December 21, 2019: In its issue with this date, Billboard magazine has "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey as the Number 1 song on its Hot 100.
Mariah has had more Number 1 singles on the Hot 100 than any solo performer, 19. (That's 1 more than Elvis Presley. Only The Beatles, with 21, have had more.) "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was not one of them on its original release. It was ineligible for inclusion, because it was not released commercially as a single in any physical format.
Indeed, its original release was in 1994. So it wasn't just a 25-year-old song that hit Number 1 -- songs considerably older than that have been covered and topped the charts -- but a 25-year-old recording.
Streaming services have led to the song being "bought" more as Christmas approaches. As a result of the rise of this phenomenon, Billboard, which always used a combination of sales of "singles" (formerly exclusively 45 RPM records) and radio airplay, as gauges of popular support for a song, eventually conceded that online purchases counted as "sales," and readjusted its chart accordingly. In its December 21, 2019 issue, Billboard listed "All I Want for Christmas Is You" as Number 1 on its Hot 100, setting a new record for longest time from original release to chart-top: 25 years.
It's gotten there again every year since: 2020, 2021 and 2022. Previously, only "The Twist" by Chubby Checker, in 1960 and 1962, had ever hit Number 1, dropped off the Hot 100 entirely, and then rose to Number 1 again.
In addition to the streaming services, I blame the return of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" on Love Actually, the 2003 British "cast of thousands" film, which people tend to either adore or despise. (I've watched it once, and once is enough.) It had the song sung by Olivia Olson, then 11 years old, in a school Christmas pageant.
Yes, "blame." I have no issue with the song, but, as with the movie, people tend to either love it or hate it. They love it because it sounds nostalgic without sounding old. Mariah purposely tried to mimic the "Wall of Sound" from A Christmas Gift for You, the 1963 release known as "The Phil Spector Christmas Album." And since it's not heard all year 'round, it still feels special, like the various TV specials with their characters, like Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and so on.
As for the people who hate it... A joke surrounding the song is that one sign of the Christmas season coming earlier and earlier every year is that "Every year, Mariah Carey gets thawed out sooner." The idea being that, now past her hitmaking days -- she was 50 years old in 2019 -- she only appears at Christmas to sing this song.
Some people who hate it engage in "Mariahgeddon" contests, to see who can go the longest without hearing it. Like "The Contest" on Seinfeld, participants are "on the honor system," and must let everyone know when they're out. Purposely playing it for someone is considered cheating, and is called "sending them to Careyhalla."
In 2022, Mariah attempted to trademark the nickname "The Queen of Christmas." Her request was denied.
UPDATE: The song hit Number 1 again in 2023, but not before Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," which goes all the way back to 1958, got to Number 1 first. Again, because of streaming.
Billboard's Hot 100 for its December 21, 2024 issue took this to a new level. It had "All I Want for Christmas Is You" at Number 1, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" at Number 2, Bobby Helms' 1957 "Jingle Bell Rock" at Number 3, Wham!'s 1984 "Last Christmas" at Number 4, and Burl Ives' 1964 "A Holly Jolly Christmas" at Number 5. The highest-ranking non-Christmas song was at Number 6: "Die With a Smile," a duet by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars.
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December 21, 2019 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. There were 6 college football "bowl games" played that day. These were all minor bowls, so only 2 teams ranked in the Top 25 were playing in them:
* Liberty University beat Georgia Southern, 23-16 in the Cure Bowl, at Exploria Stadium in Orlando.
* Florida Atlantic University (FAU) beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 52-28 in the Boca Raton Bowl, on their home field at FAU Stadium (now Flagler Credit Union Stadium).
* Arkansas State beat Florida International University (FIU), 34-26 in the Camellia Bowl, at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.
* Appalachian State, ranked Number 20, beat the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), 31-17 in the New Orleans Bowl, at the Superdome.
* San Diego State beat Central Michigan, 48-11 in the New Mexico Bowl, at Dreamstyle Stadium (now back to its original name of University Stadium) on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
* And the University of Washington defeated -- I won't say "upset" -- Number 18 Boise State, 38-7 in the Las Vegas Bowl, at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Whitney, Nevada.
There were 9 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 123-102 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 122-112 at the Barclays Center. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 39 for the Nets. Trae Young scored 47 for the Hawks.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Washington Wizards, 125-108 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. Bradley Beal scored 36 for the Wizards.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Charlotte Hornets, 114-107 at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Sacramento Kings, 119-115 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons, 119-107 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 134-109 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Phoenix Suns, 139-125 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix. James Harden matched Trae Young with 47 points, to lead all other scorers on the night.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 113-106 at the Moda Center in Portland.
There were 13 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders lost to the Anaheim Ducks, 6-5 in a shootout at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-1 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the TD Garden in Boston. Ryan Ellis scored the winning goal with 55 seconds left in overtime.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.
* The Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-2 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-4 in a shootout at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-3 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the San Jose Sharks, 5-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose.
* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
* And the New York Rangers, the Dallas Stars, the Calgary Flames, the Arizona Coyotes, the Winnipeg Jets, the Minnesota Wild and the Vegas Golden Knights were not scheduled.
And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to Liverpool, and were held to a 0-0 draw by Everton at Goodison Park.
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