All they want for Christmas is Mariah Carey.
After taking over ASCAP's list of the most-played holiday songs last year with "All I Want for Christmas Is You," the Greenlawn, N.Y., native is on top of this year's list again, ahead of holiday classics like "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas."
"From the very beginning, Mariah and I wanted to create music that would make listeners feel the same sense of nostalgia we all feel around the holiday season," Carey's co-writer on the song, Walter Afanasieff, told ASCAP. "And what started as a simple rock and roll melody on the piano, I'm so pleased to say, has topped this list once again and become a holiday classic."
Aside from Kelly Clarkson's "Underneath the Tree" from 2013, Carey's 1994 single is the only song on ASCAP's Top 25 that comes from after 1984.
"At this time of year, it is always a joy to hear fresh interpretations of the classic holiday songs that have played such important roles in our lives," ASCAP Chairman and President Paul Williams said in a statement. "It really is the most wonderful time of the year and I can think of no better way to celebrate it than by acknowledging the incredibly talented songwriters whose enduring works make the holiday that much more special and meaningful."
