George Michael Death Update: ‘Careless Whisper’ Hitmaker’s Music Sales Jump Nearly 3000%

Late pop icon George Michael’s music is climbing up the charts after his death on Christmas Day last year. Sales of Michael’s albums and songs have soared nearly 3,000 percent since Dec. 25, 2016.

The British pop legend’s music sales rose by 2,678 percent in the week ending Dec. 29, Billboard reported Tuesday citing Nielsen Music.

Wham!’s “Make It Big” and three of Michael’s solo albums returned to the Billboard album chart. The “Careless Whisper” hitmaker sold 48,000 copies of his debut solo album “Faith” and his hits compilations “Twenty Five” and “Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael” at the wake of his passing also selling 429,000 songs — a marked rise from 16,000 just a week before — during the week ending Dec. 29.

His 2008 compilation album “Twenty Five” peaked at No. 12, beating its original peak at No. 28. Meanwhile, Wham!’s famous single “Careless Whisper” is at No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Faith” at No. 47. Both reached the No. 1 position when they were originally released.

“Careless Whisper,” the 1984 single from the album of the same name, was also Michael and his former duo Wham!’s best-selling song during the Dec. 29 week with sales having risen by 3,423 percent.

Despite the Christmas season having ended, the British popstar’s “Last Christmas” is still on the chart at No. 50. The song, when it was originally released in 1984, didn’t make it on the chart as it wasn’t released as a single in the U.S. However, a “Glee” cover released in 2009 and Ariana Grande’s 2013 cover both made it to the Hot 100.

The Wham! frontman died of a heart failure at the age of 53, reports said. Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou to a Greek Cypriot father and an English mother, Michael shot to fame as a teenager with the musical duo Wham! in the early 1980s with Andrew Ridgeley. Following Wham!’s breakup in 1986, he went to enjoy a successful solo career producing several hits like “Father Figure,” “One More Try” and “Freedom! ‘90.”