It is official. The perennial holiday smash, known to the world as “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is now a top 10 Hot 100 hit!
In the latest Billboard issue, published today, it has been revealed that the song has finally reached a new peak of #9. After peaking just outside the top 10 at #11 a couple years ago, the Queen of Christmas finally gets her due and adds a new top 10 to her tally. The 28th to be exact.
Billboard reports that very few holiday songs have reached the top 10 and that Mariah’s smash is the only one to feature the word Christmas in its title out of them.
Some background info
“All I Want For Christmas Is You” was released in 1994 holiday season, as the first single from Mariah Carey’s first Christmas album, Merry Christmas.
Upon its release Billboard’s rules did not allow it to chart, as singles needed to have a commercial release to be able to enter the Hot 100. Nonetheless, the song proved to be a hit, reaching #12 on Hot 100 Airplay and the top 10 of the Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts.
The song first charted on the Hot 100 in 2000, after album tracks were allowed to enter the charts, and peaked at #83. A peak that was an unfair representation of how huge the song would become in the following seasons.
Starting with the 2005 holiday season, in fact, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” became more and more popular, even reaching #1 on the Digital Songs chart that year. The song topped the Hot 100 Recurrents chart every year, gaining more and more cultural significance.
The last few years
After Whitney Houston’s untimely passing in 2012, Billboard decided that older tracks could be allowed back into the Hot 100 as long as they had enough traction to be in the top 50.
That same year, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” reached a new peak of #21 and it’s been inching closer and closer to the top 10 ever since.
Finally, this year’s top 10 placement can be considered a small victory for Mariah and her fans. Hoping it can reach an even higher mark.. who knows, maybe even next week?