Creative Stories: The Queen of Christmas

In 1994, 24-year-old Mariah Carey’s record label asked her to do something crazy – record a Christmas album. 

Christmas albums were the kind of thing singers did when their careers were waning. But Mariah’s third album, ‘Music Box,’ had been a smash, and she was still very much on the way up. 

But she agreed, and got to work putting together a Christmas album with her frequent collaborator, Walter Afanasieff. As they sat down to write a new song, they took inspiration from Phil Spector’s old rock ‘n’ roll, sixties-sounding Christmas songs. Afanasieff experimented with chords and a ‘boogie-woogie’ piano sound that would give their song momentum.

In just 15 minutes, they knocked out the chords, structure, and melody for their new song, 'All I Want for Christmas Is You.' Carey would later work on the lyrics, while Afanasieff composed the track on a digital keyboard sequencer. They recorded the song in August 1994.

“We just did whatever the hell we wanted, including this totally slow intro-verse that ends in the title of the song,” Afanasieff said. “There’s no rhyme or reason, it just worked out, even though it broke certain rules. I think that’s part of the reason it’s lived so long.”

Since releasing a new Christmas song was unusual in 1994, 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' was not released as a commercial single, making it ineligible to chart in the main Hot 100. But the rules changed years later – and the song’s popularity grew (thanks to downloads and streams).

Mariah has built a franchise around the song in recent years, with alternative versions and videos, a children’s book, and an animated special. In 2019, 25 years after it was released, 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' finally hit #1 in the US – becoming the first Christmas song to hit #1 in 60 years. In 2020, the song took the #1 spot in the UK for the first time, and she also released a new Christmas special on Apple+.

Despite having nineteen #1 singles, ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You' is Mariah Carey’s most popular (and lucrative) song. In 2017, the song was reported to have earned more than $60 million in royalties. Or as Afanasieff says: “I can say that my ex-wives, my children and my grandchildren are enjoying a lot of nice things because of that song.”

The ‘crazy idea’ to record a Christmas album in 1994 created the best-selling Christmas album of all-time – and made Mariah Carey the undisputed ‘Queen of Christmas.'