Mariah Carey has achieved a new record on the Billboard Hot 100 with her song “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” maintaining the top spot for 13 consecutive weeks, thus surpassing Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” which reached number one for the first time.
Key Facts
This week, Carey and Lee swapped the top position on the Hot 100, with “All I Want for Christmas Is You” securing the number one spot for the fifth consecutive season, making this holiday anthem released in 1994 the first song to reach number one for five consecutive years in the lunar calendar.
“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” fell to second place on the Hot 100 after Lee became the oldest person to top the chart at age 78, holding the number one position for two weeks, and then retained the top spot for a second consecutive week after turning 79.
This week, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” became the first song to reach number one on the Hot 100 for six distinct periods, leading in every holiday season since 2019, including two non-consecutive weeks in 2020, surpassing Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Harry Styles’ “As It Was.”
Carey has now spent a total of 92 weeks at the top of the Hot 100, the highest number of weeks for any artist by a significant margin, with Rihanna in second place at 60 weeks at number one.
Carey joins Boyz II Men as the second artist to achieve three separate songs that have topped the Hot 100 for at least 13 weeks, among which her collaboration with the group on the song “One Sweet Day” topped the chart for 16 weeks between 1995 and 1996.
Main Background
Billboard noted in November that Carey and Lee were likely to compete on the Hot 100 throughout the holiday season, marking the first time that the Christmas song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has challenged for the number one spot on the Hot 100 since its rise in 2019. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” topped the Hot 100 on December 4 and held it for two weeks, making it the third Christmas song to reach number one, with the song released in 1958 being the oldest song to ever top the chart. Amid fierce competition on the chart, Carey and Lee ramped up their promotional efforts, with Lee releasing the first music video for the song in November to celebrate its 65th anniversary, featuring country stars Trisha Yearwood and Tanya Tucker. She also joined TikTok, posting videos promoting the song and reflecting on its long history. Carey released a new video for her song on December 8, resulting in a 10% increase in views for the song this week, according to a Billboard report. Carey is also promoting holiday music on her Christmas tour, including a performance at Madison Square Garden on December 9, where she was joined by Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson.
Related News
Holiday songs occupied the top five spots on the Hot 100 this week. Behind Carey and Lee, Bobby Helms landed at number three with “Jingle Bell Rock,” while Wham! secured the fourth spot with “Last Christmas,” and Burl Ives reached fifth place with “A Holly Jolly Christmas.” According to a Billboard report, Lee is outperforming Carey on the Streaming Songs chart this week, despite strong competition, as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” garnered 42.4 million streams, outperforming “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which achieved 42.2 million streams. Carey jumped from seventh to third place on the Digital Song Sales chart, with her sales rising by 68% compared to the previous week due to the price reduction of the song to 69 cents on iTunes, according to a Billboard report.
Note
It has become
Holiday songs are highly profitable due to the increased use of music streaming services, as revenue is generated from every stream. Billboard previously estimated that the song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” generated $6.16 million in revenue for Mariah Carey and her company in 2021, based on 94,000 downloads and 823 million streams. It was projected that the song “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” earned around $4 million in revenue in 2022, and Billboard noted that it is expected to generate more revenue this year thanks to its increasing popularity. The rise in popularity of music streaming, along with the removal of Billboard’s rules that prevented songs that had withdrawn from the Hot 100 from returning, has opened the door for holiday songs to dominate the Hot 100 charts every December.
Read More
Mariah Carey returns to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (Billboard)
Brenda Lee tops the Hot 100 for the first time with “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” from 1958, setting a record (Forbes)
This is how much Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee earn annually from their classic Christmas songs (Forbes)
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