All I Want for Christmas Is You
Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALL : All I Want for Christmas Is You
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a song written and produced by American singer Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff for Carey's fifth album, Merry Christmas. Its protagonist lyrics declares that she doesn't care about Christmas presents or lights; all she wants for Christmas is to be with her lover. It was released as the album's first single in December 1994 (see 1994 in music), and reached the top ten in several non-U.S. countries. It has been covered by singers such as Shania Twain and Samantha Mumba and bands such as My Chemical Romance, and it was performed by a character in the film Love Actually (2003).
It is unrelated to the 1989 Christmas hit single by novelty act Vince Vance and the Valiants.
Chart performance
Because of Billboard magazine rules at the time, the song did not chart on the U.S. Hot 100 during its original release as a commercial single was not issued. It was popular on U.S. radio and peaked within the top twenty on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, and was also a big hit elsewhere. It reached number two in the United Kingdom for three weeks and has been certified for selling over 400,000 copies there, losing out to East 17's "Stay Another Day" for that year's Christmas number-one single. The single also peaked at number two in Australia and Japan, where it was used as the theme song to the drama 29-sai no Christmas (29才のクリスマス), and was titled "Koibito-tachi no Christmas" (恋人たちのクリスマス; "The Christmas of my loved-ones"). It sold 1.3 million units in Japan, and remains her best-selling single there.In 2000 the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eighty-three for one week. This was because after 1999, singles were capable of charting on the Hot 100 without a commercial release and the song had received enough radio airplay to appear on the chart. Billboard magazine has since added restrictions to Christmas songs, but with the growth of all-holiday-music formats in the U.S., the song is played on the radio at the end of every year. Although the song is ineligible for the Hot 100, it peaked high on the Hot Digital Tracks chart during the 2003 and 2004 Christmas seasons. In 2005 it rapidly ascended to number one on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Recurrents chart (for songs no longer eligible for the Hot 100), giving it a new peak. It also reached number one on the top 100 downloads chart at iTunes UK and iTunes USA, and became Carey's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart.
Music videos and remixes
There are three music videos for "All I Want for Christmas Is You". The first and most commonly seen is a home video that shows Carey celebrating Christmas with snow, presents, and loved ones. Carey's then-husband, Tommy Mottola, makes a cameo appearance as Santa Claus. In the other video, inspired by Nancy Sinatra, Carey dances around in a 1960s-influenced studio surrounded by go go dancers. For a 1960s look, the video was filmed in black and white.
When the song was first released as a single, no remixes were commissioned. Carey re-released the song commercially in Japan in 2000, with a new remix known as the "So So Def" remix. The song features new vocals and is played over a harder, more urban beat complete with rap and spoken parts by Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Bow Wow, respectively. The remix is featured on the Carey's compilation album Greatest Hits (2001) as a bonus track. A video was created for the remix, but it does not feature Carey or the rappers and is animated instead. The style of the animation is based on a scene in the video for Carey's "Heartbreaker" (1999). Besides cartoon cameo appearances by Carey, Jermaine Dupri, and Lil' Bow Wow, the video also features cameos from Luis Miguel (Carey's boyfriend at the time), her dog (Jack), and Santa Claus. The music video director is credited as "Kris Kringle", another name for Santa Claus.
Track listings
- Japanese maxi-CD single (1996)
- "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (album version)
- "Miss You Most (at Christmas Time)" (album version)
- "Joy to the World" (club mix)
- Japanese CD single (2000)
Charts
| Chart (1994) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | 12 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 9 |
| U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 | 14 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 | 27 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 6 |
| Japanese Oricon Singles Chart | 2 |
| UK Singles Chart | 2 |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 2 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 8 |
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 83 |
| Chart (2004) | Peak position |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks | 6 |
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles Recurrents | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay Recurrents | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary Recurrents | 10 |
See also
External links
| Mariah Carey |
|---|
| Albums | Singles | Awards | |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.