It’s no surprise to anyone that Mariah Carey, ‘The Queen of Christmas,’ makes more money around Christmas than at any other time during the year. Just from her song “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” she makes between 2-4 million dollars annually, which helps with her already big net worth of 350 million dollars. It also means that she makes double the amount of money when Christmas comes around. A quote from Forbes Magazine states that “Billboard estimated “All I Want for Christmas Is You” generated about $6.16 million in master recording and publishing revenue in 2021 based on 94,000 downloads and 823 million streams. Carey likely pocketed about $1.55 million in 2021 from the master recording revenue, according to Billboard,(…) .” Carey and the co-writer also split the revenue from the song so if Carey herself just got the money she would be even richer. The quote proves that her income from the song nearly doubles from the money she makes in other months throughout the year.
A quote from Carey in an article from NBC’s 15 News states ‘”The continued love for my song never ceases to amaze me and fill my heart with a multitude of emotions,” Carey herself is amazed that her song doing so well even after being out for 30 years, so the constant success increases the amount of money she makes each year with the rise of population, popularity of her music, and inflation.
Another thing that helped her make more money in December was when her hit single “All I Want For Christmas Is You” became the first holiday single to reach diamond status in four countries in 2022. The song was given diamond status by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). Forbes Magazine states, “In America, songs are certified diamond once they have shifted at least 10 million units. Until just a few years ago, a track (or album) had to sell that many copies, but now the RIAA, like many music industry organizations, operates on a mixed-consumption methodology, combining pure purchases with streaming equivalents.” Even before the song reached diamond states it was reaching several platinum state awards in sales and when streaming music started to get more popular she was reaching platinum state awards there as well. The numbers also skyrocketed when December came around. The single even surpasses in sales compared to her full-length albums that have also reached diamond status. The song also has won Carey several other awards and world records since its release.
The Grammy’s Award site published an article in 2019 stating, “As monumental as that milestone may be on its own, it turns out it’s not even the only honor Carey’s smash hit achieved this year. Just last month, Guinness World Records certified “All I Want For Christmas Is You” with three new world records that will appear in the 2020 Guinness Book of World Records” Some of the records Carey has won are: Highest-Charting Holiday (Christmas/New Year) Song On The Hot 100 By A Solo Artist, Most Streamed Track On Spotify In 24 Hours (by a female-identifying artist), and Most Weeks In The UK Singles Top 10 Chart For A Christmas Song. All the awards that the song has won, helped lead to the rise in money Carey has gotten from the success of her song.
The Grammy’s site also states that “This newest (and perhaps most impressive) accolade awarded to “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is Carey’s nineteenth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, a feat that finds her leaving a second-spot tie with Elvis Presley to stand alone as being only one chart-topping single away from tying the Beatles at 20 No. 1 singles. The article also talks about how the song was passing artists like Lizzo, Post Malone, The Weekend, and more; on the Billboard Hot 100’s list, and stayed at the top for 37 weeks since the list’s first creation in 2011. The list doesn’t even retain to just Christmas/holiday music. The song passing and going for a tie with some of the biggest artists from two different time periods shows the popularity of the song. And this year might not be as other with a top number one Christmas song, which will get Carey more money.
