Mariah Carey’s Christmas anthem, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” became the first and only holiday single to take home the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) Diamond Award in recognition of 10 million sales and streaming units in the United States.
“The continued love for my song never ceases to amaze me and fill my heart with a multitude of emotions,” Carey said. “It blows my mind that ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ has endured different eras of the music industry. The RIAA DIAMOND award?! Wowww! I’m so fortunate to have the greatest fans on Earth, my Lambily, who continue to support my legacy. I love you.”
As of Friday, the song also returned to Billboard Hot 100 and clinched the #1 Spot on Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs.
“Mariah is the Queen of Christmas,” said Richard Story, President of the Commercial Music Group at Sony Music Entertainment. “Her Sony Music family congratulates her on breaking yet another record, and continuing to make history as the first and only artist to achieve this incredible milestone.”
Billboard recently named Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” as the #1 record on their Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs list. The song first cracked the Top 10 of the Hot 100 in December 2017 and, in December 2019, 25 years after its original release, became the second holiday single ever to hit #1 on the Hot 100, breaking the record for longest span from release date to #1. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” hit #1 again in 2020, giving it a five-week total in the top slot, a new record for a holiday recording.
“Mariah Carey is one of the top Gold & Platinum awarded artists of all time, and ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ becoming the only holiday song to achieve Diamond is a remarkable milestone forever etched in music history. Congratulations and happy holidays to Mariah and her amazing Sony team,” said Mitch Glazier, Chairman and CEO, RIAA.
Recorded in August 1994 at The Hit Factory in New York, “All I Want for Christmas is You” was originally released in October 1994 as the first single from Mariah’s “Merry Christmas” album, a showcase for Mariah’s interpretations of familiar holiday songs alongside the new material she’d composed with co-writer Walter Walter Afanasieff. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” went on to become one of the best-selling singles (of any genre) of all time and the best-selling holiday ringtone in the United States for several years running.
A special performance of the song featuring Carey’s twin son Moroccan and daughter Monroe can be watched in “Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special” on Apple TV+. The singer’s new holiday special, “Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues” premiered globally yesterday on Apple TV+.
When “All I Want for Christmas is You” hit #1 on the Hot 100 in 2019, it was Mariah’s 19th claim on the top spot, a record for a solo recording artist. Then when the single hit #1 the following year, Mariah became the first artist to have a Hot 100 # 1 in four separate decades (the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s and the 2020s).