They may be calling for a mild winter this year, but does that mean we're going to tone down the over-the-top holiday spirit? Absolutely not! But before you can hang your stockings, trim your tree, bake every Christmas cookie recipe in sight, and write out your Christmas wish list for Santa, there’s one very important thing that must come first: turning on the Christmas music and blasting it at full volume. Of course, there are tons of classics you have to listen to every December (or November 1, if you’re one of ~those~), but could you even imagine the holiday season without Mariah Carey’s quintessential bop “All I Want for Christmas Is You”? It’s impossible. Walk into any store this winter and I can guar-an-TEE you’ll hear it at least once—or more like around 5 to 100 times, give or take.
The hit song synonymous with Christmas cheer has been warming everyone’s heart since its release in 1994. Yeah, it’s *that* old despite it sounding like a modern-day banger! And as it turns out, when a song has been an unrivaled hit for as long as “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has, there’s a lot of history and fun facts to go along with it. From who wrote it to how much money it’s made (spoiler: it’s A LOT), here’s absolutely everything you could possibly want to know about the best holiday song of all time. (This is not up for debate. It is the best.)
1. November 1 is officially the correct day to start listening.
And this is according to Queen Mariah herself, so you can't even argue with that! She put out a funny lil video about it on her socials not too long ago proving once and for all that you can absolutely do a swift transition from Halloween to Christmas.
2. It helped Mariah break a Billboard record.
Last year, Mariah managed to break yet another record thanks to this song (the woman just doesn't quit!). When "All I Want For Christmas Is You" stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks, Mariah became the first woman ever to have three songs reign at number one for double-digit weeks. She's also the third artist ever to do it, with Boyz II Men and Drake being the other two.
3. It was Mariah's first-ever #1 on the Rolling Stone Top 100.
Back in December 2019, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" hopped on up to the top of the Rolling Stone Top 100, making it Mariah's first-ever number-one song on the chart. It's just yet another feather in her already very full cap.
4. It's the first holiday ringtone to be certified double-platinum.
Remember when we used to pay for ringtones so that our flip phone could be cooler than all the other flip phones? Yeah, well, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" made a pretty penny off that, 'cause it was the first holiday ringtone to ever be certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
5. Someone else claims they wrote it.
The Christmas single made it back in the news this year a little early for the holiday season because almost 30 years after "All I Want For Christmas Is You" first came out, another songwriter is claiming they actually wrote it—and they're seeking $20 million dollars for it! It's technically the second time this writer has sued over the song, but the first case was dropped last year after just a few months.
6. Many Mariah versions of the song exist.
Of course, there’s the OG single that we know and love, but Mariah has put out a few different versions of the Christmas hit at this point. When she released her second holiday album, she put out an “extra-festive” version of the song. And there’s the version she recorded with Justin Bieber as a duet. They’re all great…but TBH, nothing beats the original.
7. The song originally peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.
Obviously, the people of the ’90s weren’t fully appreciating the magic they had been blessed with because when “All I Want for Christmas Is You” first came out in 1994, it didn’t make it higher than 12th place on the Billboard Hot 100 list. A mistake!
8. It’s the first and *only* holiday single to be certified diamond.
That whole “Billboard #12” lapse in judgment has since been corrected because the song has earned itself a diamond record (aka it’s sold more than 10 million units). I’m sure holiday parties and shopping malls are to thank.
9. And the song finally topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019.
Finally! Even though the song literally owned the #1 spot on the Holiday 100 chart that year for 38 consecutive weeks (bc duh), “All I Want for Christmas Is You” took over the Hot 100 list for the first time ever 25 years after it was released. That! Is! Bonkers! This marked Mariah’s 19th #1 hit on the Hot 100, making her second to only whom, you ask? That’d be the Beatles.
10. Mariah originally didn’t want to record it!
Or any of the songs. Or do an album, period. In 1994, Christmas albums were for older artists and has-beens. In his book, Hitmaker: The Man and His Music, Mimi’s then-husband and music executive, Tommy Mottola, remembers her seeing the cover of the Merry Christmas album and saying to him, “What are you trying to do, turn me into Connie Francis?”
