Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ Jingles Back to No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100

Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as it adds a 13th total week at the chart’s highest bough.

The carol reigns in a record-extending fifth holiday season. It was originally released on Carey’s album Merry Christmas in November 1994 and, as streaming has grown and holiday music has become more prominent on streaming services’ playlists, it hit the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time in December 2017 and the top five for the first time in the 2018 holiday season. It led at last, prior to this week, over the holidays in 2019 (for three weeks), 2020 (two), 2021 (three) and 2022 (four).

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“When I wrote [it], I had absolutely no idea the impact the song would eventually have worldwide,” Carey marveled of “Christmas” in 2021. “I’m so full of gratitude that so many people enjoy it with me every year.”

The song tops the Hot 100 after Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” spent the last two weeks at No. 1, having led for the first time 65 years after its release.

Plus, two fellow holiday classics return to the Hot 100’s top 10: The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” (14-8) and Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!” (12-10).

The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated Dec. 23, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 19). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Streams, airplay & sales: Carey’s “Christmas,” on Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings, rises 2-1 on the Hot 100. It drew 42.2 million streams (up 10%, boosted by the Dec. 8 premiere of its “Festive Lambs Edition” video, which features the song’s original audio) and 26.1 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 8%) and sold 8,000 downloads (up 68%, aided by the iTunes Store’s 69-cent sale-pricing, for multiple holiday titles) in the U.S. Dec. 8-14, according to Luminate.

Also during the tracking week, Carey continued her Merry Christmas One and All! tour, including her Dec. 9 show at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The single holds at No. 2 on the Streaming Songs chart, following 18 weeks at No. 1; jumps 7-3 on Digital Song Sales, following four frames at the summit; and pushes 29-22 on Radio Songs, where it hit a No. 11 best last season.

Holiday hits atop the Hot 100: Now up to 13 weeks, Carey’s “Christmas” extends its mark as the holiday song with the most time tallied atop the Hot 100, among three such No. 1s. “The Chipmunk Song,” by The Chipmunks with David Seville, spent four weeks on top beginning in December 1958, followed by Lee’s two weeks on top with “Rockin’.”

Thanks to Carey’s and Lee’s No. 1s, two holiday songs have led the Hot 100 in the same holiday season for the first time.

No. 1 in a fifth season: Carey’s “Christmas” is the first song to top the Hot 100 in five distinct runs on the chart, its latest coronation following its commands in the 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 holiday seasons. (Just one other song has led in each of even two stays: Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” in in 1960 and 1962.)

Plus, “Christmas” makes its record-breaking sixth nonconsecutive ascent to No. 1 on the Hot 100, having previously led for three straight weeks in the 2019 holiday season; two nonconsecutive weeks over the 2020 holidays; three weeks in a row during the 2021 holidays; and four straight weeks last season. With its sixth distinct rise to No. 1, it surpasses Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” both of which made five separate climbs to the top, this year and in 2022, respectively.

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No. 1 in 63rd week: Carey’s “Christmas” rules the Hot 100 in its 63rd week on the chart. It ties Glass Animals’ seasonally-opposite “Heat Waves” for the latest, by total chart weeks, that a song has led the list. The latter completed a record 59-week trip to No. 1 in March 2022 and reigned for five consecutive weeks, through its 63rd frame; it went on to log a record 91 weeks on the chart.

Carey’s third No. 1 of 13 weeks or more: Carey ties Boyz II Men as the only artists with three songs that have topped the Hot 100 for 13 or more weeks each. Notably, Carey and the group teamed for one smash that contributes to the feat: “One Sweet Day.”

Mariah Carey:

  • 16 weeks, “One Sweet Day,” with Boyz II Men, 1995-96
  • 14 weeks, “We Belong Together,” 2005
  • 13 weeks (to-date), “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” 2019-23

Boyz II Men:

  • 16 weeks, “One Sweet Day,” with Carey, 1995-96
  • 14 weeks, “I’ll Make Love to You,” 1994
  • 13 weeks, “End of the Road,” 1992

Carey’s record 92nd week atop Hot 100: With “Christmas,” Carey adds her record-extending 92nd 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:

  • 92, Mariah Carey
  • 60, Rihanna
  • 59, The Beatles
  • 56, Drake
  • 50, Boyz II Men
  • 47, Usher
  • 43, Beyoncé
  • 37, Michael Jackson
  • 34, Adele
  • 34, Elton John
  • 34, Bruno Mars
  • 34, Taylor Swift

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“Christmas” became Carey’s 19th Hot 100 No. 1, the most among soloists and one away from 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, dating to her first week on top in August 1990 with her debut hit, “Vision of Love.”

No. 1 on Holiday 100: Carey’s “Christmas” concurrently rebounds to No. 1 on the multi-metric Holiday 100 chart, which uses the same methodology as the Hot 100, for a 59th week at the apex, of the chart’s 66 total weeks since the it originated in 2011. It also rules as the top title on the Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs chart.

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At No. 2 on the Hot 100, Lee’s “Rockin’ ” adds a fourth week atop Streaming Songs (42.4 million streams, up 3%).

Rounding out a fully festive top five on the Hot 100, Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” released in 1957, holds at its No. 3 high; Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” from 1984, keeps at its No. 4 best; and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” from 1964, climbs 7-5, having hit No. 4.

Jack Harlow’s “Lovin On Me” dips 5-6 on the Hot 100, three weeks after it became his third No. 1. The chart’s top nonholiday title becomes Harlow’s fourth leader on Digital Song Sales (2-1; 8,000 sold) and notches a fifth week each atop the multi-metric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.

Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” from 1963, lifts 8-7 on the Hot 100, having reached No. 5. The late singer now sports a record span of 64 years, two months and two weeks from his first week in the top 10 with “Lonely Street” in October 1959 through his latest week in the region.

The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” dashes 14-8 on the Hot 100, hitting a new high, led by 23.7 million streams (up 16%). Originally released in 1963, the same year that the act posted its lone other top 10 – the iconic No. 2-peaking “Be My Baby” – “Sleigh Ride” previously ranked in the top 10, at No. 10, for a week over the 2021 holidays (shortly before the passing of group co-founder Ronnie Spector). The Ronettes now boast a span of 60 years and three months in the Hot 100’s top 10 – the longest among groups. (Excluding holiday fare, The Beatles broke the record for the longest top 10 span among all acts last month: 59 years, nine months and three weeks, from “I Want To Hold Your Hand” in 1964 to the debut of their newly-released single “Now and Then.”)

Tate McRae’s “Greedy” rebounds 16-9 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 7, as her new album Think Later debuts at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, marking her first top 10 set.

Wrapping the Hot 100’s top 10, Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!,” from 1959, rises 12-10 (22.3 million streams, up 5%). The song hit a No. 8 best in the 2020 holiday season, having become the fourth top 10 for the late legendary singer. He posted his first three top 10s in 1964-65: “Everybody Loves Somebody” (No. 1, one week), “The Door Is Still Open to My Heart” (No. 6) and “I Will” (No. 10).

Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on Billboard’s social accounts, and all charts (dated Dec. 23), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 19).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

Gary Trust

Billboard