It’s Christmas, so now you can listen to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas You” without annoying your friends or feeling guilty. Now that the song has finally awoken from its seasonal slumber, it’s worth recollecting the long history and journey it has taken to become one of the most popular and highest-grossing Christmas songs of all time.
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Despite, popular belief, Carey’s Christmas classic was far from an overnight success. However, before we reveal its metamorphosis we must track where Mariah Carey was in her career upon its release. When the song was released in 1994, Carey already had eight No. 1 hits. So, it’s not like she was struggling and waiting for success. Although, upon the release of the song, her career would take a complete 180. And to this day, she is still known primarily for “All I Want For Christmas You.”
The Long Chart Journey of Mariah Carey’s Christmas Hit
Co-written in the Summer of 1994 alongside Walter Afanasieff, the pair polished, finished, and released the song months later in November. Subsequently, Carey first performed the song live at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Dec. 8, 1994 for a fundraiser benefiting Fresh Air Fund and Camp Mariah.
For years the song performed well, but for the rest of the ’90s and part of the ‘2000s it never reached the status it sits in today. That being so, finally, in 2019, the song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 24 years after its initial release. As of today, the song has spent a total of 67 weeks on the chart, which cumulatively is 469 days. Needless to say, the grand prize always goes to the patient.
Whopping Statistics & Sales
Since its release, the song has sold over 16 million copies which has made it one of the most sold singles of all time. Furthermore, since 2017, the song has generated $60 million in royalties. On Spotify alone, the song has garnered approximately 1.78 billion streams.
According to Billboard, Mariah Carey earns around $2.6 million a year on the song. Additionally, in 2022 alone, the master recording of the song grossed $5.3 million, and the publishing royalties earned $3.2 million. In total, Carey has made nearly $78 million on the song. Thanks to these numbers and the booming success the song has acquired, Mariah Carey could quit music right now and still have an untouchable legacy. Ever since the release of the song, Carey and her single has been a staple of the holiday season.
Photo by Terence Patrick/CBS via Getty Images
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