Mariah Carey’s humdinger ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ tops British music charts, 26 years after release
- Last updated: December 12, 2020 | 13:41
Gulf Today Report
It is a must-listen during the Christmas season, a humdinger that continues to rock music charts, more than two decades after its debut.
Mariah Carey’s classic ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ has made it to the top of the British pop charts, 26 years after its release in 1994.
It has achieved iconic status, and become the ultimate festive soundtrack, complete with the feelgood bonhomie and bonding that marks the Yuletide season.
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What’s noteworthy is that it was written and composed in 15 minutes.
Academic studies have crowned it the best festive song. Carey has earned a whopping $60 million in royalties from the number.
The song became all the more popular after it featured in the movie 'Love Actually.'
The song is inimitable, ingrained in the psyche of a lot of Carey fans.
In previous years the 1994 hit had peaked at No 6 in the Official Charts Company’s UK Top 40.
Wham!’s “Last Christmas” has also risen up the ranks, where it is currently in the No 3 spot.
According to the BBC, in her recent memoir, Carey said the song's opening chimes are meant to evoke the "little wooden toy pianos, like the one Schroeder had on Peanuts"
"I actually did bang out most of the song on a cheap little Casio keyboard," she added. "But it's the feeling I wanted to capture. There's a sweetness, a clarity and a purity to it."
Although she was unhappy at the time, dealing with the pressures of fame and a tempestuous relationship with her future husband Tommy Mottola, she wanted to "write a song that would me happy and make me feel like a loved, carefree young girl at Christmas.”
The song has also re-entered the US iTunes chart.
The track, which was first released in 1994, was at number 97 in Apple’s music chart, having re-entered the top 100 on 1 November, the day after Halloween.
The song is expected to rise back up the charts in the coming months, in what is sure to be another busy festive season for Carey.
Last year, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time, breaking the record for the longest journey to the number one spot 26 years after its original release.
“All I Want For Christmas Is You” is the best-selling Christmas single of all time, having amassed more than 3.2m digital downloads over the years, double that of second place contender “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” from ‘Frozen.’
On Nov.1, Carey marked the movement from Halloween to Christmas with a hilarious video shared on her social media.
In the clip, a masked figure in a Halloween costume is seen creeping through a house before opening a door covered in cobwebs and bearing the words “not yet” and “too soon”.
Behind the door, Carey is sitting in a Christmas grotto complete with fake snow and Christmas trees.
“It’s time,” the singer says, before screaming in excitement as the opening lines of her festive hit begin to play.