New record streams for a holiday song: Carey's "Christmas," on Columbia/Legacy Records, tops the Streaming Songs chart for a fourth consecutive week, and fifth total frame (after a week at No. 1 last holiday season),
up 33% to 72.2 million U.S. streams in the week ending Dec. 26, according to Nielsen Music. The total, helped by a new video for "Christmas" released Dec. 20, is the
best weekly sum ever for a holiday hit, surging past the 54.4 million that the song drew the previous week.
First artist to be No. 1 in four decades: Carey becomes the first artist to top the Hot 100 in four distinct decades (notably, with a song from the 1990s extending her run into both the 2010s and 2020s).
Carey passes eight chart cornerstones that have reigned on the Hot 100 in three decades each. Here's an updated recap:
'60s, '70s, '80s: Stevie Wonder
'70s, '80s, '90s: Michael Jackson, Elton John
'80s, '90s, '00s: Janet Jackson, Madonna
'90s, '00s, '10s: Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Usher
'90s, '00s, '10s, '20s: Mariah Carey
10 x 3: Of Carey's 19 Hot 100 No. 1s, "Christmas" is her
record-breaking 10th to rule for three weeks or more. Here's a rundown: 16 weeks at No. 1, "One Sweet Day" (with Boyz II Men), 1995-96 / 14, "We Belong Together," 2005 / 8, "Fantasy," 1995; "Dreamlover," 1993 / 4, "Hero," 1993-94; "Vision of Love," 1990 / 3, "All I Want for Christmas Is You," 2019-20; "Honey," 1997; "Emotions," 1991; "Love Takes Time," 1990.
Carey bests The Beatles and
Rihanna (
), each of whom have tallied nine No. 1s of three weeks or more each.
Sweet 16: Carey has now placed at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in a
record-extending 16 distinct years (per Hot 100 chart dates): 1990-2000, 2005-06, 2008, 2019 and 2020.
As for other feats achieved with the Hot 100 coronation of "Christmas," the song completed the longest journey to No. 1 ever from an original release: over 25 years. Plus, Carey extended her mark for the most No. 1s among soloists (19). This week, she adds her record-padding 82nd career week at No. 1, while extending the longest span of leaders for any act: 29 years and five months, dating to her first week atop the chart, dated Aug. 4, 1990, with "Vision of Love."
Carey's "Christmas" concurrently tops the streaming-, sales- and airplay-based Holiday 100 chart for a 40th total week, of the 45 overall frames in the chart's history, dating to its 2011 inception.
