Mariah Carey’s “All I Need for Christmas Is You” botches a record-tying nineteenth week atop the Billboard Sizzling 100.
Denise Truscello/Getty Photographs for Dwell Nation Las/Getty Photographs North America
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Denise Truscello/Getty Photographs for Dwell Nation Las/Getty Photographs North America
Mariah Carey‘s “All I Need for Christmas Is You” returns to No. 1 this week, notching its record-tying nineteenth week atop the Billboard Sizzling 100. Its outright possession of the all-time report appears as inevitable because the tides — as does, sadly, the additional vacation dominance of 1 Michael Steven Bublé.
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In 2019, Lil Nas X set a report that seemed more likely to stand for some time: His tune “Previous City Highway (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus)” held down the No. 1 place on the Billboard Sizzling 100 for an astounding 19 weeks. Final 12 months, Shaboozey matched that feat with one other nation/hip-hop hybrid: “A Bar Music (Tipsy).”
That is to not counsel that “Previous City Highway” and “A Bar Music” are the 2 largest hits of all time. They’re merely beneficiaries of a streaming panorama through which listeners are regularly fed the identical songs they’ve already loved; that is led to epic chart runs which have made it more durable than ever for brand spanking new songs to interrupt by means of.
This week, Lil Nas X and Shaboozey are joined within the report books by… properly, really one of many largest hits of all time, as Mariah Carey’s “All I Need for Christmas Is You” leaps to No. 1 and secures its personal nineteenth week atop the Sizzling 100. The tune, which got here out in 1994 and first hit the highest 10 in 2017, has now led the chart for the final seven vacation seasons. To name that an all-time report is an understatement: Just one tune in historical past has made it to No.1 for two separate chart runs: Chubby Checker’s 1960 basic “The Twist.”
It is actually doable that different Christmas songs will unseat Carey each from time to time: Brenda Lee‘s “Rockin’ Across the Christmas Tree” briefly knocked it to No. 2 just a few years in the past, thanks partially to a then-recent video. Nevertheless it’s onerous to surpass a tune that is turn out to be so synonymous with the season.
The competitor with probably the most momentum — and “momentum” is a humorous phrase to make use of when the tune in query got here out in 1984 — is “Final Christmas” by Wham! That observe has been gaining steam lately, and this week rises to its highest-ever chart place at No. 2.
Chart developments in vacation music usually unfold glacially, 12 months over 12 months, however they’re there in case you search for them. The one with probably the most potential to shake up the sphere additionally occurs to be probably the most egregious: For individuals who search the musical equal of eggnog spiked with bathwater, Michael Bublé is hitting new profession highs. Within the course of, he is endangering the perennial success of some vacation staples.
One quirk of the vacation charts is that, for all of the repetition of requirements within the Christmas canon, there’s actually solely room for one go-to model of every tune. The truth is, of the 37 vacation songs that pop up on this week’s prime 50, solely two are duplicates. Perry Como’s “It is Starting to Look a Lot Like Christmas” (1951) and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” (1964) all of the sudden discover themselves competing with newer variations by Michael Bublé.
The competitors is proving particularly daunting for Ives, whose model of the tune was within the prime 5 as lately as a 12 months in the past. This week, it languishes at No. 16 — a big lag, given how incrementally the vacation charts usually change from 12 months to 12 months. It is one factor for Bublé’s rise to dim the sunshine of, say, Perry Como, whose vocal similarities to Michael Bublé mirror poorly on each singers. However Burl Ives? This implies conflict!
And, look, if it looks as if our man Bubes is catching extra flak than standard on this week’s column, that is on him. You mess with the Burl, you get the horns.
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In only a few weeks, Mariah Carey, Wham! and, sure, Michael Bublé will get stuffed again into the attic with the bogus tree. And once they do, we’ll possible get a chart panorama that appears fairly a bit prefer it did in the beginning of final month, led by three of 2025’s largest chart-toppers: HUNTR/X’s “Golden,” Taylor Swift‘s “The Destiny of Ophelia” and Alex Warren‘s “Unusual.”
These three songs have not but been crowded all the best way out of the highest 10. And it is price noting that, after eight weeks at No. 1, “The Destiny of Ophelia” is now not the highest non-holiday tune on the Sizzling 100. With awards season — and, in all probability, an Oscar nomination — looming, “Golden” is wanting, properly… like some coloration that signifies success.
Additionally gaining momentum, however somewhat simpler to overlook, is the nation singer Ella Langley. Have been it not for the vacation onslaught, her tune “Choosin’ Texas” — which drops from No. 11 to No. 27 this week — would possible be sitting at No. 9, which might have made it the primary prime 10 hit of her profession.
TOP ALBUMS
Certain, Taylor Swift’s “The Destiny of Ophelia” offers up a little bit of floor this week. However The Lifetime of a Showgirl returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart after per week away, adopted by two of 2025’s most sturdy hits: Morgan Wallen‘s I am the Downside and the soundtrack to KPop Demon Hunters.
Three vacation albums be a part of them within the prime 10 — Michael Bublé’s Christmas, Bing Crosby‘s Final Christmas and Vince Guaraldi‘s A Charlie Brown Christmas — whereas the likes of Nat “King” Cole, Mariah Carey and Phil Spector hover awkwardly simply outdoors the door, blow on their arms, keep away from eye contact and wait to be let in.
The Christmas cavalcade apart, this week is a part of a slower stretch for the albums chart, as main stars are likely to chorus from releasing new albums in December.
However one outdated album made a transfer price noting this week. Buoyed by the streaming launch of a nice documentary on HBO Max, Jeff Buckley‘s 1994 basic Grace re-enters the Billboard 200 at No. 144. That is the very best chart place it is ever attained — a reminder that the Billboard charts do not all the time correctly measure an album’s attain or affect.
Take final week’s debut of One Extra Time, a five-song EP by Aerosmith and YUNGBLUD. On final week’s Billboard 200, One Extra Time debuted at No. 9. This week, it plummets from the chart totally.
It is price contemplating which implies extra: a prime 10 album that charted for all of seven days, or a multiplatinum basic that is taken 31 years to hit No. 144. On the charts, as in life, there are extra methods to measure success than merely itemizing the place you have peaked.
