Mariah Carey's Net Worth In 2023—Including What She Makes From 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'
The Queen of Christmas reigns.
Mariah Carey's net worth largely comes from her being the (mostly) undisputed Queen of Christmas.
Her magnum holiday opus, "All I Want for Christmas Is You," finally hit No. 1 in 2019, 25 years after its initial release, and the Christmas classic keeps climbing the charts and setting records annually.
"Having No. 1 in 2019 with 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' was a moment where I just sat there by myself at 3 in the morning looking at the Christmas tree lights and just really taking it in on a human level, because you work your whole life for something," she gushed to Billboard in 2020. "It's so exciting because it’s at Christmas, which is my favorite, but it's also like, what a validating thing to have happen [to] my first Christmas song that I ever wrote. How did I know that that was going to become a thing every year? I couldn’t have known it. And I've grown to love it more, because I used to always listen through it and pick it apart at Christmas against all the other Christmas songs, like, 'Why didn't I change this part? I wish I could've done that over.' Because I did it so early on, so young. But still, it makes me happy every year."
Of course, that's all besides her epic career as a pop, R&B, soul, and hip-hop star; she's one of the highest-selling artists of all time, thanks to music that's always somehow simultaneously of its moment and completely timeless.
The festive chanteuse was back on her holiday grind in 2022 with a handful of Christmas concerts, and her Christmas joy pays in more than just cheer. Find out Mariah Carey's net worth and how much Mariah Carey makes from "All I Want for Christmas Is You" every year!
Related: Mariah Carey Celebrates the Beginning of the Christmas Season in Hilarious Video
How did Mariah Carey get discovered?
Carey began her music career as a background singer for Brenda K. Starr (whose hit "I Still Believe" Carey later covered for her No. 1s compilation album). In December 1988, Carey accompanied Starr to an industry event, where she gave her demo tape to Tommy Mottola, then-head of Columbia Records. Mottola was instantly obsessed and spent two weeks searching for Carey to sign her, eventually winning her over despite other labels getting into a bidding war over her. (They also later married and then divorced, with Carey describing Mottola as controlling and frightening.)
How did Mariah Carey get famous?
Upon getting signed to Columbia Records, Carey's 1990 self-titled debut album was bolstered by hits "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday" and "I Don't Wanna Cry." She won the Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammys (the latter for "Vision of Love").
What is Mariah Carey's net worth?
Mariah Carey has an estimated net worth of $340 million. That isn't bad at all for one of the highest-selling artists of all time.
Related: Meghan Markle Fangirls Over Mariah Carey on Archetypes Podcast
How much did Mariah Carey make from "All I Want for Christmas Is You?"
The success of Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is all the more impressive when you realize it was written in just 15 minutes. (That's according to legend, although it's a legend Carey herself has said isn't really true.) According to The Economist, Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" made Carey $60 million between 1994 and 2016, averaging $2.6 million per year. This doesn't even include how much she makes from her holiday-themed merchandise, concerts, specials, book and animated film tied to the festive favorite.
According to Billboard, by the tracking week of Dec. 24-Dec. 30, 2021, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was still at No. 1 on the Hot 100, with 35.4 million streams, 16.5 million radio plays, and 4,900 sales... so expect this sum to keep on rising.
Related: All We Want for Christmas Is Mariah Carey! 36 Festive Facts About Her Holiday Hit
How much does Mariah Carey make every Christmas?
On average, Carey earns around $3 million each holiday season from "All I Want for Christmas Is You." That sum goes way up during years when Carey performs Christmas concerts and tours, as well as when and if she does holiday specials and product endorsements.
Why is Mariah Carey so rich?
Carey has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide since her self-titled 1990 debut. But Carey doesn't stop there: Her branding has made her millions as well.
According to Billboard, Carey first began endorsing products in 2006, beginning with Intel Centrino computers and an accessory line for Claire's and The Icing called Glamorized. She's launched her own perfume line with Elizabeth Arden and endorsed the ultra-pricey (we're talking $290,000 per bottle) Angel Champagne.
