Mariah Carey Reigns Supreme Over The Christmas Chart In Australia

28 December 2022 | 11:20 am | Gavin Ryan

Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You retains the Australian #1 Singles position this week, the first time it's ever logged a continual stay at the top.

(Source: Supplied)

All I Want For Christmas Is You sees its sixth overall week at the singles summit in Australia, while it is also at #1 this week in the USA (10th week), Germany (13th week) and regains the top-slot in Canada (5th overall week), along with #2 in New Zealand followed by a #3 in Ireland and #4 in England. The Mariah Carey hit has also now logged a fifth consecutive year at #1 on Christmas week itself, having first done so in 2018 and every year since, while this year is its first stay at #1 for a second week, having only ever spent single/solo weeks at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart in the past. It's also the first time that the same song has topped-and-tailed the entire year, as Mariah's song was the first #1 song of 2022 (3 Jan) and is again in the last week of the year (26 Dec).  

During this decade, the song (and Mariah Carey) have logged four weeks at the top, which is the same amount of time that Adele's Easy On Me achieved in 2021, while Carey's overall tally of weeks at #1 in Australia now rises to nine in total, moving her from 74th to now 71st on the listing for Accumulated Weeks at #1: Singles (1940 to 2022) just ahead of Rod Stewart (9 weeks from 4 #1's) and The Beach Boys (9 weeks from 3 #1's). And with three of the next seven days' sales period falling during the 23rd to 25th of December, we could see Carey holding for a third week during this festive season, but she already has an assassin on her tail. 


The current #1 single in New Zealand for a second week is the SZA track Kill Bill, which locally jumps up three spots to land at a new peak of #2. At the same time, the track also rises in Ireland (7 to #6) and debuts in America (#3) and Canada (#5). Meanwhile, the US rapper has dual occupation of the #2 slot in Australia this week, as her album, SOS, also holds that position on the Albums Chart.

Half of the Top 10 are Christmas tunes this week (as opposed to only two last week), with the previous week's UK #1 single Last Christmas (TW.UK #2) by Wham! jumping up here three places to land at #3, it's the fifth year in a row to land within the Top 5 and a fourth year inside the Top 3, while regaining a Top 10 berth are Michael Bublé with It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, which jumps up six spots to land at #5 (fourth successive year within the Top 5), followed by a song which needs it's multiple version digitally amalgamated (it is on different record labels. Thus each version gets its own points) in Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee climbing five spots to a new chart peak of #7 (it hit #8 last year), scoring a second ever week within the Top 10. Ariana Grande is up seven places to #8, with Santa Tell Me, its third year landing a Top 10 entry at this time of year, having peaked at #5 during its 2021 silly-season chart run. 


Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter

The four remaining non-Christmas tunes within the Top 10 all get pushed down by the rising tide of festive songs, with Unholy by Sam Smith and Kim Petras being sleighed two places to #4, while Taylor Swift sees a three-place slide to #6 for Anti-Hero. Meghan Trainor sees a five-place slump to #9 for her latest single Made You Look while Oliver Tree and Robin Schulz's rendition of Miss You falls three places to land at #10. 

'CAUSE SANTA CLAUS COMES TONIGHT:

Thirteen other Christmas songs land within the Top 50 this week, giving Australia 18 in total this week, with the only track landing within the Top 20 being Bobby Helms with Jingle Bell Rock, up five places to #14, one place lower than its #13 peak last season. This is followed by five songs that jump into the Top 30, starting with the second and final Michael Bublé entry Holly Holly Christmas which leaps fifteen places to land at #21, while the Burl Ives rendition sees a thirty-seven place jump to sit at #40 this week. 

Last week, Kelly Clarkson's Underneath The Tree was sitting at #51 and scored a ▲Platinum in sales. Now, this week, it flies up 27 places to land back at its former peak of #24 (in 2021), followed by a twenty-three spot jump to #25 for Andy Williams' It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year, a thirty-place journey to #27 for The Ronettes 1963 classic Sleigh Ride, while the Band-Aid 30 rendition of Do They Know It's Christmas? rebounds thirty-two spots to sit at #29 this week (NZ; 27 to #11). 


