All I Want for Christmas Is You
| "All I Want for Christmas Is You" | |
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| Song |
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a song by American singer Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff, and recorded for Carey's fifth album Merry Christmas (1994). Its protagonist declares that she does not care about Christmas presents or lights; all she wants for Christmas is to be with her lover. It is unrelated to the 1989 Christmas hit single by novelty act Vince Vance and the Valiants. It was released as the album's first single in December 1994 (see 1994 in music) and reached the top ten in several countries.
It is Carey's most successful song worldwide, having sold over 8 million cds, digital downloads, and ringtones worldwide. It sold over 1 million in Japan and remains one of her most successful today. It became the first holiday ringtone to go gold and platinum and its history of breaking records only start from there. Every Christmas it peaks inside the top 10 in most charts it enters. According to The New Yorker, it is "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon".[1] Despite the common misconception that Carey covered this song, the fact is that this track is an original song written by Carey and Walter Afanasieff.[2] It has been covered by singers such as Shania Twain and Samantha Mumba, bands such as My Chemical Romance, and girl group The Cheetah Girls and Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana). It was performed by Olivia Olson in the film Love Actually (2003). By late 2006, it had become the best-selling holiday ring tone of all time in the U.S.[3] In 2008 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' was voted the UK's favourite Christmas song. Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is U.S. best-selling contemporary holiday ringtone for third consecutive year with cumulative sales topping 1.8 million.[4] Mariah Carey's 1994 recording of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" has become the first holiday song to sell one million digital downloads in U.S.[5]
Chart performance
Because of Billboard magazine rules at the time, the song did not chart on the U.S. Hot 100 during its original release because a commercial single was not issued. It was popular on U.S. radio and peaked at #12 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, and was also a big hit elsewhere. It reached number two in the United Kingdom for three weeks and has been certified for selling over 400,000 copies there, losing out to East 17's "Stay Another Day" for that year's Christmas number-one single. The single also peaked at number two in Australia and Japan, where it was used as the theme song to the drama 29-sai no Christmas (29才のクリスマス), and was titled "Koibinochoto-tachipachi no Christmas" (恋人たちの∆クリスマス; "Lovers' Christmas"). It sold 1.1 million units in Japan,[6] and remains her best-selling single there.
In 2000 the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100, charting at #83 for its one-week tenure in the chart that year. (After 1999, singles were allowed to chart on the Hot 100 without a commercial release; the song received enough radio airplay that year to appear on the chart.) Billboard magazine has since added restrictions to Christmas songs, but with the growth of all-holiday-music formats in the U.S., the song is played on the radio at the end of every year.
In 2005 it rapidly ascended to #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Recurrents chart (for songs no longer eligible for the Hot 100), giving it a new peak. It has since reached that position annually from 2005 through 2008. During the same period it became Carey's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart. It is noted by Billboard that, if eligible, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" would have entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #6 that year. In December 2006 "All I Want for Christmas Is You" became the first holiday ring tone to receive a gold and a platinum certification from the RIAA for sales of over one million.[3] In 2007, had it been eligible to chart on Billboard Hot 100 Airplay it would have peaked at #11. Due to the inclusion of download into the British charts that year, the song re-entered around the Christmas period, peaking at #4.
On November 9 2008, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart again, this time at #104 and has so far peaked at #12 and re-entered the European Hot 100 at #68. The christmas song re-entered the Portugal Billboard Singles Chart at #7.[7]
As of 17th December 2008, the song had reached number 8 of the Box download chart.
Music videos and remixes
There are three (technically four) music videos for "All I Want for Christmas Is You". The first and most commonly seen is a home video that shows Carey celebrating Christmas with snow, presents, and loved ones. Carey's then-husband, Tommy Mottola, makes a cameo appearance as Santa Claus. In the other video, inspired by Nancy Sinatra, Carey dances around in a 1960s-influenced studio surrounded by go go dancers. For a 1960s look, the video was filmed in black and white. It is not clear whether the inclusion of this obvious rough-cut version on the DualDisc was an error. The original song however was written about her high school sweetheart John Miladore.
When the song was first released as a single, no remixes were commissioned. Carey re-released the song commercially in Japan in 2000, with a new remix known as the "So So Def" remix. The song features new vocals and is played over a harder, more urban beat complete with rap and spoken parts by Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Bow Wow, respectively. The remix is featured on Carey's compilation album Greatest Hits (2001) as a bonus track. A video was created for the remix, but it does not feature Carey or the rappers and is animated instead. The style of the animation is based on a scene in the video for Carey's "Heartbreaker" (1999). Besides cartoon cameo appearances by Carey, Jermaine Dupri, and Lil' Bow Wow, the video also features cameos from Luis Miguel (Carey's boyfriend at the time), her dog (Jack), and Santa Claus. The music video director is credited as "Kris Kringle".
Track listings
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