TOPLINE
Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee’s weekslong battle at the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 took a turn Monday as “All I Want for Christmas Is You” notched its record-breaking 13th total week atop the chart, dethroning Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” after it led the chart for the first time.
KEY FACTS
Carey and Lee swapped places atop the Hot 100 this week, with “All I Want for Christmas Is You” reaching the summit for the fifth holiday season in a row—making the 1994 holiday anthem the first song to ever reach No. 1 in five consecutive calendar years, Billboard reported.
“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” dipped to No. 2 on the Hot 100, two weeks after Lee became the oldest person to lead the chart at 78 years old—a record she extended the following week, when she turned 79 and topped the chart for a second straight week.
This week, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” became the first song with six distinct runs atop the Hot 100—it rose to the top each holiday season since 2019, including two nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2020—breaking a tie Carey held with Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Harry Styles’ “As It Was.”
Carey has now spent a total of 92 weeks atop the Hot 100, the most of any artist by a significant margin: Rihanna ranks second with 60 weeks on top of the chart.
Carey joins Boyz II Men as the second artist to have three separate songs spend at least 13 weeks on top of the Hot 100, one of which is their collaboration “One Sweet Day,” which led for 16 weeks between 1995 and 1996.
KEY BACKGROUND
Billboard reported in November that Carey and Lee would likely be locked in a tight chart battle the entire holiday season, marking the first time a holiday song has challenged “All I Want for Christmas Is You” for the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 since it began its annual trip to the top in 2019. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 on Dec. 4 and spent two weeks at the top, making it just the third holiday song to lead the chart and making the song, released in 1958, the oldest to ever rank No. 1. Amid the tight chart battle, both Carey and Lee have stepped up promotional efforts. Lee released the song’s first-ever music video in November to celebrate its 65th anniversary, featuring cameo appearances from country stars Trisha Yearwood and Tanya Tucker. She also joined TikTok, posting videos promoting the song and reflecting on its long history. Carey released a new video for her hit on Dec. 8, leading to a 10% rise in streaming for the song this week, Billboard reported. Carey is also promoting her holiday music on a Christmas tour, including a show at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 9 where she was joined by Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson.
NEWS PEG
Holiday music monopolized the entire Hot 100 top five this week. Behind Carey and Lee, Bobby Helms ranks No. 3 with “Jingle Bell Rock,” Wham! took the No. 4 spot with “Last Christmas,” and Burl Ives hit No. 5 with “A Holly Jolly Christmas.” Lee leads Carey on this week’s Streaming Songs chart, Billboard reported, though the battle was close: “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” had 42.4 million streams, above “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which had 42.2 million. Carey made a big jump from No. 7 to No. 3 on the Digital Song Sales chart, with sales up 68% from last week thanks to her song’s discounted 69-cent price on iTunes, Billboard reported.
TANGENT
The rise of music streaming has made holiday songs highly profitable because each play is monetized. Billboard previously estimated that “All I Want for Christmas Is You” generated $6.16 million in revenue for Carey and her label in 2021, based on 94,000 downloads and 823 million streams. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” generated about $4 million in revenue in 2022, and Billboard reported it is on track to earn more this year thanks to its rising popularity. The increasing popularity of streaming, plus the removal of Billboard chart rules that previously forbade songs that had fallen off the Hot 100 to return, have paved the way for holiday songs to dominate the Hot 100 every December.