Few things signal the holiday season more than Mariah Carey's holiday hit: "All I Want for Christmas Is You." Thirty years after its 1994 release, the song is officially the most-streamed holiday song of all time, with over 2 billion streams on Spotify—the first holiday song to cross that threshold on the platform, according to People.
For Carey, the song is the gift that keeps on giving. The hit song has earned Carey more than $60 million from streaming royalties alone, according to the New York Post. The singer earns an estimated average of $2.5 million in royalties every year from the 1994 song, according to a 2016 study by The Economist.
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" has been No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 list over the holidays for the past five years in a row, and has currently been at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 list for the past 16 weeks.
Carey has made millions of dollars over the years, thanks to her successful music career, tours, and endorsements. Carey has an estimated net worth of $350 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Here's how Mariah made her millions.
Carey has made millions from a successful music career that has earned the singer five Grammy Awards.
Carey is among the best-selling female artists of all time, with more than 200 million albums sold over her career, and 19 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles. The singer also has over 81 million monthly listeners on Spotify as of December 2024.
"All I Want For Christmas Is You" set three Guinness World Records in 2019, among which was the title for the most-streamed track on Spotify in 24 hours by a female artist. It was streamed more than 10.8 million times in one day in December 2018. She beat the record again in 2022 with 21.3 million streamed listens, and in 2023 with 23.7 million streams.
Carey earned $30 million for a two-year residency at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, from 2015 to 2017. In 2012, she also reportedly earned $18 million as a judge on one season of "American Idol," and was the highest-paid judge on a music competition show at the time, according to Us Weekly. In November 2024, Carey launched her "Mariah Carey's Christmas Time" tour across 20 states in the U.S. to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of her "Merry Christmas" album and the song "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Carey also has ongoing residency in Las Vegas called "The Celebration of Mimi" at the Park MGM hotel.
Carey also has made millions from lucrative endorsements with major brands. In November 2019, the superstar singer reportedly got paid $11 million by PepsiCo for starring in a Christmas. In 2022, Carey launched two fine jewelry collections in collaboration with jewelry company Chopard.
Among her many talents, Carey is an author, too. The singer released her memoir, "The Meaning of Mariah Carey" in September 2020, and the book became No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list a month later. Carey also has two children's books, All I Want For Christmas Is You and The Christmas Princess.
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