美国国家公共电台 NPR--Why 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' tops the charts every year (2022 included)

Why 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' tops the charts every year (2022 included)

Transcript¹

Mariah Carey is back on top again, with her holiday hit "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reaching the no. 1 spot on the Billboard² Hot 100 songs chart this week for the fourth year in a row.

This makes it the first song in history to have four separate runs at No. 1 on the chart, from 2019 to 2022.

The song was originally released on Carey's 1994 Christmas album, but streaming services, technological³ changes and general holiday cheer have helped make it a hallmark of the Yuletide season only in recent years (to the delight of Carey fans and dismay of inundated⁴ retail⁵ workers everywhere).

Carey broke from the mold by releasing original holiday music, since most artists at the time chose to cover Christmas standards, Gary Trust, Billboard's senior director of charts, told NPR last winter. And that gamble paid off (literally: The Economist⁶ reported in 2017 that Carey had earned over $60 million in royalties⁷ since its release).

"It sounds like what we've always traditionally thought a holiday song sounds like, with those jingle⁸ bells and just the fun, upbeat sound, but updated for the '90s and obviously Mariah's vocals," Trust said. "With different lyrics⁹, I feel like this could be a hit any time of the year."

Listeners and fans have prolonged the song's popularity not only by playing it incessantly¹⁰, but by making videos and memes about it every year (Carey herself partakes, including by famously announcing the start of the holiday season the moment Halloween ends).

Christmas has become part of Carey's identity to millions of people, he added, comparing her to "a modern-day Santa Claus."

"She makes it really personal, and it's just that connection back-and-forth," he said. "I think memes really work when there's that interaction, obviously. That's how they keep growing. So I think if she didn't have a sense of humor, maybe we wouldn't connect with her as much."

The song has long been popular, but started topping charts recently

The contemporary carol's rankings have also been helped by changes to Billboard's chart rules — specifically governing holiday music — over the last few decades.

"In short, 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' has long been a smash waiting for the metrics to catch up," Chris Molanphy wrote for Slate¹¹ in 2019. "Separately this decade, Billboard rebooted its former Christmas minichart as the Holiday 100, and ever since its launch in 2011, the Holiday chart has basically been the Mariah chart."

The song reached the Hot 100's top 10 for the first time in Dec. 2017 and broke into the top five the following year. Its meteoric¹² rise continued from there, as it's held the top spot on the holiday charts (for two to three weeks straight) every year since 2019.

The streak¹³ continues this year, marking the song's ninth total week in the top spot. It expands its record for a holiday song's most time at No. 1 (more than doubling the time that the previous leader, David Seville & The Chipmunks¹⁵' "The Chipmunk¹⁴ Song," spent there in 1958 — the same year the Hot 100 launched).

Carey called the news "such an amazing surprise and an early Christmas gift" in a celebratory tweet.

Carey holds the (contested) Christmas crown

The song is ruling other Billboard charts this week too, including the U.K. Singles Chart and the Billboard Global 200.

Meanwhile, YouTube Music announced Tuesday that the song is No. 1 on the Top Songs U.S. chart and No. 2 on the Top Music Videos chart. And last week it also topped the global top songs on Spotify, where it hit 1 billion streams last December.

It extends her record for the longest span of an artist ranking at No. 1 on the chart to 32 years, four months and three weeks (her debut¹⁶ single "Vision of Love'' first made its ascent¹⁷ in Aug. 1990).

And it gives her a record 88th week at No. 1 on the Hot 100, which is more than Rihanna or the Beatles can say.

While Carey clearly reigns¹⁸ supreme¹⁹, just don't call her the Queen of Christmas. She lost her bid to trademark²⁰ that title and other related terms last month, after it was challenged by a full-time²¹ Christmas singer.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

3 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

4 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 royalties   

特许权使用费

参考例句：

• I lived on about £3,000 a year from the royalties on my book. 我靠着写书得来的每年约3，000英镑的版税生活。 来自辞典例句
• Payments shall generally be made in the form of royalties. 一般应采取提成方式支付。 来自经济法规部分

8 jingle   

n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵

参考例句：

• The key fell on the ground with a jingle.钥匙叮当落地。
• The knives and forks set up their regular jingle.刀叉发出常有的叮当声。

9 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

10 incessantly   

ad.不停地

参考例句：

• The machines roar incessantly during the hours of daylight. 机器在白天隆隆地响个不停。
• It rained incessantly for the whole two weeks. 雨不间断地下了整整两个星期。

11 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

12 meteoric   

adj.流星的，转瞬即逝的，突然的

参考例句：

• In my mind,losing weight is just something meteoric.在我眼中，减肥不过是昙花一现的事情。
• His early career had been meteoric.他的早期生涯平步青云。

13 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

14 chipmunk   

n.花栗鼠

参考例句：

• This little chipmunk is hungry.这只小花栗鼠肚子饿了。
• Once I brought her a chipmunk with a wound on its stomach.一次，我带了只腹部受伤的花栗鼠去找她。

15 chipmunks   

n.金花鼠( chipmunk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

16 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

17 ascent   

n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高

参考例句：

• His rapid ascent in the social scale was surprising.他的社会地位提高之迅速令人吃惊。
• Burke pushed the button and the elevator began its slow ascent.伯克按动电钮，电梯开始缓慢上升。

18 reigns   

n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期

参考例句：

• In these valleys night reigns. 夜色笼罩着那些山谷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The Queen of Britain reigns, but she does not rule or govern. 英国女王是国家元首，但不治国事。 来自辞典例句

19 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

20 trademark   

n.商标；特征；vt.注册的…商标

参考例句：

• The trademark is registered on the book of the Patent Office.该商标已在专利局登记注册。
• The trademark of the pen was changed.这钢笔的商标改了。

21 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。