Christmas means to people. It is the sound of being in it together."

Other songs in contention for Christmas number one included Together For Palestine's charity single Lullaby, which raised funds for Gaza relief and featured a mix of Palestinian artists with British stars. Nai Barghouti, who appears on the track, said the project received global support and that the Lullaby would always be number one in spirit for many listeners.

As the festive season draws to a close, Minogue's win marks a milestone in UK music history and adds a new chapter to her long-running career. The year 2025 closes with a remembered chart moment as fans celebrate a cross-generational pop icon who has managed to reinvent herself across four decades of the UK charts.