42 Festive Facts About Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You"
Jessica Sager
·13 min read
Find out all the ways Mimi is the Queen of Christmas.
Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" makes her the (mostly) undisputed Queen of Christmas. One of the only pop songs to be added to classic holiday canon, the song has withstood the test of time 28 years (and counting). From its countless covers to Carey's festive Christmas-themed performances, specials and shows, the song is a pop culture powerhouse that will never go away. It was also a labor of love for Carey, whose own Christmases weren't always full of fun and festivity.
“The thing is, I always wanted Christmas to be perfect,” she explained in her Amazon documentary about the tune. “And I always looked forward to the holidays. And then I have this incredibly dysfunctional family that would ruin it every year. Not my mom—my mom would try to make it fun—but we didn’t have a lot of money, so sometimes she would wrap up fruit and whatever it was she could afford. And I was like: When I grow up, I’m never going to let that happen. I’m going to make Christmas perfect every year.”
Now, well, Carey can afford all the fruit she wants thanks to the fruits of "All I Want for Christmas Is You." Get to know the story behind the Christmas classic and celebrate the merriment that Carey delivers every year.
2. Mariah Carey co-wrote "All I Want for Christmas Is You" in just 15 minutes
Carey and Walter Afanasieff reportedly "ping-ponged" the song back and forth for just 15 minutes to develop the melody, song structure and chords of "All I Want for Christmas Is You." Combined with the lyrics, the song was completely composed in just a few hours.
3. Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" co-writer initially didn't like the song at all.
Afanasieff thought the tune was too similar to basic scales. He confessed to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 2014, “At the time, I thought it was overly simple, and I really didn’t like it. The oversimplified melody, I guess, that made it so easily palatable for the whole world to go ‘Oh, I can’t get that out of my head.’”
He also said he wasn't impressed with Carey's vocals on the tune, telling Business Insider in 2013, “My first reaction was, ‘That sounds like someone doing voice scales. Are you sure that’s what you want?’”
4. Mariah Carey's troubled family life partly inspired the song.
Carey revealed just how traumatic her family life was in her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, but she previously hinted at drama in regards to holidays. In a 2018 sit-down with Genius, Carey said, “I did have to sit back and go, ‘What do I really want to write about Christmas?’ I was like, ‘I’m gonna write from the place of that kid that didn’t grow up with any money, that always wanted to have the most festive Christmas. And somehow people I was related to would come in and ruin the holiday every year.’”
5. Mariah Carey initially rejected the idea of recording a Christmas album.
Carey thought it was too early in her stratospheric career to release a Christmas album, which at that time were more stars a little past their prime, but boy are we glad she came around.
8. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is the biggest-selling holiday song of all time by a female artist.
Carey has sold over 20 million copies of the song (plus streaming equivalents), which is also one of the biggest-selling singles of all time (not just holiday singles, either).
9. Mariah Carey recorded "All I Want for Christmas Is You" way before the holidays.
Carey recorded her mega-hit in August 1994. Afanasieff recalled, “We had Christmas trees and lights brought into the studio to get us in the mood. There was even talk of bringing in some snow at one point, but we didn’t go with that, thank God!”
11. Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a great study in music theory.
Slatereports that "All I Want for Christmas Is You" boasts 13 chords, including a minor subdominant chord in the line "underneath the Christmas tree," a feature that actually places it among titles in the Great American Songbook.
12. Mariah Carey cited Phil Spector and gospel music as influences on "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and her Merry Christmas album.
Carey was inspired by Spector's Wall of Sound production style for "All I Want for Christmas Is You," as well as her cover of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," while much of the rest of the songs on Merry Christmas, like "Jesus Born On This Day" and "Joy to the World" feature gospel influences. (The latter also has a shoutout to Three Dog Night!) She pays homage to the Spector sound in the black-and-white video for the song.
13. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was one of the biggest-selling ringtones ever.
In 2009, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" became the first-holiday ringtone to ever hit double platinum sales.
