Long before "All I Want for Christmas Is You" became the theme song of the holiday season, Mariah Carey had doubts about whether it should actually be released or not. Originally released in October 1994, Carey's iconic Christmas song only gets bigger and bigger with each ing year. Every year since 2019, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" has hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the holiday, typically re-entering the chart during the month of November. Carey has had an illustrious career, but there's no doubt this song is her biggest hit.
As the song has continued to become even more ingrained into popular culture, Carey has played into it, now having made a tradition of "defrosting" herself and announcing when "it's time" to start playing her Christmas music. Even if Carey wasn't one of the most achieved solo artists in history, this song alone would have carried her to success that artists can only dream of happening. As it turns out, however, Carey didn't always have this faith in "All I Want for Christmas Is You," as she has revealed her initial thoughts about the Christmas season staple.
"All I Want For Christmas" Has Made Mariah Carey More Than $60m
She Increases That Amount By About $2m Per Year
Before talking about Carey's initial doubts, it's important to acknowledge just how well this song has performed, and continues to perform, for Carey each year. Outside the charts and cultural impact, Carey herself is estimated to have made well over $60 million from "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (via Yahoo Finance), which is certainly no small feat. Each year, Carey increases this total by about $2 million (via Billboard and NBC 15 News) between sales, streams, and more. This song isn't just a holiday classic for Carey; it's enough to sustain her for the rest of her life.
Why Mariah Carey Doubted Making "All I Want For Christmas"
She Had Only Just Begun Achieving True Success
As aforementioned, however, Carey didn't have faith that the song would one day be able to accomplish anything near this much for her. She revealed to Metro.co.uk back in 2021 that, at the time, she had asked herself, "Why would I do a Christmas song now? This is so early in my life and my career," but she's now "so thankful that it did because it came out of a pure place." This was a reasonable thought for her to have at the time; her Merry Christmas album was only her fourth studio album, following up 1993's Music Box.
Every Movie & TV Soundtrack Featuring Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'
"All I Want For Christmas Is You" is Mariah Carey's ultimate holiday tune. Several shows and films have used it and the soundtracks are better for it.
With Music Box generating hits such as "Hero", "Without You", and "Dreamlover", Carey likely felt as if things were just getting started when the Christmas album was proposed. The success of Merry Christmas and "All I Want for Christmas Is You", however, changed everything for her and the greater music industry. Now, many young artists complete holiday albums early on in their careers, hoping for even a sliver of the success Carey has had. The impact of Mariah Carey continues to be resounding, as monumental as her Christmas anthem, which has truly become legendary.