George Michael’s top 10 songs, according to Spotify, throw up some interesting choices. Although primarily compiled from aggregated stream counts, they make adjustments for recency and other factors like sharing and discovery. This means that a track like Father Figure manages to make the top three despite having fewer listens than other tracks. With 44 single releases throughout his career, the list was always going to be contentious and some favourites are bound to be missing. Glaringly omitted are his 1990 hit Praying For Time and his 1998 smash Outside. His music remains hugely popular following his death on Christmas Day 2016 at the age of 53 and the top 10 alone has a combined listenership of 3,079,423,461.
Express.co.uk ran the list by a trio who know George’s catalogue best – his former backing singers. Now performing as The George Michael Singers Jo Garland, Shirley Lewis and Jay Henry all recorded and performed with George throughout the years. They are about to undertake a tour where they will share stories about the music legend alongside performing his best known hits. They took a break from rehearsals for their tour, which kicks off in Southend on March 27, to give us their thoughts on the top 10 as decreed by Spotify.
Details of The George Michael Singers tour and tickets are available via their website.
10. As
The number 10 song is a cover of a Stevie Wonder song on which George duets with R&B star Mary J Blige. The striking video saw multiple George and Mary’s hanging out in a club. It reached number four on the UK singles chart and went top 10 in Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain to name just a few.
The group doesn’t agree with this placement. Shirley Lewis said: “As is not one of my favourites.” Meanwhile, Jo Garland pointed out: “I think there are a lot more beautiful songs that could be in there, like Praying For Time or Cowboys and Angels. There are so many brilliant songs that I think could be in there instead.”
(Image: George Michael YouTube)
9. Jesus To A Child
This haunting track was a tribute to George’s late lover Anselmo Feleppa. It was the first single from his third solo studio album Older. It was his sixth UK number one and his third as a solo performer and also reached the top three on several other European charts and peaked at number seven and number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100.
All three of the group were surprised this features so low on the list. Shirley Lewis would rate it even higher. “I would put it at number one if it was me, if it was on my playlist,” she said. Jo Garland said: “I think that that particular song was so personal. I mean, they all were but that one in particular really was.”
(Image: George Michael YouTube)
8. One More Try
One More Try was the fourth single taken from George’s debut solo album, Faith. The almost six minute long ballad reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart and became George’s sixth number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
“That’s a good position for that,” Shirley, Jo, and Jay say almost in unison. “We approve of that placement.”
(Image: George Michael YouTube)
7. I Knew You Were Waiting For Me
This 1987 release won George Michael and Aretha Franklin the Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The song was a number one hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Asked what they think of this placement Shirely opined: “That’s a good place for it.” However Jo said: “I miss Spinning the Wheel. I would put Spinning the Wheel at seven and take that out. That’s just my personal opinion. I recorded that with him in the studio and was in the video as well, and we had such a great time.”
(Image: George Michael YouTube)