Also landing back within the Top 50 this week are six additional seasonal songs, with the only local Christmas act inside the fifty this week being Sia with Snowman (67 to #33; NZ 32 to #15) - although this past week on 21 Dec was Gravy Day as mentioned in the Paul Kelly song, so I thought that track might have popped its head back into the Top 50, but alas it didn't. Justin Bieber cracks an accumulated half a year on the charts (26 weeks) for Mistletoe which rises thirty places to #34, while John Lennon and Yoko Ono's ode to peace Happy Christmas (War Is Over) jumps forty-seven places to land at #36 (NZ 38 to #21). John and Yoko returned to the Top 100 last week with that track, as did Jose Feliciano's Feliz Navidad at #100, with that 1970 issued single this week leaping fifty-one chart-rungs to land at #49 (NZ 28 to #12). 

A rarity for Christmas tunes occurs at #45, and #46 as two best friends see their renditions of Let It Snow sitting back-to-back this week, with the Dean Martin rendition up twenty-nine to #45, while Frank Sinatra's version leaps 42 spots to land at #46. This had almost happened once before for this song, when Michael Bublé was sitting at #87 with Let It Snow, while a version by Kylie Minogue was at #89 (27 Dec 2010; thanks to 392414 for the info). 

UP:

There is one other song that is not a part of the festive tunes which rises this week, RAYE and 070 Shake with Escapism, which leaps 11 places this week to #11, while the track is holding for a third week at #1 in Ireland. It drops to #6 in England (LW-3) and dips in New Zealand (7 to #10), plus it rises in the USA (100 to #79) and Canada (43 to #36).


DOWN:

Three songs leave the Top 10 this week, starting with the OneRepublic Top Gun: Maverick tune I Ain't Worried (HP-2, WI10-22), followed by I'm Good (Blue) (HP-1x2, WI10-14) for David Guetta and Bebe Rexha, both dropping four places each to #12 and #13 respectively, while down six spots to #16 is Creepin' (HP-8, WI10-2) by Metro Boomin', The Weeknd and 21 Savage. 

Four place drops occur for As It Was by Harry Styles (13 to #17), and Rich Flex by Drake and 21 Savage (14 to #18), while the new SZA entries from last week to drop this week are Nobody Gets Me (16 to #23) and Shirt (21 to #41), taking her down to only three Top 50 entries for the week. Dean Lewis falls three spots to #26 with How Do I Say Goodbye while also down four places each are Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) for Elton John and Dua Lipa to #28 and Sunroof by Nicky Youre and dazy to #30, with that track newly 2x▲Platinum in sales. 

Beyoncé sees Cuff It fall six spots to #31, Ed Sheeran drops down with Shivers (29 to #35) and his 78-week-old (one-and-a-half-years) entry Bad Habits (39 to #47). The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber's Stay falls seven places to #38, its lowest ever chart position, followed by a nine-place drop to #39 for the Chris Brown track, Under The Influence. Lizzo leaves the Top 50 with About Damn Time (LW-43), while its follow-up 2 Be Loved (Am I Ready) falls ten spots to #43, while recent tourists The Killers see Mr Brightside dim nine places to #44. LF System drops eleven places to #48 with Afraid to Feel, and last week's #44 peak for the Stephen Sanchez and Em Beihold duet, Until I Found You, is back down six places this week to #50.

NEW ENTRY:

* #15 - Let Go - Central Cee is the latest single for the British rapper who in August hit #3 with his tribute song Doja (newly ▲Platinum this week), while he first charted with his #30 song Obsessed With You (peaked October 21st, 2021), with this new entry now his fourth Top 100 placement, as he hit #92 with One Up (24 October 2022). This track samples the 2008 issued and April 2013 #1 song (5 weeks from April 1st) for Passenger called Let Her Go, while the track has also landed the first week within the Top 10 in England, Ireland and Sweden (all #9), The Netherlands (#7), and also in Italy (#12), New Zealand (#13) and Germany (#19). 


NEW CERTIFICATIONS:

Sunroof by Nicky Youre and dazy ▲2

Doja by Central Cee ▲

Good Days by SZA ▲

Industry Baby by Lil' Nas X feat. Jack Harlow ▲7

HP = Highest Position

LW = Last Week

WI10 - Weeks in Top 10


*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 16th to the 22nd of December 2022.

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.