The festive season is upon us, bringing with it gifts, cozy fires, delightful treats, and sparkling decorations. For Mariah Carey, it also means a substantial influx of royalty earnings, thanks to a holiday tune she penned nearly 30 years ago.

As the holiday spirit kicks in, Mariah Carey’s iconic “All I Want For Christmas Is You” becomes an omnipresent soundtrack from late November to Christmas Day. It’s hard to avoid this song during a December shopping spree. It’s in films, TV holiday specials, and dominates streaming platforms. It headlines Spotify’s “Christmas Hits” playlist, complete with a festive image of Mariah as its cover. Back in late 2019, the song’s popularity soared on streaming platforms, propelling it to the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Remarkably, this occurred 25 years after its release, marking Mariah’s first chart-topping hit in over a decade and the first Christmas song to achieve such a feat since “The Chipmunk Song” in 1958.

What’s astonishing is that Mariah initially had no interest in crafting a Christmas tune. Reluctantly, she and her collaborator put pen to paper, completing both the lyrics and melody in under 15 minutes. So, what led to the creation of Mariah Carey’s celebrated Christmas anthem? More intriguingly, just how lucrative is this song each December, and what is its total earnings?

(Photo by James Devaney/WireImage)

All I Want For Christmas… Is Huge Royalty Checks

In 1994, at just 24, Mariah Carey was basking in the glory of her third studio album, “Music Box,” a monumental success with 38 million copies sold globally, making it one of the all-time best-sellers and ranking as the 32nd highest-selling album in music history.

At the helm of her career was her husband, Tommy Mottola, a leading executive at Sony Music. True to a manager/husband/record exec’s role, Tommy was diligently planning Mariah’s next move following her album’s triumph. Despite Mariah’s freshly minted status as a beloved R&B pop icon, Tommy envisioned her next project as a… Christmas album?

Mariah was staunchly against the idea, viewing a Christmas album as a move typically reserved for veteran artists, rather than rising stars. Traditionally, record labels released Christmas albums for artists who might be temporary sensations or were seeking a final hurrah. For Mariah, the prospect felt not just premature but rather odd.

Mariah’s longtime songwriting partner, Walter Afanasieff, wholeheartedly agreed. They had just put out what was looking like the album of the decade. Mariah’s career was white hot. Why would they take a step way back?

But Tommy Mottola could be persuasive. It probably helped that, in addition to being Mariah’s husband, he was also the most powerful person in the music industry. Oh, and Tommy had an extra final requirement of the duo: He didn’t want Mariah and Walter to simply throw together an album that was made up entirely of covers of pre-existing Christmas songs. He insisted that they write at least one new, totally original Christmas tune. As difficult as that challenge may have been, Tommy knew that writing one Christmas song was a tried-and-true method for generating tons of money in royalties every year forever.

Mariah Carey and Tommy Mottola (Rose Hartman/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

So, in the summer of 1994, Mariah and Walter locked themselves in a studio at The Hit Factory in Manhattan and began putting together an album that eventually would be titled “Merry Christmas.”

On a fateful day in August 1994, during one of those summer sessions, Mariah and Walter started playing around with a “boogie woogie, rock and roll” riff (as he would later describe it). Mariah came up with some lyrics off the top of her head.

Call it magic. Luck. Maybe divine intervention. Whatever it was, less than 15 minutes later, they had composed the lyrics AND music for what eventually became “All I Want For Christmas is You.”

Mariah’s “Merry Christmas” album was released on October 28, 1994. It would eventually go on to sell 15 million copies worldwide thanks very largely to the smash-hit single, “All I Want for Christmas is You.”

As of this writing, “All I Want for Christmas is You” has sold more than 16 million singles worldwide. That makes it the 12th best-selling single in music history and the best-selling Christmas song in modern music history.

Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

How Much Money Has The Song Generated For Mariah?

This brings us to the central question of this article: How much does Mariah Carey make in royalties from “All I Want for Christmas is You” every December? And how much money has the song generated in total to date?

Let’s start with the second question first. To date, “All I Want for Christmas” has generated at least $80 million in overall royalties. As the song’s co-writers and co-producers, Mariah and Walter enjoy the lion’s share of that revenue.

Perhaps more importantly, the song has become extremely valuable as an asset. If the song’s rights were ever offered for sale, it would likely sell for a 30-40X multiple of its annual revenue. That brings us to the first question:

How much does the song generate every year?

On the low end, every December, Mariah earns $600,000 in royalties from this one song. On the high end, $1.2 million. Using this range, it’s presumable that “All I Want for Christmas” generates $2-4 million in royalties every year overall.

Using a 30x multiple on $2 million makes this one song a $60 million asset, which Mariah and Walter majority own. That’s a nice little contribution to Mariah Carey’s $350 million net worth. Add that to the $80 million the song has generated overall, and you understand why this song truly is the gift that keeps on giving. Not bad for 15 minutes of work 30 years ago!