Mariah Carey Almost Passed On Her Legendary Christmas Song

Each vacation season, Mariah Carey‘s “All I Need for Christmas Is You” takes its annual sleigh trip up the Billboard Sizzling 100 chart.

In 2019, the track reached No. 1 for the primary time, marking a milestone throughout its twenty fifth anniversary yr. Two years later, it claimed the highest spot on Billboard’s Biggest of All Time Vacation 100 Songs retrospective. To rejoice the thirtieth anniversary of her “Merry Christmas” album and the enduring observe, Mariah Carey launched into a 20-city “Christmas Time” tour in November 2024, set to conclude in Brooklyn, N.Y., on December 17.

With Mariah Carey’s track reaching a major milestone, followers are reflecting on its origins and the story behind its creation.

Earlier than releasing “All I Need for Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey had solely two albums underneath her belt and felt it was too early in her profession to enterprise into vacation music. She believed that Christmas songs had been one thing artists usually tackled afterward.

Throughout an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she admitted, “I didn’t really feel, from a strategic perspective, that it was time to do one thing like that. As a lot as I really like Christmas, I believed that the report firm was off. Clearly, I couldn’t have been extra improper.”

However that is not all, as a result of the track’s co-writer Walter Afanasieff admitted that he did not assume the track would turn into the hit it’s as we speak. In a 2014 interview with Billboard, Walter Afanasieff, the track’s co-writer and producer, echoed this sentiment. When requested if he believed “All I Need for Christmas Is You” would turn into the album’s standout hit, his response was a definitive, “Nooo.”

“Twenty years in the past, Christmas music and Christmas albums by artists weren’t the large deal that they’re as we speak,” he defined. “Again then, you did not have loads of artists with Christmas albums; It wasn’t a recognized science in any respect again then, and there was no one who did new, large Christmas songs.”

The vacation queen beforehand revealed that her favourite lyric from “All I Need for Christmas Is You” is, “I will not even want for snow.”

“[It’s my favorite line] as a result of I at all times want for snow,” Carey stated in Amazon Music’s “Mariah Carey Is Christmas,” per PEOPLE Magazine. She added, “I at all times need it to be, like, a particular, festive winter wonderland.”

The discover declared the track can be skipped if requested earlier than December 1 and restricted to only one play per night time after that date. The bar’s cheeky coverage shortly went viral on Twitter, the social media platform now referred to as X, and the singer herself even responded with a pointy comeback.

“Is that this the warfare on Christmas I’ve heard about,” one consumer reacted in a now-deleted tweet, to which Carey responded with a picture from her “Recreation of Warfare” online game marketing campaign.

First launched in 1994, the iconic holiday anthem initially climbed to quantity six on the Billboard charts and reached quantity two in each the UK and Japan. Over time, nonetheless, the rise of streaming platforms has propelled the track to unprecedented heights, cementing its standing as one of many best-selling digital singles of all time.

“I used to be engaged on it on my own … on this little Casio keyboard and writing down phrases and enthusiastic about, ‘What do I consider at Christmas? What do I really like? What do I would like? What do I dream of?'” Carey stated, per ABC, as she celebrated the track’s thirtieth anniversary. “And that is what began it.”

Promoting a formidable 16 million copies worldwide, the track has topped charts in over 30 international locations in the course of the vacation season, securing its standing as a timeless Christmas traditional. From workplace playlists to mall soundtracks and festive events, it has turn into a world vacation staple, spreading cheer and pleasure yr after yr.

“My purpose was to do one thing timeless, so it did not really feel just like the ’90s, which is after I wrote it,” she added.