Like Santa Claus going on his annual sleigh ride through the air, Mariah Carey ascended to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 song chart with “All I Want for Christmas Is You”. The modern song records its ninth total week atop the Hot 100 and becomes the first song to lead four separate runs on the chart.
The song was first released on Carey’s album Merry Christmas in 1994 and, as streaming has grown and the holiday music became more prominent on streaming service playlists, it reached the top 10 of the Hot 100 for the first time in December 2017 and the top five for the first time in the 2018 holiday season, before reigning during the holidays in 2019 (for three weeks), 2020 (two) and 2021 (Three).
“Christmas” beats five holiday classics into the Hot 100 top 10, while Metro Boumin launches two titles into the medium – “Creepin’”, with The Weeknd and 21 Savage (#5), and “Superhero (Heroes & Villains)”, with Future and Chris Brown (#8) – both from his new album heroes and villainswho spear at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
The Hot 100 mixes all genres of US streaming (official audio and video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated Dec. 17) will be updated on Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 13). For all charting news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on Twitter and Instagram.
Here’s a closer look at Carey’s latest Hot 100 crowning achievement with “Christmas,” on Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings.
Broadcasts, distribution and sales: “Christmas” attracted 36.2 million streams (up 19%) and 29.9 million radio audience impressions (up less than 1%) and sold 6,000 downloads (up 23 %) in the United States during the tracking week of December 2-8, according to Luminer.
The song holds for a 17th week overall at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs table and No. 7 on Digital Song Sales and goes up 23-17 on Radio songs. It also crowns the multi-metric Vacation 100 chart for a 54th week, out of the chart’s 59 total weeks since the list’s launch in 2011. It has topped the tally for 39 straight weeks, dating to the start of the 2015-16 holiday season, and reigns as the first title on the Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs chart.
#1 in a separate fourth chart: Carey’s “Christmas” first topped the Hot 100 dated December 21, 2019, and again led on the next two lists, dated December 28, 2019 and January 4, 2020.
The following holiday season, it returned to No. 1 on the chart dated December 19, 2020 and, after a week at No. 2, topped the chart for January 2, 2021.
As “Christmas” returned to top the chart dated December 25, 2021, it became the number one song on the Hot 100 now-64 years of history to lead in three separate chart series. It held atop the charts dated January 1 and 8, 2022 and now becomes the first title to have led four separate stints in the rankings.
(Of all the Hot 100 No. 1s, Harry Styles’ “As It Was” has made the most climbs to the top: fiveon a single chart run.)
Longest reach at the top of the Hot 100: Carey’s “Christmas” stretches the longest stretch from a song’s first week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 to its last: three years (December 21, 2019-December 17, 2022).
Additionally, the last week atop the Hot 100 for “Christmas” extends Carey’s record for the longest span of an artist’s No. 1 ranking: 32 years, four months, and three weeks, dating from his first week at No. 1 on the list dated August 4, 1990, with his lead single “Vision of Love”.
Notably, when “Christmas” first reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 2019, Carey passed Cher, whose solo leaders span 27 years and five months, from “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves.” (from its first week at No. 1 in 1971) to “Believe” (until its last week at the top in 1999). (If Cher’s career as one half of the duo Sonny & Cher were combined with his solo output, his #1 run would cover 33 years, seven months, and two weeks, beginning with the duo’s “I Got You Babe,” which reached #1 in 1965, through “Believe”.)
Most weeks at #1 for holiday success: With its ninth week atop the Hot 100, Carey’s “Christmas” extends its record for most charts to No. 1 for a holiday song. The only other seasonal single to lead, “The Chipmunk Song”, by David Seville & the Chipmunks, spent four weeks at No. 1 from December 1958.
Record for Carey’s 88th week at the top of the Hot 100: With “Christmas,” Carey adds her record-breaking 88th week to No. 1 on the Hot 100, dating back to the chart’s inception on August 4, 1958.
