George Michael’s Careless Whisper surpasses 1 billion views on YouTube

George Michael’s timeless 1984 chart-topper “Careless Whisper” has officially surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube.

“Careless Whisper,” originally released on Wham!’s album “Make It Big,” has garnered on average more than 400,000 views per day globally on YouTube in 2023, according to the video platform.

Youtube uploaded the official music video of the ’80s classic, which Michael wrote with Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley in October 2009.

“Careless Whisper,” is the eighth song from the ’80s to join the YouTube Billion Views club.

The first to do so was Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine”; the others are A-ha’s “Take On Me“; Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”; Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up“; Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun“; Europe’s “The Final Countdown”; and the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.”

George Michael died in 2016 at the age of 53. The British pop singer sold more than 100 million albums during his career. Michael, whose real name was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, formed Wham! in 1981 with Ridgeley.

The two-time Grammy winner made his autobiographical documentary, Freedom before passing away. Michel shared in the documentary that he hoped to be remembered as “one of those last kind of big pop stars, in a sense that there was a certain glamour to it.”

Last year, Michael’s estate expanded its global publishing agreement with Warner Chappell Music UK.