Mariah Carey’s festive smash-hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has been knocked off the top spot in the race for Christmas No.1 in the U.S. by Wham’s “Last Christmas” — with just seven days to go until the big day.
Billboard said Carey’s 1994 song had been replaced on the Global 200 chart by Wham’s Christmas hit, released a decade earlier in 1984.
This marks the first time a Christmas song besides Carey’s unimpeachable “All I Want For Christmas is You” has topped the chart since its launch in September 2020.
Billboard said that Carey’s anthem has topped the Global 200 chart for a record total of 19 weeks since December 2020.
Earlier this month, “Last Christmas” reached its highest-ever position on the Billboard Hot 100 and Holiday 100 charts, at No. 2, behind “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Wham! member Andrew Ridgeley — who formed the British pop duo in 1981 with the late George Michael — said in a statement that he was “delighted” to learn that Wham!’s perennial Christmas favorite had secured the spot.
He added: “Thank you everyone who has embraced the song as a little piece of their own Merry Christmas.”
Despite the change in ranking on the Billboard charts, Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” continues to dominate the radio airwaves, playlists and festive parties across the world.
Released three decades ago, Carey is still reaping the benefits of the record-breaking Christmas classic, pulling in millions of dollars in royalties annually, according to estimates.
Each year, Carey earns an estimated $2.5 to $3 million from royalties for the song, data from Forbes and The Economist suggest.
As of 2017, the song had generated over $60 million through royalties since its release, according to The Economist. Carey’s co-writer, Walter Afanasieff, is also expected to make a significant chunk of royalties. It is the most-streamed holiday track of all time.
In November each year, Carey shares a video on social media, often seen as the annual harbinger of the Christmas period.
This year’s offering showed Carey disciplining an unruly elf for stealing her lipstick, singing the phrase “it’s time” in a high-pitched voice before riding off in a sleigh.
“All I Want for Christmas is You” is the highest-charting holiday single by a solo artist on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100 and routinely lands on the music charts in dozens of countries year after year.
The Christmas anthem made history in 2021, when it became the first and only holiday song to win the RIAA’s Diamond Award, which recognizes 10 million sales and streaming units in the U.S.
Wham! rose to fame after appearing on the British music programme Top of the Pops, and subsequently released the songs including “Bad Boys”, “Club Tropicana” and “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”. They became one of the most successful U.K. pop acts of the 1980s.
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