Wham finally ends Mariah’s holiday chart dominance
It felt impossible, but it’s finally happened: Mariah Carey has been bumped from her holiday throne.
After years of ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ feeling like an inescapable seasonal law, Wham! has officially swooped in to take the #1 spot on the Billboard Global 200.
It’s a huge shift for the charts, especially since the Global 200 launched in 2020, a chart Mariah has dominated every December.
Mariah didn’t go down without a fight. She’s clocked 19 total weeks at the top of the Global 200 since its inception, and her 1994 hit remains a streaming monster, reportedly earning her $2–3 million every December. But George Michael’s 1984 classic, ‘Last Christmas,’ has been gaining serious ground lately.
Why 2025? Hard to say. Maybe it’s a wave of 80s synth-pop nostalgia, or perhaps the 40th-anniversary push for the Wham! track finally tipped the scales.
Either way, seeing a change at the top is a shock. Mariah’s “unimpeachable” status has been the one constant every December, but now, the holiday chart race actually feels like a contest.
Whether Mariah stages a last-minute comeback or George Michael holds the line, this December’s charts just got a lot more interesting.
Mariah’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ chart timeline:
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1994 – Song drops; modest charts.
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’95–’99 – Holiday favourite, top 10 seasonal charts.
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2000–’04 – Streaming and radio boost; top 5 seasonal hits.
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’05–’18 – Christmas royalty; dominates iTunes and streaming every December.
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2019 – Finally hits Billboard Hot 100 #1, 25 years later.
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2020–’24 – Hot 100 + Global 200 #1 every December.
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2025 – Wham! swoops in; Mariah still strong, but no longer untouchable.
Feeling festive? Check out our fav Christmas songs here.
