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Netizens have reacted to pop icon Mariah Carey earning exorbitant royalties from her 1994 yuletide classic All I Want for Christmas is You every year. Written and produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff, the song belongs to her fourth studio album, Merry Christmas (1994), and was released by Columbia Records.
It is officially the Christmas season, and All I Want for Christmas is You is one of the mainstays for most Americans. The song is so popular that it still receives a huge amount of play time, even three decades after it was first released.
According to a report by the New York Post, Mariah Carey receives an estimated $3 million in royalties from the song every year. In streaming alone, the songstress has reportedly amassed over $60 million from the song to date. This statistic doesn't even include income through album sales, licensing, downloads, and other kinds of royalties.
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Fans across the internet have reacted to Mariah Carey's income from the song during the festive season.
"She really found the infinite money glitch," a fan commented on X.
"That royalty deal is what every artist should aspire to sign," another opined.
"More like with $3 million to spend for the year it’s like a Christmas gift to herself," one fan wrote on X.
"Imagine every January 1st, you go into the year knowing you are going to make a guaranteed $3m without lifting a finger…that’s so gangster," one user announced.
One fan claimed it was the "best example of passive income" they have come across all day.
"This is the best example of a passive income I've seen today," they opined.
"Mariah Carey, a five-time Grammy winner, is renowned for her five-octave vocal range and iconic hits like "Vision of Love," "We Belong Together," and the holiday classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You." With over 200 million records sold, she's a true pop legend, influencing generations of artists," another chimed in.
"Mariah Carey's holiday hit is the gift that keeps on giving. Christmas royalties proving music is the gift that lasts a lifetime," another added on X.
"She got it made, why bother making anything new at this point?" one claimed on X.
Billboard executive breaks down the success of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You
Gary Trust, managing director of charts and operations at Billboard, explained the unfathomable success of Mariah Carey's Christmas classic in an interview with the New York Post. In a report published on October 29, 2024, Trust said:
“It’s the gift that keeps on giving — to her fans and to Mariah.”
He pointed out that the song ranks atop Billboard's list of Greatest of All Time Holiday Songs. Therefore, it is more popular than any other holiday song released to date. It catapulted Carey to become the number-one artist in four distinct decades: the ’90s, ‘00s, ’10s, and ’20s.
However, All I Want for Christmas Is You had a slow climb to the top of the charts because of Billboard rules and regulations when it was released.
“When the single came out in 1994, it was sent to radio, but you couldn’t buy it on its own in stores. You could only buy it on the ‘Merry Christmas’ album.. And at the time. Hot 100 rules were such that you had to be a physically commercially available single to be on the Hot 100,” explained Trust.
According to the New York Post report, All I Want For Christmas is You makes Mariah Carey at least one cent every time it is played. In the streaming era, the song went atop the streaming charts in 2019 and has stayed there for five consecutive years.
Post-release, the song spent 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, tying with Mariah Carey's 2005 chart-topper We Belong Together. It also became her 19th No. 1 song in 2019, bringing the songstress within touching distance of The Beatles' record of 20.
Last Christmas, Mariah Carey's blockbuster blew up on Spotify with 23.7 million streams in a single day. However, Taylor Swift's Fortnight broke the record with 25.2 million streams. At present, the song is closing in on two billion streams on Spotify.