Carey has also endorsed Pepsi, Motorola, Gillette Venus, Jenny Craig, McDonald's, Milk Bar, and HSN, and launched her own Mariah Carey's Cookies line from Robert Earl, as well as her own brand of Irish cream liqueur, Black Irish, inspired by her Black, Venezuelan, and Irish ancestry.
Carey has also been a judge on American Idol, the subject of her own reality show Mariah's World, and appeared in movies including The Bachelor, WiseGirls, Glitter, The Lego Batman Movie, You Don't Mess With the Zohan, The Butler, Precious, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and more, as well as her own holiday specials and a Hallmark Christmas movie, The Keys of Christmas.
How much does Mariah Carey make per year?
Carey's annual income varies depending on whether she tours or releases projects and products through her various branding deals. That said, her annual income overall is estimated to average at about $3 million annually minimum from her Christmas catalog alone. TMZ reported that in 2014, Carey made $6.3 million total.
How much does Mariah Carey make in royalties?
Carey's royalties are estimated to be approximately 20 percent, a high rate for any star, plus multi-million dollar advances for albums. A big reason for that is her songwriting credits: Carey is often overlooked for her songwriting ability, but she has a hand in penning every single one of her hits—and her lyrics have been praised for their sophisticated vocabulary to boot—so please, put proper respect on her name! (Signed, a true Lamb.) Her contract with Universal Records netted her $7.5 million per album, and when her contract with EMI/Virgin Records imploded, she took $28 million with her.
How much does Mariah Carey make every December?
Carey is estimated to make about $2.6 million on average from "All I Want For Christmas Is You" each holiday season. The bulk of that comes in the month of December, but as any Lamb knows, Carey's Christmas domination begins on Nov. 1 each year!
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Related: The 200 Best Christmas Songs of All Time
How much did Mariah Carey make on American Idol?
Carey reportedly pocketed a cool $18 million to judge American Idol season 12 in 2013, but she didn't enjoy the experience at all, thanks largely to her beef with fellow judge Nicki Minaj.
"That was the worst experience of my life," Carey confessed on Kyle & Jackie O in 2015. "I'm not going to get into what it was, but let's just say I don't think they had any intentions for us to have a good experience doing that show. Pitting two females against each other wasn't cool... It should have been about the contestants instead of about some nonexistent feud that turned into even more ridiculousness. I would never want to be involved with it again. But everybody else did like it."
How much did Mariah Carey get from Tommy Mottola?
The details of Carey's 1998 divorce settlement from Tommy Mottola aren't publicly known, but here's what we do know: She was absolutely miserable in their marriage and accused him of essentially holding her hostage and controlling not just her career, but her entire existence while they were together. In her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, the singer recalled not even being allowed to go to the bathroom in her own home without a guard outside the door, and that Mottola and his crew flipped out just when she had the audacity to go to Burger King with pal Da Brat without clearing it with them first.
She elaborated to Cosmopolitan in 2019, "There was no freedom for me as a human being. You might want to picture a child bride. There was a conscious effort to keep me as this all-American—whatever that means—girl. There was no freedom for me as a human being. It was almost like being a prisoner."
Mottola was accused of sabotaging Glitter and the soundtrack's lead single "Loverboy," giving Carey rival Jennifer Lopez a Yellow Magic Orchestra "Firecracker" sample and a Ja Rule feature for her own debut album, On the 6, after finding out Carey planned on using both (the former for "Loverboy" and the latter on "If We").
J.Lo and Ja released their hit "I'm Real (Remix)" before Carey could drop "Loverboy," effectively forcing her to rework the lead single from the album.
You can listen to Carey's original version of "Loverboy" with the "Firecracker" sample below—it sounds like a completely different song, and it remains to be seen if it would have had a bigger chart impact if there hadn't been so much interference ahead of its 2001 release.
The freedom Carey found upon her split from Mottola is priceless.
