Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ Keeps at No. 1 on Billboard Global Charts
Written by djfrosty on December 27, 2022
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” holds at the (north) pole position on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts. The carol adds a 12th total week at No. 1 on the former and a seventh week atop the latter, dating to the charts’ inceptions two years ago.
Plus, holiday hits by José Feliciano and Ariana Grande, among others, make further worldwide gains, while SZA’s “Kill Bill” surges in its second week on the surveys.
The two global charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Billboard Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the U.S.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
‘Christmas’ Crowns Global 200, ‘Feliz’ Returns to Top 10
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 with 108.1 million streams (up 16%) and 17,000 sold (up 6%) worldwide in the Dec. 16-22 tracking week. The modern holiday classic, released in 1994, adds a 12th week at the summit, and fourth this holiday season, after it led for four weeks each over the 2020 and 2021 holidays.
With 12 weeks atop the Global 200, Carey’s “Christmas” passes The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” (11, 2021) for the sole second-longest reign since the chart began, trailing only Harry Styles’ “As It Was” (15, beginning this April).
Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” originally released in 1984, rebounds to its No. 2 Global 200 high, from No. 3; Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” from 1958, dips to No. 3 from its No. 2 best; the late Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” from 1957, holds at its No. 4 high; and SZA’s “Kill Bill” spends a second week on the chart at No. 5, as parent album SOS logs a second frame at No. 1 on the U.S.-based Billboard 200 chart.
Elsewhere in the Global 200’s top 10, José Feliciano’s 1970 carol “Feliz Navidad” dashes 13-10 (50 million streams, up 22%; 5,000 sold, up 18%, worldwide); it hit a No. 9 high in the 2020 holiday season.
Carey Rules Global Excl. U.S., Grande, SZA Soar
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” continues atop the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, with 65.1 million streams (up 14%) and 6,000 downloads sold (up 11%) in territories outside the U.S. Dec. 16-22. The song adds a seventh total week at No. 1, and third this Yuletide season, after it ruled for a week during the 2020 holidays and for three frames over last year’s holiday season.
Wham!’s “Last Christmas” holds at its No. 2 Global Excl. U.S. high; Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” dances merrily to a new No. 3 best, from No. 5; Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” slips 3-4 after eight nonconsecutive weeks on top beginning in October; and Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” descends to No. 5 from its No. 4 high.
Also in the Global Excl. U.S. top 10, Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me,” from 2014, jumps 11-8 (32.4 million streams, up 16%; 2,000 sold, up 52%, outside the U.S.); it hit a No. 7 best over the 2020 holidays. Plus, SZA’s “Kill Bill” blasts 26-10, powered by a 62% gain to 34 million streams outside the U.S., becoming her second top 10 on the tally and her first in a lead role, after Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More,” featuring SZA, hit No. 5 in May 2021.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Dec. 31, 2022) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 28, a day later than usual due to the Christmas holiday). For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard‘s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.