Here’s The Real Reason Why Mariah Carey’s Song ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ Is a Huge Success

Nothing compares to the 1994 hit song All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey when it comes to holiday music. So much so that last year, The Wall Street Journal included an article on shop employees who get insane from hearing Carey’s famous song way too much in their establishments. It described how one employee even went to the extent of hiding in the stockroom whenever he heard the store’s signature opening bells. But it’s not all mistletoe and holly in the tale of All I Want for Christmas is You .

Officially the most downloaded Christmas single ever, the song leads the list of most-streamed holiday music every year. It’s also the eleventh-highest-selling song of all time, according to Tech Times , and Carey and co-writer Walter Afanasieff have made more than $50 million from it. In 1994, Afanasieff was one of Carey’s most reliable allies. He has previously collaborated with her on the songs Love Takes Time , Emotions , and Music Box . In 2014, he told Billboard that the recording of Carey’s Christmas album had begun back in 1993.

He said at the time, “Twenty years ago, Christmas music and Christmas albums by artists weren’t the big deal that they are today …The first song we wrote was ‘Miss You Most (At Christmas Time). Then we started to write what Mariah wanted to do and what Tommy [Mottola, the CEO of Sony and Carey’s then-husband] wanted to do which was a Phil Spector, old rock ‘n’ roll, sixties-sounding Christmas song. Afanasieff was alluding to Phil Spector’s 1963 album, A Christmas Gift for You, which included Spector’s signature Wall of Sound production applied to a selection of Christmas songs sung by his stable of performers, which included Darlene Love, The Ronettes , and The Crystals .

According to musicologist and professor at Berklee College of Music Joe Bennett, “The song was perfectly engineered for success in both music and lyrics.” As per ABC News , the majority of newly released Christmas music at the time came from performers who had reached the end of their careers and were trying to find new fans.

However, Carey was at the pinnacle of her career in 1994. There is a romantic and festive feel to All I Want for Christmas is You . Carey prefaces it by saying that she is only thinking about one person and is unconcerned with the holiday traditions . If it’s a partner or someone she yearns for, it’s not made clear. Stockings on the fireplace, reindeer, sleigh bells, children singing, the Christmas tree, gifts, Santa Claus, and, of course, mistletoe are just a few of the festive allusions she makes.

The famous Christmas medley All I Want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 list on December 23, 2023. According to Billboard , the song has spent 63 weeks on the Hot 100 list. It knocked Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree to the number two position after it spent the previous two weeks at the top of the charts, breaking through for the first time 65 years after its premiere.