Photo Credit: Dennis Leopold
The self-proclaimed Queen of Christmas has expanded her celebration of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” over the last five years. This year includes a Christmas tour—but longtime fans may be getting tired of the song. NBC News is now reporting listening data that shows the song’s rise and fall over the last 20 years.
The data captures 20 years of fans’ listenership of the famous Christmas song, highlighting how listening habits have changed over the years. Back in 2005, the song mostly gained traction during the week of Thanksgiving, being mostly a December affair for those who love the festive song. In 2010 it started getting played sooner and sooner with most of November covered by 2017.
Things really kicked into high gear in 2018, with “All I Want For Christmas Is You” playing throughout the month of October and lightly in September. But this year, the plays throughout September and October diminished greatly, while November and December has retained the same coverage.
NBC News reports that listenership in the month of October declined 35% between 2023 and 2024 and 22% from November 2023 to November 2024. The song has inspired countless covers from other artists, but listeners of the song seem burned out this year. Perhaps over-exposure to the Queen of Christmas this year is to account for the lull?
Mariah Carey announced her Christmas tour this year for a blowout celebration, but fans haven’t been responding so well. Footage from social media over the weekend on Saturday shows a group of fans fighting at CFG Bank Arena during the choir interlude to “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” This new fighting incident comes just weeks after another at Mariah Carey’s show in St. Louis at the Enterprise Center on November 29. That fight happened while Mariah Carey was on stage singing the iconic song.
Carey kicked off her Christmas Time tour on November 6th in California and it will go on until December 17th with a final performance at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.