Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" returns to the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time since it spent its maiden three weeks at No. 1 last holiday season. The carol, originally released in 1994, re-enters the chart (dated November 28) at No. 29. Plus, Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" revisits the Hot 100 at No. 43. The 1958 classic reached a No. 2 best last holiday season.
Carey's seasonal anthem returns with 11.7 million U.S. streams (up 50%) and 4,000 sold (up 54%) in the week ending November 19, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, as well as 15.7 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 51%) in the week ending November 22, as stations continue to decorate their playlists with holiday music.
Lee's standard dashes back to the Hot 100 with 8.8 million streams (up 79%) and 7,000 sold (up 790%), along with 13.2 million airplay impressions (up 45%). (The song's profile was aided by Justin Bieber's new Amazon Music-exclusive version, released November 12.)
In December 2017, Carey's "Christmas" hit the Hot 100's top 10 for the first time, while last year it ascended to the summit, 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. Carey claimed her 19th Hot 100 No. 1, as she extended her mark for the most among soloists and moved to within one of The Beatles' overall record 20.
As "Christmas" dominated for three weeks on the charts dated December 21, 2019, through January 4, 2020, Carey also became the first artist to have ranked at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in four distinct decades (the 1990s, 2000s, '10s and '20s).
(Carey recounted the feats in her new memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, released September 29. "I woke up to the Billboard headline: 'Wish come true: Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' hits No. 1 on Hot 100 after 25-year wait.' Wait. What?!," she marvels in the book. "The Lambs made it happen again!")
Carey and Lee's songs are set to surge again throughout the holidays and be joined on the Hot 100 by other Yuletide classics. On the January 4, 2020, chart (which reflected the apex of 2019-20 Christmas music tracking), holiday hits held the top four spots simultaneously for the first time in the chart's history, as, following Carey and Lee's titles at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" ranked at No. 3 and Burl Ives' "A Holly Jolly Christmas" placed at No. 4.
A record five holiday songs infused the Hot 100's top 10 simultaneously that week, as they were joined, at No. 7, by Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year".
(Billboard)
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