Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ Adds 12th Week Atop Hot 100, Nat King Cole Hits Top 10
Written by djfrosty on January 3, 2023
Even with the latest data tracking week reflecting four days after Christmas Day (Dec. 23-29), Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, reigning for a 12th total week. It leads for a fourth week this holiday season – the most over any Yuletide season since it began topping the tally annually over the holidays in December 2019.
The song also becomes the second holiday hit to reign for four consecutive weeks, and the first in 64 years, after “The Chipmunk Song,” by David Seville & the Chipmunks, spent four frames at No. 1 beginning in December 1958.
Carey’s “Christmas” leads eight festive favorites in the Hot 100’s top 10 – with carols infusing the top seven spots for the first time. One makes its initial appearance in the tier: Nat King Cole‘s classic “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You),” up from No. 11 to No. 9, as the late legend ranks in the top 10 after an unprecedented break of 59 years, six months and a week. As the song debuted on the chart in 1960, it additionally completes the longest journey to the top 10: over 62 years and three weeks.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated Jan. 7, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 4, a day later than usual due to the New Year’s Day holiday). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Carey’s “Christmas,” on Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings, was first released on her album Merry Christmas in 1994. As streaming has grown and holiday music has become more prominent on streaming services’ playlists, the song first reached the Hot 100’s top 10 in December 2017 and first hit the top five in the 2018 holiday season, before leading over the holidays in 2019 (for three weeks), 2020 (two), 2021 (three) and this season (a single-season-best four).
Streams, airplay & sales: Carey’s “Christmas” drew 46.9 million streams (down 4%) and 24.6 million radio airplay audience impressions (down 38%) and sold 6,000 downloads (down 47%) in the U.S. Dec. 23-29, according to Luminate.
The song drops to No. 2 on the Streaming Songs chart after 18 cumulative weeks at the summit; to No. 3 on Digital Song Sales following four total frames on top; and to No. 24 from its No. 11 high on Radio Songs.
On the fourth week of ‘Christmas’ … : Up to 12 total weeks, Carey’s “Christmas” expands its record for the most time atop the Hot 100 for a holiday song. The only other seasonal single to lead, “The Chipmunk Song,” by David Seville & the Chipmunks, spent, as noted above, four weeks at No. 1 beginning in December 1958.
The two songs now share the mark for the most consecutive frames atop the Hot 100 – four each – for a Yuletide title, as well as the most in any singular holiday season.
In the fifth year of ‘Christmas’ … : With this week’s Hot 100 dated Jan. 7, 2023, Carey’s “Christmas” is the first song to lead Hot 100 charts dated in five distinct years (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and now 2023). No other song has reigned in more than two individual years.
Happy new year: Carey has now placed at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in a record-extending 19 distinct years (per Hot 100 chart dates): 1990-2000, 2005-06, 2008 and, thanks to “Christmas,” 2019-23.
Next up are three acts that have each spent time atop the Hot 100 in 10 individual years: Paul McCartney/Wings (1971, 1973-76, 1978, 1980, 1982-84; additionally, The Beatles, with him as a member, led in seven years: 1964-70); Michael Jackson (1972, 1979-80, 1983-84, 1987-88, 1991-92, 1995; additionally, The Jackson 5, with him in the group, led in 1970); and Madonna (1984-87, 1989-92, 1995, 2000).
Carey’s third No. 1 of 12 weeks or more: Carey becomes the second artist, and first woman, with three songs that have topped the Hot 100 for 12 or more weeks each. She joins Boyz II Men for the honor – with Carey and the group having teamed for one song contributing to the feat:
Mariah Carey:
16 weeks, “One Sweet Day,” with Boyz II Men, 1995-96
14 weeks, “We Belong Together,” 2005
12 weeks (to-date), “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” 2019-22
Boyz II Men:
13 weeks, “End of the Road,” 1992
14 weeks, “I’ll Make Love to You,” 1994
16 weeks, “One Sweet Day,” with Carey, 1995-96
“Christmas” is the 22nd title to command the Hot 100 for 12 or more weeks, a run that under just 2% of all 1,144 No. 1s have achieved.
Longest span atop the Hot 100: Carey’s “Christmas” extends the longest span from a song’s first week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 to its latest, to over three years and two weeks (Dec. 21, 2019-Jan. 7, 2023).
Plus, the latest week atop the Hot 100 for “Christmas” stretches Carey’s record for the longest span of an artist ranking at No. 1 on the chart to 32 years and five months, dating to her first week atop the list dated Aug. 4, 1990, with her debut single “Vision of Love.”
