Fresh off earning the No. 1 spot on Billboard‘s Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs retrospective, Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” adds a new chapter to its chart history.
The carol dashes back onto the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Nov. 27) at No. 36 with 11.2 million U.S. streams (up 29%), 8.2 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 133%) and 2,700 sold (up 30%) in the Nov. 12-18 tracking week, according to MRC Data.
The song, originally released in 1994, hit the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time in December 2017. In December 2019, it ascended to the summit at last, becoming the second holiday hit ever to reign, after “The Chipmunk Song,” by The Chipmunks with David Seville, spent four weeks at No. 1 beginning in December 1958. “Christmas” led again last holiday season, upping its total to five weeks at No. 1, thus, a new record among Yuletide songs.
“When I wrote [it], I had absolutely no idea the impact the song would eventually have worldwide,” Carey marvels of “Christmas.” “I’m so full of gratitude that so many people enjoy it with me every year.”
With its 2019 coronation, Carey claimed her 19th Hot 100 No. 1, extending her mark for the most among soloists and moving to within one of The Beatles’ overall record 20.
Plus, as “Christmas” dominated through the chart dated Jan. 4, 2020, Carey became the first artist to have ranked at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in four distinct decades (the 1990s, 2000s, ’10s and ’20s).
In addition to “Christmas,” a flurry of other holiday classics are on track to make their annual resurgences on the Hot 100, including Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas.” On the Jan. 2, 2021, chart, a new one-week record 39 seasonal songs stormed the survey.
