Mariah's 'Christmas' Tops Billboard's Hot 100 Chart

Mariah Carey, the self-proclaimed "Queen of Christmas" has landed the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 for her famous holiday hit, "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

This is the first time the 25-year-old song has hit No. 1. The song's previous record was No. 3 on the chart.

Now a holiday classic, the song was first released in 1994 on the Carey's "Merry Christmas" album. She was 24 when she recorded it.

"All I Want for Christmas" has been featured in "Love Actually" and is used as Carey's official holiday kick-off anthem every year.

The #Hot100 top 10 (chart dated Dec. 21, 2019) pic.twitter.com/1qMEtijAmj

— Billboard Charts (@billboardcharts) December 16, 2019

“There are the classics — the standards that everybody grew up with — and then there are the reinterpretations or new originals,” Dave Bakula, a senior analyst for Nielsen Music told The NYTimes. “Mariah lives in that sweet spot of both.”

“This song is not one of those things that decays year over year, with some old-style message,” he added. “It’s a simple, straight-ahead pop gem that just happens to be about Christmas.”




Carey, in an interview, demurred on the importance of hitting No. 1. “It’s something my die-hard fans think about, and people that are really close to me are talking to me about it literally all year,” she said. “But I don’t need something else to validate the existence of this song. I used to pick it apart whenever I listened to it, but at this point, I feel like I’m finally able to enjoy it.”

“I just truly love the holidays,” she added. “I know it’s corny, and I don’t care.”

Still, a commercial juggernaut of this size requires a plan. As one of three Carey originals on her 1994 album “Merry Christmas,” which also included takes on “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World,” “All I Want for Christmas” has become a cottage industry unto itself for the singer, who, in recognizing its everlastingness, has spent years building an extended universe around the track.

To date, Carey has earned more than $60 million in royalties off the song.