Every year around Christmas, you can’t escape Mariah Carey. From her music playing in department stores, holiday parties, radios, and homes across the world, her music has captivated millions. Even though Mariah Carey is huge around the world this time of year, most of her popularity comes from the song “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
Despite “All I Want For Christmas Is You” being her most popular song, the odds of her making it were extremely low. Carey’s label, Columbia Records, was pushing for her to make a Christmas record since she was their highest-grossing artist at the time; however, she was initially very hesitant about even making Christmas songs. This was because the act of making Christmas music was perceived as being better received by more established musical artists (Mariah Carey was still relatively new to the music industry with only some big hits), and she associated Christmas with longing, sadness, and dysfunction due to growing up in poverty. Even with these challenges, Mariah Carey ended up releasing “All I Want For Christmas Is You” as a part of her album “Merry Christmas’’ Album in 1994, becoming a major hit.
“All I Want For Christmas Is You”, while only a major hit in 1994, became even more successful than it already was over time due to streaming services. In recent years, streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify have made listening to holiday songs in general more accessible, rather than having to go out and buy the physical copy, which helped give “All I Want For Christmas Is You” a boost in popularity. This boost allowed the cult classic success of the song we know today.
Ever since this boost, the amount of plays for “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has significantly increased and has constantly topped the Billboard Hot 100 every December, with the song recently tying Lil Nas X and Shaboozey on most weeks spent on the Billboard Hot 100. Along with the “All I Want For Christmas Is You” record for constantly being on the Billboard Hot 100, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is currently the most popular Christmas song in the world.
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” being extremely successful has helped Mariah Carey become engraved in Christmas pop culture. Many now believe that “All I Want For Christmas Is You” must be played since it has become a part of Christmas traditions for many families, playing in the background of holiday activities like putting up Christmas trees. Being featured in a major Christmas film, Love, Actually (which also helped the song’s resurgence back in the 2000s), also helped solidify the song’s cultural status.
No one has helped Mariah Carey become a part of pop culture more than Carey herself. Every Christmas since 2022, she has released an annual social media video declaring “IT’S TIME” for Christmas, and it has become a highly anticipated moment, which marks when Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” will make its return. She has even attempted to trademark the phrase “Queen of Christmas” in court. Her behavior and success have cemented her legacy as an artistthat will forever be intertwined with Christmas and is a part of holiday culture, helping her to be remembered for generations to come, possibly.
