Last Christmas, Mariah Carey had quite a happy holiday by scoring her 19th No. 1 song.
This year, she’s back — atop Billboard’s Hot 100 chart at No. 1 — with her 1994 seasonal song “All I Want for Christmas is You.”
The song jumps up a position from last week and logs its fourth week at the pole position — it spent three weeks at the top last year.
For a long while, Billboard did not permit holiday songs to be eligible to chart. From 1963-72 and again from 1983-85, holidays songs were charted in separate rankings.
The only other holiday song to ever top the charts was “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” by The Chipmunks (and David Seville). That song was No. 1 for four weeks in 1958-59.
But Carey isn’t the only artist enjoying the benefit of listeners’ Christmas spirit.
Brenda Lee moves up to No. 3 with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” her 1958 song. Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” moves to No. 5, Andy Williams is at No. 6 with “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad” lands in the Top 10 for the first time.
Those five songs tie a chart record for most Christmas songs in the Top 10.
Wham!’s modern classic “Last Christmas” is knocking on history itself, moving up to No. 11 — just one notch shy of the Top 10. For all its exposure during the holidays, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s track has never cracked the Top 10. It just might this year.
Other artists scoring holiday hits include Burl Ives at No. 14 with “Holly Jolly Christmas,” Dean Martin (15) with “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow,” Nat King Cole (16) with “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You), and The Ronettes (20) with “Sleigh Ride.”
There’s a (yule) log jam of other holiday songs throughout the chart, which could be seeing more gains in the coming weeks.
Billboard’s Hot 100 chart combines all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data.
