‘Tis the season to listen to Mariah

In the week following Thanksgiving, aka last week, four Christmas songs vaulted into the Billboard Hot 100’s top ten. The previous week, there were zero.

Taking the top spot among festive songs – and coming in at #5 on the overall list – was Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” Which may or may not come as a surprise. But just like your Excel-loving, finance-working boyfriend, the track is no stranger to big numbers.

• With ~16 million copies sold, AIWFCIY is the best-selling holiday song by a female artist, as well as one of the best-selling physical singles in music history.
• In 2019, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time – 25 years after its original release. Which, among other accolades, set a record for the longest trip to #1.
• The song generated $60 million in royalties from 1994–2016, per a report from The Economist, a sum that works out to ~$2.5 million each year.

And since its release, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has topped charts in twenty-six different countries, including Australia, Canada, France, and Germany. Not too shabby for a song that was reportedly written in 15 minutes.

+Honorable mentions: Rounding out the festive representation in last week's Billboard Hot 100 top ten were Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (#6), Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” (#9), and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” (#10).