11. Mariah was originally going to cover another Christmas song.
Which, not to be dramatic, would have been a TRAVESTY. According to the Amazon Music mini documentary about the song, the record label initially thought the album would just be covers, but thankfully Mariah got inspired by the Christmas spirit and wrote her own hit instead.
12. Mariah cowrote the entire thing in about 15 minutes.
She cowrote the hit holiday song with veteran songwriter Walter Afanasieff, who says the speed in which they wrote it is the secret to the song’s success. “It’s definitely not Swan Lake,” he said. “But that’s why it’s so popular—because it’s so simple and palatable!”
In an interview with Billboard, Afanasieff described the songwriting experience:
“It was always the same sort of system with us. We would write the nucleus of the song, the melody primary music, and then some of the words were there as we finished writing it. I started playing some rock ’n’ roll piano and started boogie woogie-ing my left hand, and that inspired Mariah to come up with the melodic [sings] ‘I don’t want a lot for Christmas.’ And then we started singing and playing around with this rock ’n’ roll boogie song, which immediately came out to be the nucleus of what would end up being ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You.’ That one went very quickly. It was an easier song to write than some of the other ones. It was very formulaic, not a lot of chord changes. I tried to make it a little more unique, putting in some special chords that you really don’t hear a lot of, which made it unique and special.
“Then for the next week or two, Mariah would call me and say, ‘What do you think about this bit?’ We would talk a little bit until she got the lyrics all nicely coordinated and done. And then we just waited until the sessions began, which were in the summer of ’94 where we got together in New York and started recording. And that’s when we first hear her at the microphone singing, and the rest is history.”
13. Merry Christmas was Mariah’s first holiday album and fourth studio album.
Mariah was well into her career when she went full Christmas.
14. It was recorded in August, aka NOT Christmastime.
We’ve been lied to! This Christmas classic was originally recorded when it was hot AF out. However, that didn’t stop MC from getting in the holiday spirit. “We had Christmas trees and lights brought into the studio to get us in the mood,” Afanasieff said. “There was even talk of bringing in some snow at one point, but we didn’t go with that, thank god!”
15. It’s the second song to have that name.
It’s true that Mariah is a true original, but this song’s title? Not so much. Vince Vance & the Valiants released a tune called “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in 1989, but Mariah’s bop is totally unique and sounds nothing like the country song.
16. It’s WILDLY popular.
With global sales of more than 16 million copies, the song is the elusive chanteuse’s biggest international success and the 11th best-selling single of all time.
17. It’s WILDLY lucrative.
As of 2017, the song was reported to have earned $60 million in royalties. And every year, it gets more popular, so it’s safe to say that Mariah’s twins will be dining out on that holiday song money for life.
18. There’s no actual band playing.
Afanasieff arranged the whole thing on his computer. The only real things involved were Mariah and her background vocalists. ~Holiday magic~!
19. It’s an international hit.
It was commercially successful in a lot of countries, topping the charts in Hungary while reaching #2 in Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom and hitting the Top 10 in several others. What can I say? The Golden Butterfly’s Christmas anthem is undeniable in any language!
20. Mariah has won three Guinness World Records for the song.
And in no particular order, they are: highest-charting holiday (Christmas/New Year) song on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100 by a solo artist, most streamed song on Spotify in 24 hours, and most weeks in the UK singles Top 10 chart for a Christmas song.
21. It’s actually broken the record for the most played song on Spotify FOUR TIMES!
On Christmas Day in 2018, the song broke Spotify’s single-day record with 10.82 million plays in 24 hours, but it was beat a few months later by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber’s “I Don’t Care.” Then on Christmas Day 2019, the song took back its throne with more than 12 million streams. The song nabbed the title again in 2020 with 17.223 million streams but was later beat out by Adele's "Easy On Me." It then stole the record once more in 2022 with 21.273 million streams on Christmas Eve. The devil works hard, but “All I Want for Christmas Is You” works harder.
