Mariah Carey Knows All About Filipinos' (Very) Early Christmas Season
" I'll allow it for my Filipino lambs though!"
(SPOT.ph) Filipinos celebrate the Christmas season as soon as the -ber months come in; and yes, that means September 1. Sure, we have to pause in early November for either a solemn Todos los Santos or a horror-filled Halloween, and then the holiday fireworks continue. True to this local tradition, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reportedly had 316,000 streams on Spotify on September 1, a 75% jump compared to the number of plays on the same day in 2022.
This was revealed in a tweet by Mariah Carey Charts (Fan Page) (@chartmariah), which—well, being the fans that they are—paid close attention to the stats: 180,413 on September 1, 2022; and 316,143 on September 1, 2023. The American singer-songwriter even responded to the post and said, "Not yet!!!! I’ll allow it for my Filipino lambs though! (I don’t make the rules!)," acknowledging her Filipino fans.
What to know about Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You":
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" came from Mariah Carey's fourth studio album and first holiday album titled Merry Christmas, which came out in 1994. The upbeat track has everything you want for a holiday tune: an upbeat tempo, lyrics of love, bell chimes, and backup vocals you can sing to as a group during a party.
Described by The New Yorker as "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon," the song topped the charts in more than 25 countries and broke several records. Even 25 years after its release, it still snagged the top place at the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 2019. By 2023, it became such a canon in the music industry that it was selected by the United States Library of Congress to be included in the National Recording Registry.
Jose Mari Chan, the Philippines' other Christmas icon, said in an interview with Summit Media in 2021 that he likes the Carey Christmas hit.
"Speaking of Mariah Carey, sana one day she could sing one of my songs. I don't know about singing duet with her kasi iba 'yung key niya, mataas masyado. For me to sing with her, I have to stand on a stool," he confessed.
Watch the music video of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey:
Also read:
10 Song Covers That Will Get You Into the Christmas Spirit
10 Tagalog Christmas Songs That Are Probably Already Stuck in Your Head
10 Underrated Jose Mari Chan Christmas Songs to Add to Your Holiday Playlist