Popularity of Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ Nowhere Near Fading

Released in 1994, Mariah Carey‘s ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ returns every December to public consciousness as a de facto festive anthem, still climbing up global charts. But how much does the pop star make from a song released more than a quarter century ago?

The Economist released a report in 2017, estimating that Carey had pocketed more than $60 million from the single between 1994 and 2016. The track earns anywhere between $600,000 and $1 million in royalties each year, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

This makes the song one of the biggest international hits of Carey. It’s also the best-selling Christmas single by a female artist and one of the best-selling singles in music history. Streaming is additional revenue source for the star, but the exact amount remains unclear.

Safe To Say, Mariah Carey Pockets Millions From The 1994 Song

In 2019, ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts for the first time after 25 years. The song was back again at the top spot in 2020 and then in 2021. It looks like the appeal of the single is nowhere near fading.

In December 2022, Carey, who co-wrote the earworm with Walter Afanasieff, announced the song had been streamed more than a billion times on Spotify. Spotify says artists are paid up to two-thirds of every dollar they make from music streaming, according to foxbusiness.com.

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But despite its merry theme, the single has a not-so-jolly backstory. Carey and Afanasieff have had a falling out. Speaking to Variety in 1999, the latter said: “Mariah has been very wonderful … But she definitely does not share credit where credit is due.”