A huge chart record has fallen: Mariah Carey's 1994 holiday staple "All I Want for Christmas Is You" now holds the all-time record for most weeks at No. 1, with 20. Elsewhere on the charts, Ariana Grande lands a slew of albums on the Billboard 200, while She & Him cracks the Hot 100 for the first time ever, thanks to a TikTok trend.
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Last week, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" pulled into a three-way tie for the longest run at No. 1 of any song in the history of the Hot 100 singles chart. That's a significant milestone — albeit one largely made possible by the streaming era, which has produced ever-larger runs atop the charts — which her song shared with Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus)" and Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)." As of last week, all three songs had posted 19 weeks at No. 1.
This week, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" takes the record outright, as it posts an unprecedented 20th week on top of the Hot 100. And, given the likelihood of it returning to No. 1 — not just next week and the week after, but also in holiday seasons to come — we may be looking at a record that borders on the untouchable.
Incredibly, Carey also recorded the song with the longest-ever run at No. 1 prior to the streaming era — her Boyz II Men collaboration "One Sweet Day" topped the Hot 100 for 16 weeks in 1995 and 1996. She's also spent the most weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 of any artist in Billboard history, with 99. (In second place: Rihanna, with 60, followed by The Beatles, with 59.)
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" first came out in 1994, but it didn't hit the top 10 until 2017, as streaming helped transform classic holiday songs into chart perennials. It first hit No. 1 in 2019 and has topped the chart every holiday season since — seven in all.
To overtake the song with the longest run in Hot 100 history (Teddy Swims' "Lose Control," with 112 weeks), it'll likely need another four or five years' worth of holiday seasons. But, with Billboard recently changing its eligibility rules to make it harder for non-holiday songs to post "Lose Control"-style runs on the chart, it would appear that it's only a matter of time until "All I Want for Christmas Is You" holds that record, too.
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The album-release schedule traditionally slows down in December, as many artists take a break from touring and Christmas albums storm the top 10. This week is no different — no album debuts in the top 40 of the latest chart — and that's good news for Taylor Swift, whose The Life of a Showgirl holds at No. 1 for a ninth nonconsecutive week, followed by two chart standbys: Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem and the soundtrack to KPop Demon Hunters.
After that, though, the holiday assault on the top 10 begins with the smooth sounds of Michael Bublé, Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, while the Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas and the girl-group classic A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector also turn up in the top 10.
The glut of holiday titles helps drive the Wicked: For Good soundtrack out of the top 10, but that's the closest thing to bad news for costar Ariana Grande, who's otherwise having a remarkable week on the charts. Not only does "Santa Tell Me" return to No. 5 — its peak position to date — on the Hot 100, but Grande also swarms the Billboard 200 albums chart. In addition to the two Wicked soundtracks, Eternal Sunshine; Sweetener; Thank U, Next; Positions; Dangerous Woman; and My Everything all chart this week. Eight albums in the top 200 is bordering on Taylor Swift territory for the versatile pop star.
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This week's top 10 looks a lot like last week's, though it's perhaps worth noting that Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" reclaims the No. 2 spot from Wham!'s surging 1984 staple "Last Christmas." Those two look poised to swap silver and bronze medals in the Decembers to come, while the estate of poor Bobby Helms (of "Jingle Bell Rock" fame) stands, sulking, just off the podium.
At the other end of the Hot 100, there's a chart entry worth noting, all the way down at No. 99.
She & Him — that's the duo of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward — has graced the Billboard 200 several times in its career, including with 2011's A Very She & Him Christmas. But this week, the arrival of "I Thought I Saw Your Face Today" marks the pair's first-ever Hot 100 entry — and it's not a holiday song.
"I Thought I Saw Your Face Today" dates back to She & Him's debut album, Volume One, back in 2008. So why is it charting now? In a word: TikTok.
The same phenomenon that's recently sent old songs from Imogen Heap, Radiohead and Rihanna onto the Hot 100 for the first time has now reached She & Him, whose bittersweet ballad has been deployed as the soundtrack to a huge assortment of TikTok clips.
The song's arrival in the Hot 100 is especially impressive considering that 41 holiday songs crowd the Hot 100 this week, which is making it harder than usual for marginal hits to land on the chart. It'll be intriguing to see how "I Thought I Saw Your Face Today" performs once January rolls around and nearly half the competition gets mothballed.
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