Mariah Carey Warns Fans That It’s Too Early for ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’
In 1994, Mariah Carey released “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Thirty years later, the song is still a near-inescapable holiday classic. Carey rakes in millions each winter and has become known as the Queen of Christmas. Though she loves the attention her fans give the song, she doesn’t want people to start streaming her hit too early. This year, she posted a video telling fans it was too soon for “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Mariah Carey said October is too early to listen to her Christmas hit
Last year, Carey posted a video on Nov. 1 to tell fans, “It’s…… TIME!!!” Carey defrosts from a block of ice wearing a Santa Clause jumpsuit as “All I Want for Christmas Is You” begins to play. Videos like this have become a tradition for her.
Though she welcomes people to begin celebrating Christmas nearly two months before the holiday, she draws the line at anything earlier. This year, she posted a video to Instagram of herself relaxing on a jet as the opening notes to “All I Want for Christmas Is You” begin to play. The pilot announces, “This is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard Mariah — we are headed to the North Pole.”
“Not yet!” Carey shouts back. “Sorry.”
She then turns to the camera, telling the viewer, “They always rush me.”
How much money does Mariah Carey make every Christmas?
Each year, waves of people stream “All I Want for Christmas Is You” around the holidays. In 2022, the song’s master recording generated 2.181 million song consumption units in the United States alone. Globally, Billboard estimates the song’s master recording brought in $5.3 million, and publishing brought in $3.2 million.
They estimate that she could bring home $1.86 million in royalties as well as up to $1.59 million in publishing. In total, this could bring her more than $3 million each holiday season. As lucrative as the song is, Carey still doesn’t want to hear it before Nov. 1.
She didn’t initially want to release a holiday album
Carey’s fourth studio album was a Christmas record. Though she loves the holiday, she said she was hesitant to record the album.
“So that was the record company saying, ‘You should do a Christmas album.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know that I should at this juncture,’” she told Yahoo! “Because, you know, I was very young and was just starting out and I felt like people do Christmas albums later in their lives.”
Though she worried about recording the album, she quickly got into the spirit.
“But now people have started to do them whenever, like right at the top of their career,” she said. “So, I mean, what was I feeling like? I was a little bit apprehensive and then I was like, ‘I love this.’ And I decorated the studio and just had the best time.”
