Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” returns to No. 1, from No. 2, on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart for a fifth total week on top. The song, originally released on Carey’s album Merry Christmas in 1994, first reigned for three weeks last holiday season and added its fourth frame at No. 1 two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, three holiday classics reach the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time: Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow,” up from No. 11 to No. 8; Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (14-9); and Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” (29-10), as a one-week record nine holiday hits infuse the top 10.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated Jan. 2, 2021) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 29). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Carey’s “Christmas,” on Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings, drew 54.9 million U.S. streams (up 35%) and sold 12,000 downloads (up 24%) in the week ending Dec. 24, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It also tallied 33.7 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 11%) in the week ending Dec. 27.
The carol spends a ninth total week at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart and rises 6-2 on Digital Song Sales and 17-13 on Radio Songs. It also rules the multi-metric Holiday 100 chart for a 45th week, of the chart’s 50 total weeks since the list launched in 2011; it has topped the tally for 30 consecutive weeks, dating to the start of the 2015-16 holiday season.
Here are other presents that Carey receives with the latest coronation of “Christmas”:
Most weeks at No. 1 for a holiday song: As it logs its fifth total week atop the Hot 100, “Christmas” solely claims the mark for the most time at No. 1 among holiday hits in the chart’s 62-year, five-month history. One other Yuletide track has led the list: “The Chipmunk Song,” by The Chipmunks with David Seville, for four weeks beginning in December 1958.
First song at No. 1 in three distinct years: Carey’s “Christmas” becomes the first song to rank at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in three distinct years: 2019, 2020 and, now, 2021. It has led the lists dated Dec. 21 and 28, 2019; Jan. 4, 2020; Dec. 19, 2020; and Jan. 2, 2021.
(As reported when “Christmas” crowned the Hot 100 two weeks ago, only one other song in the chart’s history boasts a longer span of appearing at No. 1: Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” first topped the chart dated Sept. 19, 1960; Thanks to new popularity among adult audiences, it led again on Jan. 13 and 20, 1962. Notably, the longevity of “The Twist” helped spark its No. 1 status on the Greatest of All-Time Hot 100 recap.)
One more, up to 84: Carey adds her record-extending 84th career 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
84, Mariah Carey
60, Rihanna
59, The Beatles
50, Boyz II Men
50, Drake
“Christmas” last year became Carey’s 19th Hot 100 No. 1, the most among soloists and lifting her to within one of 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.
Happy new year: Carey has now placed at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in a record-extending 17 distinct years (per Hot 100 chart dates): 1990-2000, 2005-06, 2008 and, thanks to “Christmas,” 2019-21.
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); Michael Jackson (1972, 1979-80, 1983-84, 1987-88, 1991-92, 1995); and Madonna (1984-87, 1989-92, 1995, 2000).
Record-extending span of No. 1s: The latest week on top for “Christmas” extends Carey’s artist record for the longest span of ranking at No. 1 on the Hot 100: 30 years and five months, dating to her first week at No. 1 on the chart dated Aug. 4, 1990, with “Vision of Love.”
When “Christmas” first hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated Dec. 21, 2019, Carey passed Cher, whose solo No. 1s span 27 years and five months, from “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” (from its first week at No. 1 in 1971) through “Believe” (through its last week on top in 1999). (If Cher’s career as half of duo Sonny & Cher were combined with her solo output, her No. 1 span would cover 33 years, seven months and two weeks, from Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” which reached the top in 1965, through “Believe.”)
The next three songs on the Hot 100 all return to their peak positions first reached a year ago (on the Jan. 4, 2020-dated chart, whose top four mirrors this week’s top four): Brenda Lee’s 1958 classic “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” rises 3-2; the late Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” first released in 1957, rises 4-3; and the late Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” originally from 1964, pushes 6-4.
The Hot 100’s top five is decorated entirely by holiday songs for the first time, as, rounding out the region, Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” originally from 1963, rises 7-5, besting its prior No. 6 high. Williams adds his third top five Hot 100 hit, following “Lonely Street” (No. 5, November 1959) and “Can’t Get Used to Losing You” (No. 2, April 1963).
Williams breaks the record for the longest break between top five Hot 100 hits: 57 years, seven months and three weeks. He narrowly passes Lee, whose “Rockin’ ” last year returned her to the top five after a wait of 57 years and three weeks.
Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad” hits a new No. 6 Hot 100 high, up from No. 10, two weeks after reaching the top 10 for the first time, 50 years after its original 1970 release.
24kGoldn’s “Mood,” featuring Iann Dior, is the only non-holiday song in the Hot 100’s top 10, dropping 5-7 after six nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1, as it leads Radio Songs for a ninth week (81.3 million in audience, down 2%). It tops the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts for a 17th week each and Hot Rap Songs for an 11th frame (with all three charts using the same methodology as the Hot 100).
Amid the flurry of holiday hits, Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow,” which the late legend first released in 1959, climbs 11-8 on the Hot 100, reaching the top 10 for the first time, with 31 million streams (up 40%), 16 million in radio reach (down 3%) and 1,000 sold (up 15%).
Martin (who died on Christmas Day 1995) appears in the Hot 100’s top 10 with a fourth song, after posting his first three top 10s in 1964-65: “Everybody Loves Somebody” (No. 1, August 1964), “The Door Is Still Open to My Heart” (No. 6, November 1964) and “I Will” (No. 10, 1965).
Wham!’s “Last Christmas” likewise jingles to the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time (14-9). First released in 1984, it ascends with 28.3 million streams (up 41%), 19.1 million in airplay audience (up 5%) and 6,000 sold (up 38%).
The duo of George Michael (who died in 2016; like Martin, on Christmas Day) and Andrew Ridgeley adds its seventh Hot 100 top 10, after charting its first six in 1984-86: the No. 1s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Careless Whisper” and “Everything She Wants”; the No. 3 hits “Freedom” and “I’m Your Man”; and the No. 10-peaking “The Edge of Heaven.” Wham! appears in the top 10 for the first time since Aug. 23, 1986 (the last week in the top 10 for “Heaven”); Subsequently, Michael notched 14 solo top 10s, including seven No. 1s, through 1996.
Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” soars 29-10. First released in 1958, the track sports 31.2 million streams (up 66%), 6.1 million airplay audience impressions (up 14%) and 5,000 sold (up 17%).
Berry, who died in March 2017, reins in his third Hot 100 top 10, after “No Particular Place to Go” (No. 10, July 1964) and his novelty hit “My Ding-a-Ling” (No. 1, two weeks, October 1972).
Meanwhile, “Rudolph” rewrites the record for the longest a song has taken to hit the Hot 100’s top 10 from its debut: As it first appeared on the chart dated Dec. 15, 1958 (just over four months after the survey’s inception), it reaches the top 10 after a journey of 62 years and two weeks. It passes the 60-year, two-week wait for Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” (Dec. 22, 1958-Jan. 5, 2019).
As noted above, a record-breaking nine holiday songs decorate the Hot 100’s top 10, after a then-high six did a week ago.
As for last week’s Hot 100 No. 1, Taylor Swift’s “Willow” plummets from its debut at the top spot to No. 38 (due, in part, to the influx of holiday hits above it). The song makes the greatest fall from No. 1 to another rank on the Hot 100 in the chart’s history, surpassing the 1-33 plunge for 6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj’s “Trollz” on the July 4-dated survey.
Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated Jan. 2, 2021), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 29).
