Hear Those Sleigh Bells Ringing: Mariah Carey’s ‘Christmas’ Returns to Billboard Hot 100
Written by djfrosty on November 21, 2022
Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” the No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs retrospective, jingles back to the Billboard Hot 100.
The modern carol re-enters the Hot 100 (dated Nov. 26) at No. 25 with 14 million official streams (up 48%), 11.5 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 234%) and 1,900 sold (up 34%) in the Nov. 11-17 tracking week, according to Luminate. (A year ago this week, it returned to the chart, dated Nov. 27, 2021, at No. 36 with 11.2 million streams, 8.2 million in radio reach and 2,700 sold.)
The song, originally released in 1994, hit the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time in December 2017. In December 2019, it ascended to the summit at last, for three weeks that holiday season, becoming the second holiday song ever to reign, after “The Chipmunk Song,” by The Chipmunks with David Seville, spent four weeks at No. 1 beginning in December 1958.
“Christmas” led the Hot 100 for two more weeks in the 2020 holiday season, thus, passing “The Chipmunk Song” for the most for a Yuletide song, and for three more frames over the 2021 holidays, upping its total to eight weeks at No. 1.
“When I wrote [it], I had absolutely no idea the impact the song would eventually have worldwide,” Carey marveled of “Christmas” last year. “I’m so full of gratitude that so many people enjoy it with me every year.”
With its 2019 coronation, Carey claimed her 19th Hot 100 No. 1, extending her mark for the most among soloists and moving to within one of The Beatles’ overall record 20.
Plus, when “Christmas” dominated the Hot 100 dated Jan. 4, 2020, Carey became the first artist to have ranked at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in four distinct decades (the 1990s, 2000s, ’10s and ’20s).
The song has also helped Carey claim the longest span of any soloist topping the Hot 100 – 31 years, five months and a week, dating to her first week atop the chart dated Aug. 4, 1990, with her debut single “Vision of Love” – and swell her total to 87 weeks at No. 1 among all her leaders, the most of any act.
Meanwhile, “Christmas” logs its 52nd nonconsecutive week on the Hot 100, marking Carey’s first title to have totaled a year on the tally. (Next up, her 2005 No. 1 “We Belong Together” spent 43 weeks on the chart.)
In addition to “Christmas,” two other holiday classics make their annual resurgences on the Hot 100: Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (No. 41; 11.4 million streams, up 68%) and Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” (No. 50; 10.7 million streams, up 68%). On the Jan. 2, 2021, chart, a one-week record 39 seasonal songs infused the survey.