Most weeks at No. 1 on Hot 100:
88 years old, Mariah Carey
60 years old, Rihanna
59, the Beatles
54 years old, Drake
50 years, Boyz II Men
47 years old, bailiff
43 years old, Beyonce
37 years old, Michael Jackson
34 years old, Adele
34 years old, Elton John
34 years old, Bruno Mars
“Christmas” became Carey’s 19th Hot 100 No. 1, the most among the soloists and a far cry from the Beatles’ overall record 20. It also made Carey the first artist to rank No. 1 on the chart. in four distinct decadesdating back to his first week at the top with “Vision of Love.”
Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, originally released in 1958, goes from No. 3 to its best No. 2 Hot 100 (aka, a new old-fashioned way to scale the chart, as he has reached the top runner-rank in each of the last three holiday seasons). It had 34.3 million streams (up 15%), 26.1 million radio broadcast audience (basically even week-over-week) and 5,000 sold (up 19%) from December 2 to 8.
“Jingle Bell Rock” by the late Bobby Helms, from 1957, climbed 5-3 on the Hot 100 and “A Holly Jolly Christmas” by the late Burl Ives, from 1964, climbed 6-4. As with Lee’s standard Yuletide, Helms and Ives return to their respective highs reached in each of the past three holiday seasons.
Metro Boomin explodes with two songs in the top 10 of the Hot 100, as “Creepin'”, with The Weeknd and 21 Savage, debuts at No. 5 and “Superhero (Heroes & Villains)”, with Future and Chris Brown, opens at No. 8. The tracks start at No. 4 and 6 on Streaming Songs with 30.8 million and 27.4 million streams, respectively.
Metro Boomin hits a new Hot 100 best and doubles his career top 10 as a billed recording artist, having previously debuted and peaked at numbers 9 and 10, respectively, with “Runnin” (with 21 Savage) and “Mr. Right Now” (featuring 21 Savage and featuring Drake) in October 2020. Metro Boomin co-produced and co-wrote these songs and did the same for six other top 10s, including No. 1 “Bad and Boujee” by Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert (2017) and “Heartless” by The Weeknd (2019); he also co-wrote Big Sean’s 2017 top 10 hit “Bounce Back”.
Thanks to “Creepin'”, The Weeknd adds his 15th Top 10 Hot 100 and 21 Savage, his 14th. With “Superhero,” Future and Chris Brown extend their top 10 to 10 and 17, respectively.
Simultaneously, “Creepin'” debuted at No. 1 on Popular R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songswhile “Superhero (Heroes & Villains)” starts at the top hot rap songs, the charts using the same methodology as the Hot 100. Metro Boomin, The Weeknd and 21 Savage each claim their first, seventh and fifth No. 1s on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and their first, 10th and first each on Hot R&B Songs. Metro Boomin, Future and Brown each land their first, third and fifth number 1 on Hot Rap Songs.
Taylor Swift’s ‘Anti-Hero’ drops to No. 6 after spending its first six weeks on the Hot 100 at No. 1 as of November, with 74.6 million radio reach (up 8%), 18.6 million streams (down 11%) and 7,000 sold (down 8%). 48%).
Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” plunges 4-7 on the Hot 100, after topping the October 29 chart, as it reigns over Radio Songs for a fourth week (78.6 million audience, up of 2%).
“Last Christmas” from Wham! lead 10-9 on the Hot 100, after the 1984 release hit the top 10 during the 2020 holiday season and peaked at No. 7 last holiday season.
Closing out the Hot 100 top 10, Drake and 21 Savage’s “Rich Flex” drops 7-10, having spent its first three weeks on the chart at its best number 2 from November.
Again, for all charting news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated December 17), including the entire Hot 100, will be refreshed on Billboard.com tomorrow (December 13) .
Luminate, the independent data provider of the Billboard charts, performs a thorough review of all data submissions used to compile weekly chart rankings. Luminate examines and authenticates the data. In partnership with Billboarddata deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.