“All I Want For Christmas is You” – Episode 107

In this episode, join Ray and Marc as they discuss Mariah Carey’s record-breaking #1 song “All I Want for Christmas is You”. After years of being considered just a holiday song, Mariah’s tune has reappeared each year at the top of Billboard’s chart to become the #1 song of all-time. Tune-in to find out the impact that this holiday classic will have on music history and why it matters going forward.

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Transcript

(0:00:19)
Ray: Welcome to Tunesmate, episode 107. I’m Ray.
Marc: I’m Marc.

Ray: And Marc, we have a new all-time Billboard Hot 100 champion. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” officially hit its 20th week at number one, making it the longest-running number-one single in chart history. It had been in a three-way tie with “Old Town Road” and Shaboozey’s big hit, but now it stands alone at number one with 20 weeks.

(0:00:49)
Marc: And what’s interesting is how it got there. “Old Town Road” had one continuous 19-week run. Shaboozey bounced in and out but still reached 19 weeks. Mariah Carey’s song, though, has spent the last six Christmas seasons bouncing back to number one for two, three, sometimes four weeks each year—and this season pushed it over the top.

So the question becomes: is “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in its own category now, or is it a novelty song?

(0:01:26)
Ray: That’s really the heart of it. For chart purposes, it’s now a full-fledged Hot 100 song. Holiday songs used to be separated out—Billboard even had a dedicated Christmas chart for a while. But things changed over time.

In 1998, Billboard started allowing everything to count toward the Hot 100, and then in 2007 streaming was introduced. Country and genre charts still exist, but everything now feeds into the Hot 100.

(0:02:17)
Ray: By around 2019, Billboard fully folded Christmas songs into the Hot 100, and that’s when we started seeing Mariah Carey hit number one every December. So yes—it’s still a Christmas song, but now it’s also a pop song.

(0:02:45)
Marc: And that’s what’s fascinating. If things continue as they are, this song could eventually become the biggest song of all time, simply because it comes back every year and almost always hits number one. It’s evergreen.

(0:03:16)
Ray: It already holds the record for weeks at number one. Unless something displaces it, it’s going to keep returning to the top. Last year, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” grabbed number one for a week, but Mariah quickly reclaimed it.

Every year, Wham!’s “Last Christmas” rises into the top five. This year it finally hit number two. But unless one of those overtakes Mariah’s level of airplay and streaming, this record will just keep growing.

(0:04:12)
Ray: Right now, the song has around 78 total weeks on the chart. My friend Andy, who teaches at the University of Alabama, and I talked about this back in March. When I emailed him after this record became official, he said, “In five or six years, it could double whatever number two is.”

If it spends just three weeks at number one each Christmas, five or six years from now we’re talking 40 weeks at number one. Unless something else comes along with an extremely long run, it’s going to dwarf everything else.

(0:05:07)
Marc: Billboard charts go back to 1955, with the Hot 100 starting in 1958. Elvis recorded Christmas songs—“Blue Christmas,” for example. Imagine if today’s rules existed back then.

Ray: Exactly. That album came out in 1994, so it’s modern compared to Bing Crosby or Elvis. It’s interesting that the most modern Christmas song is the one dominating the chart year after year.

(0:06:09)
Ray: This really shows how hard it is to compare eras. Elvis is the perfect example. If Christmas songs had always counted the way they do now—and if streaming existed—we might be calling “Blue Christmas” the biggest song of all time.

For decades, Elvis’s “Don’t Be Cruel / Hound Dog” double-sided single held the record at 11 weeks at number one.

(0:07:23)
Ray: Billboard changed its methodology in 1991, which allowed songs to stay at number one longer. Between 1985 and 1991, no song spent more than four weeks at number one. That changed with Paula Abdul’s “Rush Rush” and Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You.”

Then came Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day,” which spent 16 weeks at number one in 1995–96.

(0:08:46)
Ray: Older listeners still felt Elvis held the “real” record. I remember seeing Chris Berman on ESPN joking that Elvis might have something to say about it.

But Billboard keeps evolving:

1991: SoundScan and monitored airplay

1998: Non-singles allowed

2007: Streaming included

That’s why today, when Taylor Swift or Drake drops an album, they suddenly dominate the chart.

(0:10:26)
Ray: So yes, Mariah Carey holds the record—and probably will indefinitely—but it’s not really an apples-to-apples comparison with earlier eras.

(0:10:47)
Marc: There’s also something psychological going on. People forget the song just long enough that it feels fresh again. Seven or eight months is the perfect reset for human memory.

Christmas music now starts earlier every year, and that environment is perfectly built for Mariah Carey to reign.

(0:11:42)
Marc: You have to wonder if someone out there is thinking, “We’ve got to break this record.” Jimmy Fallon tried last year. Others will too. But realistically, it has to be a holiday song—regular pop songs just don’t have that recurring boost.

(0:12:34)
Ray: Either something overtakes it—or Billboard changes its methodology again. That seems more likely.

(0:12:58)
Ray: I’ve come to believe the Hot 100 isn’t really a snapshot of the top 100 songs right now. It’s more like a rolling historical playlist. When 75% of the chart is Christmas songs every December, it stops representing current pop culture in a meaningful way.

(0:15:38)
Marc: Maybe the Hot 100 is just a playlist—a reflection of listening behavior, not popularity in the traditional sense.

(0:16:10)
Ray: In a way, it always has been. Before 1991, it literally came from radio playlists and record store sales lists. Today it’s just a national, algorithm-driven playlist.

(0:18:57)
Ray: Right now, nearly the entire top 10 is Christmas music. That tells us more about seasonality than cultural dominance.

(0:20:24)
Marc: Still, this is a significant moment. Mariah Carey probably had no idea in 1994 what this song would become. She’s invested heavily in holiday music—and it’s paying off.

(0:21:08)
Ray: Absolutely. You can look at newer holiday hits from Michael Bublé, Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande—but Mariah’s song still has unmatched staying power.

(0:22:28)
Marc: Congratulations to Mariah Carey. This record probably won’t be broken in our lifetime.

(0:23:09)
Ray: Thanks to everyone listening. We’ll be back soon with our biggest hits of the year episode as we head into 2026.

(0:23:59)
Marc: Follow the blog, subscribe to the podcast.
Ray: From everyone at Tunesmate, I’m Ray.
Marc: I’m Marc.
Both: We’ll see you next time.