Since her rise to fame in the early 90s, Mariah Carey has been a staple in the music industry. In 1991, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and would go on to receive about 50 more awards including the Billboard Music Award for Top Female Artist and more recently in 2019, having won the Billboard Icon Award. It is safe to say that Carey lived up to those awards, but one of her songs in particular stands out, no other than the hit Christmas single titled “All I Want For Christmas is You.”
Despite having been released in 1994, almost three decades ago, the single’s success is renewed annually. “All I Want For Christmas is You” reenters charts worldwide when “that time of the year comes,” playing on heavy rotation each year at malls, parties, and events in the run-up to Christmas. Additionally, the song has reached number one in over 25 countries.
When asked about their opinions on the annual success of the single, some ILS students shared the following thoughts:
“I love the song and even though it can get repetitive, it’s super fun and puts me in a Christmas mood,” said senior Talia Lerebours.
“I look forward to hearing that song play each year. It’s like an essential part of Christmas at this point,” said junior Alyssa Grace.
Senior Jaime Luna also shared this opinion: “I think it’s so famous because it’s a classic and there’s no modern Christmas song that really amount to it.”
Carey continues to profit from the track as a recent report from the New York Post estimated that she makes around $3 million each year from the song. As the song continues experiencing ongoing success, she faces a lawsuit from Andy Stone and Troy Powers. The two country artists are seeking at least $20 million from Carey, claiming to have also written a song with the same name in 1989. Having listened to Stone’s song, better known by his band name Vince Vance and the Valiants, many fans claim that he just wants money and that Carey’s song is vastly different from the “original”. Nevertheless, it’s not the first time the artist faced such accusations which have not taken away from the song’s popularity.