Carey’s record 91st week atop Hot 100: With “Christmas,” Carey adds her record-extending 91st week at No. 1 on the Hot 100, dating to the chart’s Aug. 4, 1958, inception.
Most Weeks at No. 1 on Hot 100:
91, Mariah Carey
60, Rihanna
59, The Beatles
54, Drake
50, Boyz II Men
47, Usher
43, Beyoncé
37, Michael Jackson
34, Adele
34, Elton John
34, Bruno Mars
“Christmas” became Carey’s 19th Hot 100 No. 1, the most among soloists and one away from The Beatles’ overall record 20. It also made Carey the first artist to have ranked at No. 1 on the chart in four distinct decades, dating to her first week on top with “Vision of Love.” “Christmas” is additionally the only title to have led in four separate runs on the survey.
No. 1 on Holiday 100: Carey’s “Christmas” concurrently crowns the multi-metric Holiday 100 chart for a 57th week, of the chart’s 62 total weeks since the list originated in 2011. It has led the list for 42 consecutive weeks, dating to the start of the 2015-16 holiday season, and rules as the top title on the Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs chart.
Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” originally released in 1958, keeps at its No. 2 Hot 100 high (for a ninth total week since it first reached the rank in December 2019) and tops the Streaming Songs chart, dancing merrily from No. 2, for the first time. (Its total of raw streams is the week’s second-highest – 46.87 million, just below the 46.895 million logged by Carey’s “Christmas” – but Lee’s hit leads Streaming Songs due to the application of weighting to all titles’ paid/subscription and ad-supported on-demand streams and programmed/radio streams.) “Tree” also drew 20.9 million in airplay audience (down 29%) and sold 2,000 (down 58%).
The late Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” originally released in 1957, holds at its No. 3 Hot 100 high, reached in each of the last four holiday seasons; Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” from 1984, rises to a new No. 4 best, from No. 5, after it hit the top five for the first time a week earlier; and the late Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” from 1964, retreats to No. 5 from its No. 4 peak, achieved over each of the last four Yuletide seasons.
Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” from 1963, keeps at No. 6 on the Hot 100; it hit a No. 5 high during the 2020 holidays. The song’s latest week in the top 10 extends the late singer’s record for the longest span of an act appearing in the tier to nearly 63 years and three months, dating to his first week in the top 10 with “Lonely Street” in October 1959.
José Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad,” from 1970, rises 8-7 on the Hot 100; it reached a No. 6 best over the 2020 holidays.
Notably, holiday hits shine like ornaments in the Hot 100’s top seven spots for the first time in the chart’s history.
Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” rebounds 9-8 on the Hot 100 after spending its first six weeks on the chart at No. 1, starting in November. It concurrently leads Radio Songs for a second week, with 80.3 million in audience (up 1%).
Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)” climbs from its prior No. 11 Hot 100 high (first reached over the 2018 holidays) to No. 9, with 27.4 million streams (down 4%), 15.5 million in airplay audience (down 30%) and 1,000 sold (down 41%).
The song, which Cole first recorded while fronting the King Cole Trio in 1946, becomes his third Hot 100 top 10, following “Ramblin’ Rose” (No. 2, 1962) and (opposite in theme from “Christmas”) “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer” (No. 6, 1963). Cole, who passed away in 1965, places in the top 10 for the first time in 59 years, six months and a week, rewriting the record for the longest break between hits in the region set last holiday season by The Ronettes, whose “Sleigh Ride” led the group back to the top 10 after a wait of 58 years and two months.
Before this week, Cole last ranked in the top 10 of the Hot 100 dated June 29, 1963. That week, Kyu Sakamoto’s “Sukiyaki” spent its third and last week at No. 1 and other enduring top 10s included Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party” (No. 2), The Chiffons’ “One Fine Day” (No. 7) and Jan & Dean’s “Surf City” (No. 10).
(After August 1966, Cole was not credited on a Hot 100 hit until “Christmas” returned over the 2013 holidays. He was, however, heard on daughter Natalie Cole’s virtual duet with him, “Unforgettable,” which reached No. 14 in 1991 and won, among other Grammy Awards, record of the year in 1992.)
Plus, Cole’s “Christmas” wraps the longest ascent to the Hot 100’s top 10, dating to its debut on the Dec. 12, 1960, chart. Its odyssey of 62 years and 26 days narrowly surpasses that of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” (62 years and 18 days) for the most time a song has taken to hit the top 10 from its debut; “Rudolph” arrived in 1958 and lit up the top 10 at last over the 2020 holidays.
Rounding out the latest Hot 100’s top 10, Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” repeats at No. 10, after it led the Oct. 29-dated chart.
Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated Jan. 7, 2023), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 4).
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.