Mariah Carey Rewrites Her Longest Hot 100 Reign With 17th Week at No. 1 for ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’

Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” on Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings, drew 48 million streams (up 13% week-over-week) and 28.7 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 12%) and sold 11,000 (downloads and physical singles combined; up 80%) in the U.S. Dec. 13-19, according to Luminate. Boosting the song’s sales for a second week, 7-inch and 12-inch vinyl and cassette and CD singles were released Dec. 6, in honor of its 30th anniversary.

The track holds at No. 1 on Streaming Songs for a record-breaking 21st week, one-upping Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (in 2019), for the longest rule dating to the chart’s 2013 inception. It jumps 4-1 for a fifth week atop Digital Song Sales, stretching to its first week in the lead in December 2005, and lifts 17-16 on Radio Songs, where it has hit a No. 11 best.

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” now solely holds the third-longest command among the 1,176 total No. 1s dating to the Hot 100’s Aug. 4, 1958, start. (The seven longest-leading songs have reigned since the list adopted electronically-monitored Luminate data in November 1991, at which point longer No. 1 stays than before subsequently became more common.)

Here is a recap of the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1s:

Now up to 17 weeks, Carey’s “Christmas” extends its mark as the holiday song with the most time logged atop the Hot 100, among three Yuletide leaders. “The Chipmunk Song,” by The Chipmunks with David Seville, led for four weeks beginning in December 1958, followed by Brenda Lee’s three weeks last holiday season with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (also released in 1958).

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” extends the longest span from a song’s first week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 to its latest to five years and one week, from the charts dated Dec. 21, 2019, through latest, Dec. 28, 2024-dated list.

Carey has the second-longest span for an artist atop the Hot 100: 34 years and five months, dating to her first week at No. 1 (Aug. 4, 1990) with her debut smash “Vision of Love.” Only Lee boasts a longer career stretch of topping the chart: 63 years, five months and three weeks, from “I’m Sorry” (July 18, 1960) through “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (Jan. 6, 2024).

Carey collects her record-extending 96th week at No. 1 on the Hot 100, across her 19 leaders, dating to the chart’s inception.

Here’s a recap of the artists with the most weeks spent at No. 1 on the Hot 100:

Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” concurrently shines brightest on Billboard’s multimetric Holiday 100 chart, leading for a 64th week, of the chart’s 72 total weeks since the list originated in 2011.

The anthem also rules as the top title on Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs chart.

Holiday hits again comprise the Hot 100’s entire top five, with Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” holding at No. 2.

Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” from 1984, rebounds to its No. 3 best, first achieved two weeks earlier, from No. 4. It sports a 164% surge to 8,000 sold, helped by four physical versions – on CD and on black, “snowflake white” and zoetrope 12-inch vinyl – released Dec. 13. Plus, the Netflix documentary Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped premiered Dec. 15, chronicling the legacy of the song and its video via new interviews with Ridgeley and archival footage of Michael.

Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” from 1957, dips to No. 4 from its No. 3 Hot 100 high and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” released in 1964, reprises its No. 5 rank, having peaked at No. 4.

Two modern original holiday hits jingle into the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time: Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me,” from 2014 (14-9), and Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree,” from 2013 (15-10). Both songs previously peaked at No. 11 last holiday season.

“Santa Tell Me” totaled 27.7 million streams (up 17%), 8.9 million in airplay audience (up 3%) and 1,000 sold (up 12%) Dec. 13-19; “Underneath the Tree” rang up totals of 28.4 million streams (up 19%), 9.2 million in radio reach (up 16%) and 2,000 sold (down 1%). (Despite higher raw streaming totals for “Underneath the Tree,” “Santa Tell Me” ranks higher on Streaming Songs and the Hot 100 due to the application of weighting to all titles’ paid/subscription and ad-supported on-demand streams and programmed/radio streams.)

Grande notches her 22nd career Hot 100 top 10, and her third this year. Clarkson posts her 12th and first since “Piece by Piece” hit No. 8 in March 2016.

In a win for newer traditions, “Santa Tell Me” becomes the most-recently-released holiday track to reach the Hot 100’s top 10 – while “Underneath the Tree” is the second-newest. Prior to this week, Kenny G boasted the most-recently-released holiday top 10: his take on “Auld Lang Syne,” released at the end of 1999, hit No. 7 in the Y2K holiday season. (A mix including news clips of noteworthy 20th century events added to the original instrumental’s reach.)

Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is the only other holiday song from the ‘90s to have hit the Hot 100’s top 10. New Kids on the Block’s “This One’s for the Children,” from 1989, is now the fifth-most-recently-released holiday-themed top 10, having hit No. 7 that Yuletide season.

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” – the Hot 100’s top non-holiday title, and the only such song in the top 10 – holds at No. 6, following four weeks at its No. 2 best in November.

Elsewhere in the Hot 100’s top 10, Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” ascends 11-7 and Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” storms 12-8. The songs, from 1963 and 1959, have hit highs of Nos. 5 and 7, respectively.