22. It helped Mariah become the first artist to top the charts in four separate decades.
It’s no secret that Mariah has had a whole slew of #1 hits, and when “All I Want for Christmas Is You” hit #1 at the end of 2019/beginning of 2020, it marked the fourth straight decade she had a song at #1—something no other artist has ever done!
23. To celebrate the song’s 25th anniversary, Mariah went on a mini tour.
Marking a quarter-century of whistle tones and joy, Mariah went on a limited holiday tour. A blessing!
24. Mariah released even more deluxe content in 2019.
The Merry Christmas album was recently reissued as a deluxe anniversary edition. Mariah also put out unreleased footage for a new music vid.
25. Mariah’s husband at the time played Santa Claus in the video.
Mottola makes a cameo appearance as Santa Claus, bringing Mariah a gift and leaving on a red sleigh. Romantic.
26. Goats love it.
Please watch this entire thing. It’s only 45 seconds long. It will be the best 45 seconds of your entire year:
27. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” broke the record for the longest journey to #1.
It may have taken 25 years, but Mariah’s jam finally got there! And no other artist can say they’ve had a song so beloved that it managed to top the charts a quarter of a century after it was released.
28. And it was the first Christmas song to hit #1 since 1958.
And the second one ever in history to do it. The first one was—get this—“The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late),” by David Seville and the Chipmunks. Just a slightly different vibe from Mariah’s hit, ya know?
29. The song inspired an animated movie starring Mariah herself.
If you’re looking for another Christmas movie to watch this year while you’re all cozied up under a blanket with some hot chocolate in hand, look no further than the 2017 animated direct-to-video movie All I Want for Christmas Is You. It stars Mariah herself as a young girl with a wholesome Christmas wish for a puppy.
30. Mariah adapted it into a book.
It came out in 2015, and the cover is dynamite.
31. There are three music videos for “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
First, there’s the classic home-movie-style one that Mariah directed and filmed herself during Christmas of 1993. Then there’s an alternate one inspired by the Ronettes, in which Mariah gets groovy with some go-go dancers. And finally, the remix one, which is animated.
32. The song has been covered by literally everyone.
Shania Twain! John Mayer! The Cheetah Girls! Demi Lovato! My Chemical Romance! Seriously, if you haven’t covered “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” you might be dead. Or worse: have terrible taste! Here’s a brand new one from some of the Philadelphia Eagles (including Travis Kelce's brother Jason Kelce) that's surprisingly amazing:
33. Mariah’s favorite line is the best line.
You know it, you belt it, it goes: “I won’t even wish for snow.” In the 2019 Amazon Music special Mariah Carey Is Christmas: The Story of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah said that’s her fave part of the song because “I always wish for snow. I always want it to be a special festive winter wonderland. I always have. And so when I was writing these things down, I made a list of all the stuff that I thought of since childhood and crafted it to be about a long-lost love.” So she meant that!
34. The song was inspired by ’50s and ’60s music.
The only feeling Mariah wanted to evoke in you when hearing this song was pure and utter bliss (mission v much accomplished!). That’s why the vibe of it stems from the good ol’ hits of the olden days, when you listened to one of the songs of the time—say, from Motown—and you couldn’t help but be happy, Mariah explained in the Amazon special.
35. It was the last #1 hit of the 2010s and the first #1 hit of the 2020s.
Finally hitting #1 at the end of 2019 put the song in the very unique position to technically reach #1 in two different decades, all within a matter of days. Mariah is nothing if not efficient!
36. And finally, the song was the first-ever #1 to fall completely off the chart.
When you’re a seasonal song, you kinda, well, go out of season. So when the plays of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” quickly died off after the holidays, so did its spot on the chart.
Something tells us it’ll rebound right back every single year though. Let’s listen to the original one more time until we pass out. Bye!
