Every October 31 at midnight, Mariah Carey dons her Mrs. Claus costume to kick off the festive season. It’s an opportunity for the 56-year-old pop diva to once again belt out her Christmas anthem “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” For 31 years, this song has been a staple of the season, from shopping malls to movie soundtracks to covers tailored for Christmas albums. It’s also an undeniable commercial success… Here’s the proof in 5 figures.
It’s tiiiime!
The countdown to Christmas shopping, like an early advent calendar, has officially begun! And it’s Mariah Carey, with a 30-year career, sixteen studio albums (including two Christmas albums), one live album, five compilations, and more than 80 singles, who is lending her voice to the occasion.
The five-octave diva, who recorded her first album at the age of twenty, has paved the way for many pop stars to release Christmas songs, from Kelly Clarkson (Santa, Can’t Hear Me) to Gwen Stefani (You Make It Feel Like Christmas), Bianca Ryan (Why Couldn’t It Be Christmas), Lindsey Stirling (Christmas C’mon) and Katy Perry (Cozy Little Christmas).
Her annual “It’s Time” announcement on social media was sponsored for the first time this year by Sephora. The selective distribution brand owned by luxury giant LVMH was able to see the artist’s unwavering popularity, with 3.3 million likes and 1.3 million shares in less than 48 hours, as luxury expert Benjamin Legourd pointed out. And even 3.9 million views three days after its release on YouTube!
15 minutes
That’s how long it took to write the song “All I Want For Christmas Is You” in the summer of 1994. The song, co-written by Walter Afanasieff (producer, author, and composer) and Mariah Carey, was born after the creation of the songs “Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)” and “Jesus Born on This Day.” It took the duo only fifteen minutes to come up with the chords, structure, melody, and lyrics. The result was a catchy song with a lively rhythm and simple melody. It channels the energy of 1960s singers such as Brenda Lee and Darlene Love. Although the title is identical to that of a country ballad performed by Vince Vance & The Valiants, the song is completely different.
First single from a fourth album
Launched on the recommendation of the singer’s husband at the time, Tommy Mottola, then president of Sony, this first Christmas album entitled Merry Christmas is in line with the long tradition of the American music industry. Since 1889 (James Lord Pierpont), the industry has been accustomed to releasing Christmas song albums. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is the first single from the album, released in the year of her 25th birthday. It was such a huge success that the pop diva capitalized on the festive vein on multiple occasions. This is evidenced by 2010’s “Oh Santa!” featuring Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson, and “Fall In Love At Christmas,” released in November 2021.
Four music videos
For once, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” didn’t have one but four music videos. The first, filmed with Tommy Mottola in the winter of 1993, showed an authentic family Christmas movie. Given the popular success of this hit and proto-Christmas pop song, the video was given a second version, emphasizing the retro spirit of the song with black and white photography in the style of the 60s trio The Ronettes.
Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, on November 1, 2019, the pop diva chose to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her album Merry Christmas with a music video enhanced with previously unseen footage. Finally, a month later, the music video was revamped to include her twins, Monroe and Moroccan.
16 million copies
Since its release in 1994, the album Merry Christmas and the single “All I Want For Christmas Is You” have sold 16 million copies. For nearly four decades, the song has continued to appear on the Billboard Hot 100, the ranking of the most popular songs in the United States.
And in digital format, the figures are even more staggering, with no less than a billion streams recorded to date on Spotify. In 2019 alone, 45 million plays had already been recorded. And in the first few days of December 2021, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” recorded five million plays… every day!
$2.5 million
That’s how much Mariah Carey is said to earn each year in royalties, according to a survey conducted by The Economist, which calculated a total of €60 million in copyright royalties between 1994 and 2018. Elevated to the status of a Christmas anthem, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has been covered at least 60 times, by artists ranging from Kylie Minogue to Michael Bublé, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Aloe Blacc, and PJ Morton. And what about Olivia Olson, the 11-year-old prodigy who brought unprecedented attention to the song in Richard Curtis’ British romantic comedy Love Actually (2003).
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Featured photo: Mariah Carey
