Is it really Christmas till you hear Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You repeatedly played in groceries and radio stations? Of course, the green and red décor, festive gift wrappers, and the cool breeze may be tell-tale signs that the holidays are here but nothing beats this head-popping tune to start the season right, right?
It is one of those songs that never gets old, which you probably understand why. Every year, this song has been used to ring in the Christmas season – and rightly so, because it is an iconic piece that stays on your mind even after you finished hearing it.
Did you know that even though this holiday track is from the ‘90s, it still tops charts nowadays? Yes, it remains to be one of the most played songs during Christmas time, which explains how it managed to achieve this feat every year.
According to Billboard, All I Want for Christmas Is You ranked first in the domestic chart, making Queen Mariah the only singer to have a No. 1 song on the Hot 100 in four different decades! But for avid fans of the Songbird Supreme, this was not a shocker – if not, just a cause for a small celebration because this was only the 19th top-ranking hit from her.
The 49-year-old also holds the most no. 1 songs as a solo artist and the most number of tracks to have stayed at the top of the charts for at least three weeks. On the third week of its four-week reign, All I Want for Christmas Is You was even more in-demand, proven by the 33-percent rise in the number of streams than the second week.
See how powerful the song is? We bet you have so many things to know about this perennial holiday hit.
First, Mariah admitted that it wasn’t a big hit when it was just released and its success, she described, was a gradual thing. It has become more popular nowadays because the singer said people grew up hearing the song during holidays, so much so that they’ve seen it as part of their Christmas.
Until 2017, the song has earned Mariah a whopping $60 million from royalties. According to the hitmaker, she created the song in less than an hour while living in New York.
However, as per Walter Afanasieff, who produced and co-wrote the song, he and Mariah were both responsible for the melody. Now, the duo hasn’t spoken with each other because of a rift.