All Mariah Carey wants for Christmas is another Top 10

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, that is, if you’re a fan of Christmas singles?

While the seemingly ageless Mariah Carey might claim that you’re all she wants for Chrismas, you won’t find her complaining about the payday that comes around when her catchy 1994 single breaks back onto the charts around about this time each year.

It’s truly a phenomenon, and this week ‘All I Want For Christmas’ re-enters the ARIA Singles Chart at #20. The single first debuted on the chart in 1994, reaching a high point of #2, before an 18-year absence from the charts ended in 2012.

Carey’s success comes as no real surprise. A recent survey conducted by Sony found that 78% of Australians enjoy listened to Christmas songs in the lead-up to Christmas.

The same survey found that 53% of those over 65+ are most likely to be reminded of happy times when they hear carols, while 17% of millennials will deliberately play carols with the explicit intent of annoying those around them.

Radio stations have dusted off the record as well, and it’s received just enough spins to crack the latest TMN Hot 100 Airplay Chart powered by Radio Monitor.

If anything, the Christmas classic has picked up momentum in the years since the advent of streaming.

In December 2018, the song set the record for the most-streamed song by a female artist in 24 hours… 10,819,009 streams.

Currently, the track sits at #3 on the Spotify Global Chart, lands at #10 on the latest Top 100 Global Apple Music Chart, and has just cracked the Shazam Global Top 50 (at #48).

All I Want For Christmas holds three Guinness World Records / Facebook

While Carey arguably has the most successful Christmas single of all time, there are plenty of other artists having success on the charts with holiday tunes.

Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ is the only other track to re-enter the ARIA Singles Chart this week, perhaps courtesy of being core to the Christmas game Whamageddon.

The single is placed at #7 on the Global Spotify Chart, #36 on the Global Apple Music Chart and #75 on the Shazam Chart.

Whamageddon is a survival game whereby players must try to make it from the first of December to midnight on December 24 without hearing ‘Last Christmas’, and if they do hear it they must post #whamageddon to social media, and then try to force others to join them in the losing circle.

Locally, Robbie Williams has his first ARIA Albums Chart #1 since 2009 with The Christmas Present.

Mariah Carey’s album Merry Christmas (#19) is joined on the chart by Michael Buble’s Christmas (#6), Last Christmas – The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (#17), Human Nature’s The Christmas Album (#20).

Christmas albums by John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John, The Seekers and Bing Crosby are also charting, and with just weeks to go until Christmas, 2019 could be another record-breaking year for holiday music.