Here's How Much Mariah Carey Earns Yearly For Her Popular Song, 'All I Want for Christmas Is You'

Mariah Carey, a five-time Grammy Award winner, is still benefiting from the instant Christmas classic All I Want For Christmas Is You, nearly three decades after it was released. The song brings in an estimated millions of dollars in royalties annually, and the singer even organizes an annual holiday tour around it. She reportedly gets over $3 million a year from the song. In 2021, Carey made over $60 million on the song, and she is still making money off of it.

According to Billboard reports, Carey received $1.55 million in yearly recording royalties on the song's master recording each time it was played or sold last year. She also received up to $830,000 in publishing royalties, which are paid in addition to licensing costs. Guinness World Records claims that All I Want for Christmas is You is the highest-charting holiday song by a solo artist on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100. The 1994 song was regularly featured on the charts in dozens of nations, and in 2021 it became the first holiday single to be certified diamond by the trade association, Recording Industry Association of America. Not only Carey has benefited from the song, but, numerous musicians, including Michael Buble, Dolly Parton, Ingrid Michaelson, Shania Twain, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, and Lady A (previously Lady Antebellum), have recorded this evergreen song since its 1994 debut. Carey and Justin Bieber re-released the song in 2011. These cover versions of the song probably provide her royalties. Billboard argues that co-writer Walter Afanasieff and record company Sony Music likely have a claim to a portion of the song's revenues as well.

However, apart from this, Carey is facing a copyright complaint that claims she stole the song from another artist, despite the holiday hit song being the number one song on the charts. Country musician Andy Stone of the New Orleans-based group Vince Vance and the Valiants filed a copyright action in a federal court in California last month, alleging that Carey and her co-writer on the popular song Afanasieff were infringing on his group's song of the same name. As per NBC, in the complaint, Stone claimed that he co-wrote Troy Powers' 1988 song All I Want for Christmas Is You. As per the outlet, Stone claimed, "[Carey copied] compositional structure of an extended comparison between a loved one and trappings of seasonal luxury and further includes several of Plaintiffs’ lyrical phrases."

Unquestionably Mariah Carey's greatest worldwide hit, the song has been at the top of many charts around Christmas every year. Although the precise amount of Carey's earnings from the song is unknown, Celebrity Net Worth estimates that the singer makes between $600,000 and $1,200,000 a year from it. The most popular Christmas song may be All I Want for Christmas is You, but it is not the best-selling holiday song. That distinction belongs to White Christmas by Bing Crosby, which has reportedly sold 50 million copies. In fact, Crosby is ranked in the top two positions for Christmas songs ever recorded. With more than 30 million copies sold, his 1978 rendition of Silent Night comes in at number two on the list.