Merry Christmas from Mariah

It’s Christmas time, and just like every other Christmas since 2018, Mariah Carey is back at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart. Over on the Albums Chart, 2024’s breakout star Sabrina Carpenter reclaims the #1 spot with Short n’ Sweet. It’s the album’s seventh non-consecutive week at #1 and its first time on top since mid-October.  

Michael Bublé’s 2011 album Christmas almost takes the top spot, rising from #9 to #2, while the long-awaited release of the “Lana” edition of SZA’s second album, SOS, sends it darting back up the chart from #15 to #4. Released in December 2022, SOS spent one week at #1 in early 2023. The lead single from the reissued album, Saturn, peaked at #8 earlier this year.  

Mariah’s 30-year-old classic, All I Want For Christmas Is You, steps up from #3 last week to #1. Released in 1994, when it peaked at #2, the song reached #1 in 2018 and has been back on top every year since then, racking up a grand total of eight weeks at #1. Its best run came in 2022-23, when it held the top spot for three weeks.  

Perennial Christmas runner-up Last Christmas by Wham rises from #7 to #2. It spent four weeks at #3 when it was released in 1984, stopped from going higher by Madonna’s Like A Virgin and Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas. It returned in 1997, reaching #46, and again in 2014, stopping at #61. 

Last Christmas has been back on the chart every year since 2017, peaking at #11 in 2017-18, #5 in 2018-19, #3 in 2019-20, #2 in both 2020-21 and 2021-22, #3 in 2022-23 and #2 in 2023-24. In the UK, it just made chart history by becoming the first song ever to be #1 for two consecutive Christmases.  

The rest of the top seven singles are all Christmas songs. Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree rises from #10 to #3; Bobby Helms’ Jingle Bell Rock is up from #14 to a new peak of #4; Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me climbs from #18 to #5; Kelly Clarkson’s Underneath The Tree flies from #27 to #6, which is its highest position ever; and Michael Bublé’s It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas jumps from #26 to #7.