Mariah Carey is having an absolutely fantastic week career-wise. In fact, it might rank as one of the best throughout her decades in the spotlight.
All of the singer-songwriter's success at the moment is due to her biggest hit, "All I Want for Christmas Is You". The tune completed its annual surge back up the charts last week, but that jump pales in comparison to what is happening now. As "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reconquers the Hot 100, it also snags several new platinum certifications, moving up the list of the most popular tracks in United States history.
On Tuesday (December 16), the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) honored Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" with two new platinum plaques. The song has now been certified 18-times platinum for shifting 18 million total equivalent units. That sum is made up of both actual purchases and streaming equivalents, which were introduced into the RIAA's methodology years ago.
Now that it sits comfortably at 18-times platinum, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is tied as the third-highest certified song in American history. Carey's yuletide staple matches both Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud", which reached that level last year.
Just two tracks land ahead of Sheeran, Journey, and Carey. Back in October, "Just the Way You Are", the first true breakout hit by Bruno Mars, advanced to double diamond status, and it now sits at 21 million units - the biggest song of all time in America. The crooner's introductory smash pulled ahead of "Sunflower" by Post Malone and Swae Lee, which is steady with 20 million units shifted in the U.S. alone.
Before today, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was last certified by the RIAA in December 2024. The chart-topper added another two million units at that time, compared to the December prior, and landed at 16-times platinum. Now, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" leaps past eight songs as it pushes from 16 to 18 million units moved.
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" has needed decades to move its 18 million units, a sum that is sure to climb again as Americans continue to stream and buy the cut every holiday season. Carey dropped what would go on to become a career-defining smash back in 1994, although it didn't become a must-hear every year for quite some time. The RIAA didn't certify "All I Want for Christmas Is You" until December 2005, when it went gold after moving 500,000 copies.
The track didn't move up to the platinum level, which a song earns when it shifts one million units, until 14 years later, in the fall of 2019, just before it hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 for the first time. At that point, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" leapt from gold status to six-times platinum. Each year since, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" has added two million units, a trend that could continue.
The RIAA honors "All I Want for Christmas Is You" as the smash dominates the Hot 100 songs chart in America once more. As of this frame - it's second running the list so far this season - Carey's behemoth becomes the first 20-frame ruler and earns the honor of being the longest-running No. 1 ever.
(Forbes)
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