The Final

Wham!’s meteoric career happened so quickly and volcanically that the only way to go out was on top, and with The Final, first released everywhere else in the world but the US in 1986, the greatest hits compilation that was going to inevitably happen did so in a perfect tie-everything-up-with-a-bow way. George Michael’s path towards his solo career was already marked out – the beautifully melancholy “A Different Corner” was released under his own name – and as an exquisite summary of Wham!’s pop/dance/soul smashes, The Final can’t be beat.