She may not be the Queen of Christmas, but Mariah Carey has a lot to thank the festive season for as her holiday classic tops global charts once again and brings in millions.
According to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald, the pop icon’s tune All I Want For Christmas Is You has earned her a whopping $106 million, and counting.
The mammoth figure includes royalties from millions of streams on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music as well as endorsements, advertisements and public appearances.
A 2016 report by The Economist stated that the 1994 track is estimated to rope in around $3.6 million a year.
With its instantly identifiable xylophone intro and catchy chorus played by radio stations and over retail speakers in December, it’s no surprise that many dub this time of year ‘Mariah season’.
Queen of Christmas debacle
The holiday season has almost become synonymous with Carey, but apparently not enough to earn her the official title as the ‘Queen of Christmas’.
Just last month, in the lead-up to ‘Mariah season’, Carey lost a bid to trademark Queen of Christmas, a term which many fans unofficially know her as, given the mark she has made on the holiday season.
Last year, Carey’s company Lotion LLC applied to trademark the monikers Queen of Christmas, QOC and Princess of Christmas, but failed to do so after Elizabeth Chan, a fellow Christmas music singer and songwriter, who was previously dubbed the ‘Queen of Christmas’ by The New Yorker in 2018, contested the matter and took it to court.
But that hasn’t slowed the pop icon down in her annual takeover during the festive season.
As the countdown to Christmas gets closer, Carey’s track continues to climb charts worldwide.
Global Christmas takeover
Carey’s hit tops the charts during the holiday season every year and it looks like it has no plans of slowing down.
In Australia, the hit song is sitting at No.3 on the ARIA Top 50 chart, creeping up behind Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero and Sam Smith’s Unholy.
The song has topped charts in Australia for the past three years and is expected to do so this year.
Over in Britain, Carey managed to knock Swift out of the top spot but over on home turf, the Christmas tune is sitting at No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with Swift’s Anti-Hero keeping the No.1 seat warm until Carey’s inevitable rise.
Over the years, the song has received a few makeovers, including a 2011 rendition featuring Canadian pop star Justin Bieber. But despite the various revamps, it is the 1994 original that has gone the distance.
Carey has repeatedly stated her surprise at how the song has stood the test of time.
“I wrote it and I didn’t know that it would last and do what it’s done,” Carey said in a recent interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The singer said that she never got to hear her enduring classic when she did her holiday shopping, but listened at home instead.
Tweet from @colbertlateshow
Runs in the family
It look like the apple doesn’t fall from the (Christmas) tree.
Carey made headlines this week as she took to a stage in Toronto, Canada, performing a Christmas duet with her daughter Monroe – who the singer shares with her ex-husband actor Nick Cannon.
In matching tiaras and sparkling white gowns, the mother-daughter duo sang a tender rendition of Away in a Manger, wowing fans and sparking heartfelt reactions on social media.
Mariah Carey may not have the official ‘Queen of Christmas’ title, but her seal on the holiday season remains evergreen.
Tweet from @theadammcintyre
