Billboard magazine has compiled a list of the most downloaded holiday songs ever, and it includes some old favorites as well as some recently released future classics. The race for chart topper, however, is not even a contest, as Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" has double the number of downloads of its closest competitor.
"All I Want For Christmas Is You" Most Downloaded Holiday Single Of All Time
Carey's now-classic Christmas track has received a total of 3.2 million downloads to date, making it by far the most downloaded holiday single of all time. The track is so popular it is the 11th best-selling single in the history of music and has reportedly earned the singer over $50 million.
Fun Facts About "All I Want For Christmas Is You"
The song was released in 1994, and when Mariah recorded it in the studio in the summer of that year, she decked the place out with Christmas decorations and ornaments to get her in the holiday mood. The song actually has no live instruments played in the background, as the entire arrangement is done with computers.
"All I Want For Christmas Is You" has three separate videos, one in color, one in black and white, and one recorded more recently in 2011, when Justin Bieber joined the star in a newly recorded version on his Under the Mistletoe album. All in all, the three clips have amassed over 315 million YouTube views so far.
The title track from Bieber's Under the Mistletoe comes in at number 4 on the list with 1.1 million downloads, while "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?" by Kristen Bell, Agatha Lee Monn and Katie Lopez from the 2013 soundtrack to the hit movie Frozen is the runner up to Carey with 1.6 million downloads. Other tracks in the top 10 include Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," Wham's "Last Christmas" and Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad." The oldest song on the list is "Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms, from 1957.
With streaming now poised to overtake digital downloads as the primary method of music listening, we checked the current Spotify charts to see if they were consistent with the all-time most downloaded holiday song list. Sure enough, the most listened to track on the U.S. Spotify chart right now is "All I Want For Christmas Is You," currently at number 53 with over 300,000 streams, and the next two holiday tracks on the list are the Brenda Lee and Bobby Helms songs mentioned earlier. As the holidays near, we'll be sure to see those songs rising on the charts along with the debut of additional favorites.
