🎄 "All I Want for Christmas is You": Mariah Carey's mega💰maker

[Quartz Obsession] "All I Want for Christmas is You" December 19, 2017 The gift that keeps on giving --------------------------------------------------------------- It’s an annual event. The holiday season arrives and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” shoots to the top of the holiday charts. But this year is special. This week, for the first time since the song was released in 1994, [“AIWFCIY” reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100]( American music industry’s standard for ranking the most popular current song. No other Christmas song is ranked in the Top 40, and only a handful (including “The Chipmunk Song,” FWIW) have ever enjoyed such a spot. Billboard also points out that Carey’s song is [the first Top 10 hit on the Hot 100 chart to have the word “Christmas” in the title](. “AIWFCIY” has been big business since its release: It’s one of the 15 best-selling singles of all time and still climbing, earning Carey about $60 million dollars in royalties to date, [according to the Economist](. After Jesus Christ and Santa Claus, Mariah Carey may now be the entity most associated with Christmas—and she’s capitalized on it. Carey holds a popular annual Christmas concert series, produced an animated movie based on the song, released a second Christmas album, and even directed a Christmas TV movie. It’s a financial miracle! [Click here for the last Christmas playlist you'll ever need.]( By the digits [210 million:]( Number of times “AIWFCIY” has been streamed on Spotify (plus a few more, if you clicked above). [15:]( Number of minutes it took Mariah Carey to write the melody. [18:]( Number of Billboard #1 hits Mariah Carey has recorded. (“AIWFCIY” is not one of them.) Only the Beatles have recorded more. [1 in 6:]( Songs classified as holiday music as a share of all songs streamed by Norwegians and Swedes in December 2016. Pop Quiz Which other post-1994 holiday song is in Billboard's Top 25 holiday songs this week? “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber“Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande“St. Brick Intro” by Gucci Mane Correct. Grande's merits as a next-gen Mariah are often a topic of internet debate. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. ORIGIN STORY A sparkly idea --------------------------------------------------------------- In 1994, Mariah Carey was one of the world’s biggest stars. Music Box, her most recent album, was a massive global hit. It would eventually become one of the 20 best-selling records of all time, spawning hits like “[Dreamlover]( and “[Hero](. With a Christmas album, Carey’s music label Columbia Records saw an opportunity to take advantage of Carey’s status and expand her audience. They thought a festive record would show that she was a true “entertainer,” like Barbara Streisand or Tony Bennett, not just a pop singer. Carey was reluctant—the idea seemed old-fashioned—but she eventually agreed. The resulting album, Merry Christmas, was mostly filled with Christmas standards, but also contained two original songs, written with Walter Afanasieff. Afanasieff wrote the chord progression for “AIWFCIY” and Carey wrote the melody. It all happened in a flash according to Afanasieff, and the two had no idea they were sitting on such a hit. “It wasn’t a known science at all,” [Afanasieff told Billboard.]( “There was nobody who did new, big Christmas songs.” Charted As of 2017, Merry Christmas—the album that features “AIWFCIY”—is the [seventh highest-selling]( holiday album of all time. Fun/sad fact The “You” in “All I Want for Christmas is You” is Tommy Mottola, then head of Columbia Records and Carey’s then-husband; he appears in [the original video]( as Santa. The couple divorced in 1997. Watch this Mariah actually is all around us --------------------------------------------------------------- The 2003 holiday-themed romantic comedy Love Actually includes a stirring performance of “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Olivia Olson (who was 14 years old at the time). The song was flagging in the holiday rankings back then, but its placement in Love Actually appears to have given the song the extra push it needed. By 2005, it had reached #1 status. It has only soared from there. Please explain And now for a little music theory --------------------------------------------------------------- What accounts for the song’s wild success? We turned to musicologist Nate Sloan, one of the hosts of the brilliant podcast [Switched on Pop]( to find out. Sloan’s theory is that the song’s success can be attributed to the way its lyrics and harmonic structure combine so perfectly. Each verse, Sloan explains, is a little game where Mariah tells us about the things she doesn’t want before revealing to us what she does. “That’s a nice trick,” he says. “But it might not be so effective if the chordal structure of the song wasn’t supporting this idea of building to a reveal.” “All I Want” is in the key of G Major. And yet, Sloan points out that the only times the G Major chord—the chord that makes us feel most “at home”—is used in the song are at the very beginning of each verse, and at the very end. This leaves us in suspension. Just as we’re waiting to find out what Mariah really wants, we’re also waiting for the G Major chord. Both happen when Mariah says “you” (which of course morphs into “oooooooooh, baby”). Sooo satisfying! Watch this! What makes a song Christmasy? --------------------------------------------------------------- This 2016 video from Vox argues that there is a certain “magic” chord that makes a song sound “Christmasy.” Not surprisingly, “All I Want…” makes beautiful use of this chord (spoiler alert: it’s the minor subdominant). The latest addition to [Mariah’s Christmas empire]( is the “All I Want for Christmas is You” animated movie. In this version of the story, the “You” is not Tommy Mottola, but a dog. 📣 Speak out Enough already! --------------------------------------------------------------- Yesterday we asked what Christmas song you’d remove from global rotation if you could. Here’s what you had to say: [AIWFCIY_chart2] Obsessions reader Alvin summed up Sir Paul’s top vote-getter this way: “Oh boy. Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ by a long shot. The opening synth alone induces some sort of primal rage in me. I now feel physically ill just thinking about it. Thanks a lot, Quartz.” Poll AIWFCIY is ... [Click here to vote]( A masterpiece of emotional engineeringOverratedHold up, why haven't we talked about Wham!? 💌 Sound off! ✏️ [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?subject=Thoughts%20on%2C%20%22All%20I%20Want%20for%20Christmas%20is%20You%22&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next%3A&body=) ❔ [What part of the zombie apocalypse scares you the most, and why?](mailto:obsession%2Bprompt@qz.com?subject=Is%20it%20becoming%20a%20zombie%20yourself%2C%20being%20the%20last%20human%20left%2C%20having%20to%20see%20your%20friends%20turn%3F%20Do%20tell.&body=) 📬 [Forward this email to a friend](mailto:?subject=Quartz%20Obsession%20about%2C%20%22All%20I%20Want%20for%20Christmas%20is%20You%22&body=Thought%20you%27d%20enjoy.%20%0A%0AEmail%20at%20http%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2Femail%2Fquartz-obsession%2F1160568%2F%0ASign%20up%20for%20the%20newsletter%20at%20http%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fquartz-obsession) The Fine Print In yesterday’s poll about [missile defense]( most of you aren’t taking any chances: 58% said you’d take your chances in a good old-fashioned bunker than rely on technological wizardry. Today’s email was written by [Dan Kopf.]( Images: Reuters/Andrew Kelly (caroler tree), Reuters/Mike Segar (singing Carey) The correct answer to the quiz is “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! Not enjoying it? No worries. [Click here]( to unsubscribe. Quartz | 675 Avenue of the Americas, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10011 | United States Share this email