For his part, Mottola said in his memoir Hitmaker: The Man And His Music that it was "absolutely wrong and inappropriate" to get involved with Carey, adding that he was "truly sorry for any discomfort or pain that all of my good intentions inevitably caused her, and most of all for the scars it left on my two oldest children."
Related: All About Mariah Carey's ‘Fall in Love at Christmas’
How much did Mariah Carey make from Free Guy?
Carey's payday for using "Fantasy" in Free Guy isn't known, but Ryan Reynolds chose the track very deliberately. He told Variety that he writes to music and considered using The Outfield's "Your Love," but then "Fantasy" came on and it "everything clicked in."
"I got to speak with Mariah and talked to her a little bit about how much of an engine and an agent of progress that this song had been in terms of our creative process and the scripts," he said. "She's just been awesome about it."
Carey and Reynolds even did a hilarious TikTok duet of the song.
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How much money did Mariah Carey make for Sony?
Carey and Mottola separated in 1997, and she broke from Sony Music at the same time. According to The Wall Street Journal, Carey raked in an estimated $250 million for the record label before her exit.
Related: Shopping for the Holidays? Mariah Carey’s Holiday Amazon List Should Help
How much did Mariah Carey get paid for Precious?
Considering Mo'Nique, one of the film's leads, only made $50,000 for Precious (and won an Oscar for it), Carey likely made pocket change for her role as social worker Ms. Weiss—a role that was originally intended for Oscar winner Helen Mirren. She recalled in The Meaning of Mariah Carey that Lee Daniels gave her just one day's notice for the role, which saw her wearing no makeup at all.
"I was over the moon, but a little freaked out too. I had a little more than one day to prepare," she wrote. "The entire process of filming was renegade and brilliant. Lee believed in me, and I believed in him. I believed in the remarkable cast, and of course, I believed in the brilliance that was on the page."
She continued, "I loved working on the film. My management at the time discouraged me from doing it, because it was last minute and low budget, but I knew it was a rare and exquisitely human story. It was also a creative stretch, which was artistically enriching for me. I was so proud to be involved."
How much did Mariah Carey make for her Christmas special?
Carey has had three Christmas specials so far.
In December 2015, she starred in Mariah Carey’s Merriest Christmas, a Christmas special for the Hallmark Channel that premiered alongside her Hallmark Christmas movie A Christmas Melody with Lacey Chabert and Kathy Najimy.
Carey's most recent holiday specials were both for Apple TV+. In 2020, she debuted Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special, which featured celebrity guests including Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Snoop Dogg, and Tiffany Haddish, among others.
In December 2021, her second Apple TV+ special, Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues, dropped with guests Khalid and Kirk Franklin.
How much did Mariah Carey get paid for her Apple special?
Apple TV+ reportedly spent more than $5 million on Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special in 2020. For her 2021 festive special Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues, the budget was reportedly increased, though exact figures aren't publicly known. It's not known how much of that cash was for Carey herself and how much she shared with her celebrity co-stars and crew.
Related: Mariah Carey on the Modern Christmas Classic The Star and Her Favorite Holiday Traditions
How much did Mariah Carey get paid for You Don't Mess With the Zohan?
Carey played herself in a cameo in 2008's You Don't Mess With the Zohan alongside Adam Sandler. In the film, she sings the national anthem at a hacky-sack tournament.
"Mariah Carey, you know her, you love her, she's a beautiful woman," Sandler said in a behind-the-scenes snippet. "Beautiful voice!"
It's not known how much she made for the film, but the movie made more than $200 million worldwide.
How much did Mariah Carey have to pay Nick Cannon?
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon were married from 2008 until their separation in August 2014. However, Cannon reportedly wouldn't sign off on their divorce papers until late 2016. In their settlement, Carey doesn't have to pay Cannon a dime, though Cannon must pay $5,000 per month into a trust for their twins (affectionately dubbed "Dem Babies," then "Dem Kids," Moroccan and Monroe). Carey did, however, give Cannon a 2012 Ferrari in the settlement and agreed to pay for lodging and travel for his visits with Roc and Ro.
Related: Get To Know All of Nick Cannon's Kids
How much does it cost Mariah Carey to walk out the door?
