Upon its initial release in 1984, "Last Christmas" spent five consecutive weeks at number two in the UK Singles Chart, held off the top spot by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". After many chart runs in subsequent years, which included three more weeks at number two, and which has seen the recording become part of RCA Records' catalogue, the song finally reached number-one in the UK Singles Chart on New Year's Day 2021 (chart week ending date 7 January 2021), more than 36 years after its initial release. In doing so, it became the fifth UK number one single for the duo and surpassed Tony Christie's almost 16 year-long record for the longest time a single has taken to top the UK Singles Chart after its initial release with "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo?" in March 2005, which had itself taken 33 years 4 months to top the chart (with Peter Kay, though credited, only actually appearing in the video). Prior to it reaching number one, "Last Christmas" had for many years held the record as the highest-selling single never to top the charts by the Official Charts Company (OCC) with 1.9 million copies sold (not including streams). This record is now held by "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera. The tune reached number one in the UK after it was streamed 9.2 million times in the last week of 2020 and sold 1,555 downloads, meaning it got a total of 40,149 combined sales.