Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” becomes the highest-charting yuletide hit in 60 years on the Billboard Hot 100, as it rises from No. 7 to No. 6 (on the chart dated Dec. 22). Carey’s “Christmas,” first released in 1994, hit the top 10 for the first time last holiday season, reaching No. 9; a week ago, it bested that rank, rising to No. 7.
Carey co-wrote and co-produced “Christmas” with Walter Afanasieff, who, in 2014, upon the song’s 20th anniversary, told Billboard, “To me, it’s kind of a cosmic occurrence that happens once every five billion years. Thousands of original Christmas songs have been written in the last 20 years. It’s not like no one writes Christmas songs; everyone is trying to get a Christmas song. But for whatever reason, ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ just became that song.”
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