Twenty-three years after it was released, Mariah Carey’s ubiquitous holiday classic, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” has finally cracked the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 10, placing ninth last week.
The pop star, who cowrote and coproduced the song, described the recent feat as an “amazing Christmas gift.”
“As a songwriter. I feel so honored to have this song reach the Top 10 for the first time. I honestly never thought we would be talking about this happening,” she told Billboard. “But I’m so thankful to everyone who embraces this song as part of their holiday tradition.”
“All I Want” is Mariah’s 28th Top 10 entry, joining Stevie Wonder in the fifth place of Billboard’s list of artists with the most Top 10 hits. She also holds the record for being the female artist with most No. 1 singles with 18.
“It truly warms my heart, and I am proud of this song that I wrote basically as a kid on my little Casio keyboard,” Mariah said of the song, which has reportedly amassed about $50 million in royalties since 1994.—ALLAN POLICARPIO