Chart Commentary — DECEMBER 13, 2025

CAREY’S CUMULATIVE CHRISTMAS COUNT CONTINUES…

Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” jingles all the way back to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, jumping four spots for a record-tying 19th total week atop the chart. It matches the reigns of two hits that led over one release cycle each — Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” in 2024, and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, in 2019 — for the longest command over the chart’s 67-year history.

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” ties for longest domination among the 1,184 total No. 1s dating to the Hot 100’s Aug. 4, 1958, start.  Below is a recap of the seven longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1s — with Carey the only artist with two entries on the elite list. (All seven songs have led since the chart adopted electronically-monitored Luminate data in November 1991, at which point longer commands than before subsequently became more common.)

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” is the first song to top the Hot 100 in seven distinct runs on the chart, as its latest coronation follows its commands in the 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 holiday seasons. Just one other song has led in each of even two stays: Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” in 1960 and 1962.

1. 19 weeks, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey, 2019-25
2. 19, “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Shaboozey, 2024
3. 19, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, 2019
4. 16, “Last Night,” Morgan Wallen, 2023
5. 16, “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber, 2017
6. 16, “One Sweet Day,” Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men, 1995-96
7. 15, “As It Was,” Harry Styles, 2022

The carol rules the Hot 100 in a record-extending seventh holiday season. It was originally released on Carey’s album Merry Christmas in November 1994 and, as streaming has grown and holiday music has become more prominent on streaming services’ playlists, it hit the top 10 for the first time in December 2017 and the top five for the first time in the 2018 holiday season. It led at last, prior to this week, over the holidays in 2019 (for three weeks), 2020 (two), 2021 (three), 2022 (four), 2023 (two) and 2024 (four).  “All I Want for Christmas Is You” extends the longest span from a song’s first week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 to its latest to one week shy of six years (charts dated Dec. 21, 2019-Dec. 13, 2025).
Carey also has the second-longest span for an artist atop the Hot 100: 35 years, four months and two weeks, dating to her first week at No. 1 (Aug. 4, 1990) with her debut smash “Vision of Love.” Only Brenda Lee boasts a longer career stretch of topping the chart: 63 years, five months and three weeks, from “I’m Sorry” (July 18, 1960) through “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (Jan. 6, 2024).

Now up to 19 weeks, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” extends its mark as the holiday song with the most time logged atop the Hot 100, among three Yuletide No. 1s. “The Chipmunk Song,” by the Chipmunks with David Seville, led for four weeks beginning in December 1958, followed by Brenda Lee’s three weeks in the 2023 holiday season with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” became Carey’s 19th Hot 100 No. 1, the most among soloists and one away from the Beatles’ overall record 20. It also made Carey the first artist to have ranked at No. 1 on the chart in four distinct decades (1990s, 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s).

Carey collects her record-extending 98th week at No. 1 on the Hot 100, across her 19 leaders, dating to the chart’s inception.

Most Weeks at No. 1 on Hot 100:

1. 98, Mariah Carey
2. 60, Rihanna
3. 59, The Beatles
4. 56, Drake
5. 50, Boyz II Men

THE BEST FOR “LAST”

Wham!’s “Last Christmas” pushes 6-2 on the Hot 100, as the 1984 release hits a new best rank, surpassing its prior No. 3 peak. Wham! — the duo of George Michael who died in 2016, and Andrew Ridgeley — posts its highest Hot 100 rank in 40-and-a-half years, since “Everything She Wants” fell to No. 2 on the June 8, 1985, chart, after three weeks at No. 1.

Here’s a recap of Wham!’s seven Hot 100 top 10s:

• No. 1 peak, three weeks, 1984, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”
• No. 1, three, 1985, “Careless Whisper”
• No. 1, two, 1985, “Everything She Wants”
• No. 2 (to date), 2025, “Last Christmas”
• No. 3, 1985, “Freedom”
• No. 3, 1986, “I’m Your Man”
• No. 10, 1986, “The Edge of Heaven”

(Michael earned 15 Hot 100 top 10s as a solo recording artist through 1996. He last ranked in the top two as a soloist on the chart dated Feb. 1, 1992, when his and Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” was No. 1.)

MORE FESTIVE FARE

Holiday hits adorn seven places in the latest Hot 100’s top 10. Below Carey and Wham!’s hits, Lee dances merrily 7-3 with the classic hit from 1958, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” 

The late Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” trots 8-4 on the Hot 100. The 1957 release has reached No. 3.

Ariana Grande’s 2014 letter to the North Pole, “Santa Tell Me,” which has hit No. 5 on the Hot 100, rises 13-8.

Late legend Nat “King” Cole’s “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)” lifts 18-9 on the Hot 100, revisiting its peak. Cole first recorded in 1946.

The late Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” flies 17-10 on the Hot 100. The 1963 release has climbed to No. 5.

Jarrett Nolan

I was born a poor Black child into a family that put the “fun” in dysfunction. But through that fun, there was A LOT of music. At a very young age, my parents introduced me to everything ranging from Doo Wop to the British Invasion to Motown to Philly Soul to Psychedlic Rock to Funk.

Since I’m a Jersey boy born-n-bred, I landed a job at WHTZ (Z100) as a producer. I gave the DJs info about artists to read on-air – most of mine were chart-related, naturally.

I did double duty at WSBG, a small market radio station in the Poconos, as a DJ because I have a face for radio.

Through a random twist of fate, I wound up at BMG Distribution in Times Square. Shortly after, I ended up at Arista (shouldn’t have done that!). My career in the music industry ended with a stint at being a personal assistant to alterna-rap act PM Dawn.

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