Mariah Carey has officially defrosted and global attention has returned to her hit Christmas classic, “All I Want for Christmas is You.”

The song reached No. 1 on Spotify’s Billboard Hot 100 for the fifth year in a row, becoming the first U.S single to accomplish this feat.

The popularity of this one song alone has secured a comfortable life for Mariah Carey, earning over $60 million since its release, approximately $3 million each year, per studies conducted by the Economist and the New York Post.

Mariah Carey earns all of this substantial sum of money during the Christmas season of November-December, a guaranteed Christmas gift for the renowned artist.

In 2023, “All I Want for Christmas is You” set another record for the most streams on December 24th (Christmas Eve), harnessing an impressive 23,701,697 plays, topping the record the song set the year prior with 21,273,357 streams.

However, 2023 was also the year the song took the longest to reach No. 1, only doing so on the week preceding Christmas – specifically, on December 23rd.

As a friendly gesture, Mariah Carey even gifted Brenda Lee, composer of “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,” (which experienced somewhat of a resurgence after a new music video of the song was posted celebrating its 65th anniversary) flowers for finally overtaking her song before she reclaimed her top spot two weeks later.

Mariah Carey’s charitable spirit is well known. She has been linked to a variety of social groups, such as underprivileged youth groups and certain political movements, such as the campaign to end world hunger.

In the alleged 15 minutes that Mariah Carey claimed to have composed her $60 million song, she successfully rewrote the entire town of Christmas and found her place into every household’s Christmas playlist.

Apart from its lyrical originality, the song is believed to top the charts annually due to its appeal to a diverse audience, cultural collaborations, and its festivity.

Because the song is not connected with any particular religion, such as the many Christian hymns celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ (“Silent Night,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” etc), it has been able to broaden its audience.

In addition, the idea of falling in love during the holiday season, the theme of “All I Want for Christmas is You,” has also found resonance with the public.

Its soundtracking of the beloved Christmas Movie, “Love, Actually,” has played an additional factor in the song’s popularity.

Although the prior two reasons are significant, the song’s dominance in the Christmas period can be summarized into one word: its festivity.

The continuous “jingle” of the song that perfectly portrays the “jolly” of Christmas places “All I Want for Christmas is You” firmly above the other Christmas classics.

Daniel Nam 

Grade 9

Jones International Christian School