According to Cannon, Carey's upkeep is expensive. He said on The Joe Budden Podcast, “Mariah don’t step out of the house. It cost her $150,000, $200,000 just to walk out of the house."
Cannon explained that those fees included security (which can get very pricey), private jets and a glam squad, among other miscellaneous expenses.
Is Nick Cannon richer than Mariah Carey?
Is Nick Cannon richer than Mariah Carey? In a word: No. In a few more words: No, especially since he has a lot of child support to pay to the many mothers of his many children.
Cannon has an estimated net worth of $20 million, a good $280 million (or more) less than his ex-wife.
Does Nick Cannon pay child support to Mariah Carey?
One baby mama who does not get child support from Cannon is Carey. He does, however, pay $5,000 per month into a trust fund for their twins.
Does Nick Cannon get alimony from Mariah Carey?
Carey does not pay Cannon any alimony, per their divorce settlement.
Who has more money, JLO or Mariah Carey?
Jennifer Lopez is wealthier than Carey, who doesn't know her. Lopez has an estimated net worth of $400 million from her movies, TV work, music, tours and brand endorsements.
What was Mariah Carey's net worth in 1995?
Carey's 1995 net worth isn't publicly known, but here's what we do know: In 1995, she sold an estimated total of more than 86 million copies of her self-titled debut, Emotions, Music Box, Merry Christmas and Daydream records.
How much does it cost to book Mariah Carey?
As Cannon said, Carey won't even leave the house for less than $150,000, so if you want her to show up at an event or to perform, you'd best believe it's expensive. She has reportedly been paid upwards of $1 million for some private performances.
Related: It's Official: "All I Want For Christmas Is You" Is the Best Christmas Pop Song of All Time
How much did Mariah Carey make for the McDonald's commercial?
While Carey's specific McDonald's endorsement payday isn't known, we do know how much other stars made for their deals with the fast food giant: Travis Scott reportedly made $20 million to have a meal named after him, Justin Timberlake got $6 million to announce he was "lovin' it," BTS made an estimated $9 million to endorse the brand, LeBron James made $4 million annually from McDonald's from 2010 through 2014 and Kobe Bryant made $10 million to endorse McDonald's in 2010 and 2013. That said, we can imagine Carey made at least $1 million to $10 million for her special McDonald's Christmas menu in 2021.
How much does Mariah Carey make from Spotify?
Spotify pays most artists $0.0037 per stream (which is, let's be real, highway robbery for most artists). As of this writing, Carey has 20,687,216 monthly listeners on Spotify. Assuming each listener streams just one song every month for 12 months, Carey makes $918,512.39 per year from Spotify.
How much does Mariah Carey make from streaming?
Carey's streaming income includes her aforementioned annual estimated $918,512.39 from Spotify. Add to that an estimated average of $0.01 per stream from Apple Music, Amazon Music's $0.004 per stream, YouTube Music's $0.008 per stream, Deezer's $0.0064 per stream and Pandora's $0.0013 per stream, and Carey earns a mint annually from streaming—though it's clear why she'd partner with Apple for projects like her Christmas specials over other digital retailers and streamers, which typically underpay most creators.
How much did Mariah Carey make for "All I Want for Christmas" on Spotify?
According to TMZ, Carey has made more than $4 million from Spotify streams of "All I Want for Christmas Is You." As of this writing in January 2023, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" has 1,171,105,383 streams on Spotify—a number that climbs each year as Christmas nears—netting her, at an estimated $0.0037 per stream, a cool $4,333,089.92.
How much did Mariah Carey get paid for Walker's?
Reports suggest that Carey took home a whopping $11 million for her 2019 Walkers crisps ad campaign. Her beautiful mug was emblazoned on bags, and she appeared in a commercial for the brand as well. The TV ad finds Carey filming a holiday video set to "All I Want for Christmas Is You," then giving bizarre gifts to the crew. She then argues with a crew member in an elf costume over the last bag, ultimately winning when she employs her signature whistle note... though she does at least try to share!
