How much does Mariah Carey make from ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’? The numbers are staggering

Lottie Elizabeth Johnson
·5 min read
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Mariah Carey performs during a concert celebrating Dubai Expo 2020 One Year to Go in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Oct. 20, 2019. Carey’s hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has charted every holiday season since its release in 1994.
Mariah Carey performs during a concert celebrating Dubai Expo 2020 One Year to Go in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Oct. 20, 2019. Carey’s hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has charted every holiday season since its release in 1994. | Kamran Jebreili, Associated Press
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Mariah Carey may not be able to officially claim the “Queen of Christmas” title — she lost that battle last year — but this much can’t be disputed: “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” yuletide’s Punxsutawney Phil, emerges from its lengthy hibernation every November and hits stores and radios full blast.

For some, it begins as early as the day after Halloween. Others wait until after Thanksgiving. But even if it’s only for one or two months, the 1994 classic — which has charted every holiday season since its release — gets substantial playtime.

And Carey has made a fortune from it.

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How much has Mariah Carey made from ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You?’

The numbers are staggering. In 2017, The Economist reported that “All I Want For Christmas” had earned Carey $60 million in royalties since its 1994 release, bringing in a rough average of $2.6 million a year.

That annual number is even higher when Carey goes on tour and does holiday specials, per Parade. Carey just kicked off her 2023 Christmas tour, which extends through Dec 17.

For Carey, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is the gift that keeps on giving. In 2019, the song hit No. 1 for the first time on Billboard’s Hot 100 — 25 years after its release, CBS News reported. It gave Carey the distinction of being the first artist to hit No. 1 on the chart in four different decades.

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” also hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 during the 2020 through 2022 holiday seasons, per Billboard. Last year, the song stayed at No. 1 for four consecutive weeks — a feat only one other holiday song has accomplished (“The Chipmunk Song” in 1958).

Recently, though, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was upstaged by a resurgence in Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” which just became the third holiday song to hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, per USA Today. Carey sent Lee, 78, a bouquet of flowers and a note congratulating her on the triumph.

“Congratulations on your historic No. 1,” the note reads. “Have a Merry Christmas. Love, Mariah.”

The ‘Queen of Christmas’ dispute

But for all the success “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has given Carey, the pop singer isn’t able to officially claim the “Queen of Christmas” title.

Last year, it became public knowledge that Carey was seeking to trademark the term — and there was significant pushback.

At least two prominent holiday singers opposed Carey’s quest for the title: Darlene Love, who performed her 1963 hit song “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” for three decades on “The David Letterman Show,” and Elizabeth Chan, who previously released an album titled “Queen of Christmas.” Chan, a full-time holiday singer, had even been profiled in The New Yorker as the “Queen of Christmas.”

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“Christmas has come way before any of us on earth, and hopefully will be around way after any of us on earth,” Chan said in a statement last year, per Variety. “And I feel very strongly that no one person should hold onto anything around Christmas or monopolize it in the way that Mariah seeks to in perpetuity. That’s just not the right thing to do. Christmas is for everyone. It’s meant to be shared; it’s not meant to be owned.”

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied Carey’s application to trademark “Queen of Christmas” — along with other terms, including “Princess Christmas” and “QOC,” Vulture reported. The application was denied after Carey essentially let her trademark application expire following Chan’s response, per the Deseret News.

But that won’t keep fans from considering Carey the “Queen of Christmas” in their hearts.

On Nov. 1, Carey posted a video on X that showed her using her high voice to break out of an icy vault: “It’s time!” she sings, followed by a few seconds of “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

To date, the video has more than 120 million views. And viewers were quick to share their excitement.

“THE QUEEN IS BACK BOW DOWN,” one user wrote.

“The queen of christmas has defrosted. the bells are sleighing. the christmas tree is up. christmas carols are playing. let the chart domination begin,” wrote another.

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Legal battles with ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’

As “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has topped the charts each holiday season, it’s also generated a pair of copyright infringement lawsuits. Songwriter Andy Stone, who is part of the group Vince Vance & the Valiants, has recently sued Carey for the second time because his group released their own song, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” in 1989, Forbes reported.

In this new lawsuit, per Forbes, Stone claims that Carey’s song has similar lyrical and musical features, and that “50% of the words are the same, in almost the same order.”

Stone — who dropped a similar lawsuit last year but is now being represented by a lawyer who has previously represented songwriters who sued Taylor Swift — is reportedly seeking $20 million in damages, according to Forbes.