Once the clock strikes midnight, October 31 fades into November 1, and it’s time for stores across the nation to begin blasting one legendary song — Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
Carey first released “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (AIWFCIY) in 1994. Co-written by her and songwriter Walter Afanasieff, the song has since become the only holiday tune to become a “diamond record,” an achievement gained by songs that sell more than 10 million copies. To put this achievement into perspective, only 92 songs in history have ever reached diamond record status, putting Carey up next to names like Adele, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, and Led Zeppelin. Besides being a diamond record, the song has won three Guinness World Records, including having the most Spotify streams within 24 hours of any song.
With such incredible success, Carey and her collaborators have been able to pull in $72 million from AIWFCIY alone. But does the jolly tune deserve this success? However, each year it seems that other songwriters and artists want a piece of the gold mine. This year, country singer Andy Stone is suing Carey for copyright infringement. Stone, along with his band Vince Vance and the Valiants, released a song called “All I Want For Christmas Is You” in 1989. Although the song was moderately successful, reaching Billboard’s top country singles list in the 90s, its fame pales in comparison to Carey’s AIWFCIY.
Stone claims that Carey blatantly stole lyrics from his song for her own. Whether this is true can be debated, but Stone is far from the first person to sue Carey over AIWFCIY. In fact, this holiday season isn’t the first time Stone has tried to sue Carey — just last year, he filed the same complaint but ended up retracting it. In 2022, Carey was sued by holiday singer Elizabeth Chan over the title “Queen of Christmas.” On her website, Chan refers to herself by this term, while Carey attempted to trademark it for her company to use in different marketing products.
So far, Stone’s had little success in getting the $20 million he wants from Carey. But who knows – he might have better luck next year. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” doesn’t seem to be disappearing into obscurity anytime soon, with website Parade estimating Carey gaining $3 million from 2023’s winter season alone. In a sea of lawsuits, AIWFCIY stands as the unshakeable, tinsel-decorated heart of Christmas.