15. Michael Bublé had a hit with his cover of "All I Want for Christmas Is You."
Self-proclaimed "Christmas prostitute" Michael Bublé recorded the first cover of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" to crack the Billboard Hot 100 chart. They teamed up for a duet of the track, too.
16. Ariana Grande covered "All I Want for Christmas Is You."
Ariana Grande is almost as famous for whistle tones as Mimi, and she did the Christmas Queen justice. She later harmonized with Carey and Jennifer Hudson on a new rendition of "Oh Santa!" for Carey's Apple TV Christmas special.
Demi Lovato covered "All I Want for Christmas Is You" live on the Christmas at Washington special.
She also dueted the track previously with fellow Disney alum Miley Cyrus.
18. And Lovato's X Factor proteges Fifth Harmony...
The launching pad for Normani and Camila Cabello, if you'll recall!
19. And Idina Menzel...
The Broadway legend recorded a cover of the song for her 2014 Holiday Wishes album.
20. And the Glee cast...
Amber Riley takes the lead in this cover of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" from Glee's "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" episode.
21. And My Chemical Romance ...
My Chemical Romance recorded a surprisingly catchy cover of Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," and trust: It's pretty different from the original, but still conveys that romantic yearning thanks to Gerard Way's signature warble.
Fans even made a mashup of MC's hit and MCR's "Welcome to the Black Parade."
22. And Bowling for Soup...
Chances are "The Girl All the Bad Guys Want" was on the naughty list, but their Mimi cover sure is nice!
23. And Zebrahead...
We see you starting to pogo to this.
24. And Big Time Rush.
The band had a kids' hit with their cover of the song in 2010.
29. Mariah Carey recorded a new "All I Want for Christmas Is You" video for the song's 25th anniversary in 2019.
The new version is called the "Make My Wish Come True Edition."
30. Mariah Carey makes a mint off "All I Want For Christmas Is You" every year.
In 2017, The Economistreported that Carey made $60 million off of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" since its 1994 release—and that number keeps rising with each passing year. It's estimated she pockets a cool $500,000 annually from the song and has made $2 million in royalties from Spotify alone.
33. Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" broke a Spotify record.
On Christmas Eve 2018, Carey broke the record for most streams of a song in a single day with "All I Want for Christmas Is You." She was soon beaten by Justin Bieberand Ed Sheeran's duet "I Don't Care," but reclaimed her throne exactly a year later on Christmas 2019.
Mariah Carey, accompanied by "Dem Kids" Monroe and Moroccan Cannon, is awarded a Guinness World Record for "All I Want for Christmas Is You" in 2019.
Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Caesars Palace
34. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey shattered two other Guinness World Records.
Carey's hit broke the records for most weeks in the U.K. singles Top 10 chart for a Christmas song and highest-charting holiday song on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100 chart by a solo artist.
35. Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" didn't break the Billboard Hot 100 until 2000.
Because of Billboard chart rules, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" wasn't eligible for charting on the Hot 100 until 2000, when it clocked in at No. 83. Prior to that point, it was ineligible because it was an album cut and technically not a single.
36. Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" inspired an adorable children's book and animated film of the same name.
Starring Carey and a puppy!
37. Mariah Carey's favorite line from "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is "I won't even wish for snow."
Carey says that's "because I always wish for snow. I always want it to be, like, a special, festive winter wonderland." When she was a child growing up in Long Island, she didn't get too many white Christmases, so now she celebrates in Aspen with real reindeer.
A post shared by Mariah Carey (@mariahcarey) on Nov 1, 2020 at 7:16am PST
41. Mariah Carey toppled Taylor Swift's chart reign—right before Swift's birthday.
Taylor Swiftturned 33 on Dec. 13, 2022. The night before, it was revealed that Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" knocked Swift's "Anti-Hero" out of the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
42. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" hit No. 1 in four consecutive years.
After first hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019, Carey's Christmas smash topped the charts again in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
