George Michael calling the move "way overdue". In November 1984, Michael joined other British and Irish pop stars of the era to form Band Aid, singing on the charity song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for famine relief in Ethiopia. This single became the UK Christmas number one in December 1984, holding Michael's own song, "Last Christmas" by Wham!, at No. 2; Michael also donated the royalties for "Last Christmas" to Ethiopia. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" sold 3.75 million copies in the UK and became the biggest selling single in UK chart history, a title it held until 1997 when it
Band Aid (band) Many of the people involved in the original Band Aid single appeared on the 1984 Christmas edition of "Top of the Pops", along with Slade, The Thompson Twins, Bronski Beat, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Jim Diamond to mime to the record. This was the only time the original Band Aid single was performed live on television. However Bono could not attend, and Paul Weller mimed Bono's line. According to the film made by The Tube on the days of the recording 24–25 November 1984, Bob Geldof says The Edge from U2 was to have played guitar on the track