Monday 28 November 2011

Michael Buble's Mariah cover tops Adult Contemporary

Michael Buble's cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" does what the original never did: it reaches No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio airplay chart. The remake bounds 10-1 in its third week on the AC tally, outperforming the No. 6 peak to which Carey's version climbed the week of January 7, 1995. Just past Thanksgiving, Buble's version received airplay on 64 of the AC panel's 76 stations in the chart's tracking week, as the format makes its annual segue to a reliance on holiday music, a movement that intensified at the beginning of the 2000s.

Buble's slower take than Carey's jangly original "Christmas" marks his fourth AC No. 1, following "Home" (two weeks, 2005); "Everything" (three, 2007); and, "Haven't Met You Yet" (three, 2010). (Carey, meanwhile, is charting on AC with a new version of "Christmas". Justin Bieber's new duet of the song with Carey, from his seasonal set "Under the Mistletoe", jumps 18-11 in its second week).

"I heard 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' done by my bass player (Craig Polasko), this really slow and heartfelt way," says Buble. "He heard it, he liked," confirms Polasko, "and basically told me, 'one day, I'm going to steal your arrangement'."

The coronation of "Christmas" represents the earliest a holiday song has ever led the AC chart. While Josh Groban's "Believe" also reached No. 1 on the first chart released following Thanksgiving in 2004 (dated that December 11), Buble bests his Warner Bros. labelmate by a day, as this week's Billboard charts are dated December 10, 2011.

Buble additionally scales AC with "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" (17-9), "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (16-12) and "White Christmas", with Shania Twain (28-16), and debuts with "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (No. 22) and "Jingle Bells", featuring the Puppini Sisters (No. 23). His six simultaneously-charting songs are the most by an artist since the list converted to Nielsen BDS data in 1993, topping two weeks in 2005 when Clay Aiken charted five each.

The carols appear on Buble's holiday album, "Christmas", which, as previously reported, is expected to rise 2-1 and block new releases by Rihanna, Nickelback and Daughtry from the summit of this week's Billboard 200. An ascent to the apex would mark the set's first week on top and Buble's third No. 1 on the tally. All charts, including Adult Contemporary and the Billboard 200, will be refreshed Thursday (December 1) on Billboard.com.

(Billboard's Chart Beat)



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