‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ just hit the Top 10 for the first time ever

It may be the only modern Christmas carol to have become a legitimate holiday standard since John and Yoko’s 1971 Xmas song/protest song ‘Happy Xmas’ (Remind me to argue with you later about how Delta Goodrem’s lyrical change in her cover completely changed/missed the meaning of the entire song. Later, though….) but it’s taken over 23 years for Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ to enter the Billboard Top 10, having climbed from 11 to 9 in the past week.

“It truly warms my heart”, Carey told Billboard, “and I am proud of this song that I wrote basically as a kid on my little Casio keyboard.”

Although the song is undeniable a holiday classic, this is the first time technology, and the way sales are calculated has allowed it the chart success it deserves.

Streaming has no doubt boosted the song up the charts, but the song has been driven further by the twin successes of two holiday films featuring the song: ‘The Star’, a new animated film that adapts the Jesus-in-a-manger story, and ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ – a straight to DVD/streaming release based on the song (well, as much as a feature film can be based on a three verse song with a general sentiment of longing and love) that will be scooping up young fans previously unaware of the song.

“As a songwriter, I feel so honored to have this song reach Billboard’s top 10 for the first time”, Carey continued. “I honestly never thought we’d be talking about this happening, but I’m so thankful to everyone who embraces this song as part of their holiday tradition.”

The song is currently sitting at #16 on the Australian singles chart. It’s Australian peak was #2, on Christmas Day, 1994, as you unwrapped Ninja Turtles toys.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.