All I Want for Christmas Is You
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey from her fourth studio album and first holiday album, Merry Christmas (1994). She wrote and produced the song with Walter Afanasieff. It was released as the lead single from the album on October 29, 1994, by Columbia Records. The track is an uptempo love song that talks about prioritizing time with a lover over receiving gifts. It includes bell chimes, backing vocals, and synthesizers. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" has received critical acclaim, with The New Yorker describing it as "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon". The song has become a Christmas standard, and significant rises in popularity every December.
It was a success when first released, reaching number 6 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart in the United States and number 2 in the United Kingdom and Japan. The advent of music streaming has led to renewed success for the single, which annually re-enters charts worldwide in the weeks before Christmas and has reached number 1 in over thirty countries. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" broke the record for the longest gap between release and reaching number 1 in both the United States and the United Kingdom, 25 and 26 years respectively. In 2025, the song set a record as the longest-running number 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining at the top of the chart for twenty-two weeks. It is the best-selling Christmas song in the US. The track has been certified Diamond in Australia, Canada, Sweden, and the US. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" has sold over 16 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling digital singles. As of 2023, the Associated Press estimated the song's royalty earnings at $100 million. That same year, it was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.
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