Mariah Carey makes a fortune every year from royalties to her famous Christmas carol
Mariah Carey’s song “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is an undisputed holiday classic, as part of Christmas tradition as strudel, sleigh bells, and arguing with loved ones.
Originally released in 1994, the song seems to be gaining more and more popularity each year, reports The Independent. So it’s no surprise that Carey earns high in royalties every year.
Celebrity Net Worth has calculated that Carey earns between £450k and £750k (approximately £7.5m to £12.5m) each December on All I Want For Christmas Is You alone.
The singer is thought to earn around £380,000 a year from this song in the UK. It’s hard to be sure exactly how much Carey earned, as the Right to Performance Association (PRS) did not reveal the answer to protect the privacy of its members.
But research conducted for Channel 5 in 2016 tried to find the answer and concluded that the top-paid songs each year were:
1. “Merry Xmas Everybody” – Slade, £1 million (annual royalties)
2. “Fairytale of New York” – The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, £400,000
3. “All I Want for Christmas is You” – Mariah Carey, £400,000
4. “White Christmas” – Bing Crosby, £328,000
5. “Last Christmas” – Wham!, £300,000
6. “Wonderful Christmastime” – Paul McCarney, £260,000
7. “Stop the Cavalry” – Jona Lewie, £120,000
8. “2000 Miles” – The Pretenders, £102k
9. “Mistletoe and Wine” – Cliff Richard, £100k
10. “Stay Another Day” – East, £97k
Carey also makes thousands of dollars each year from streaming platforms like Spotify, often topping the charts as early as November.
Carey’s other “All I Want for Christmas Is You”-themed projects are generating even more revenue, such as the 2017 video-only animated movie “Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You”. The movie tells the story of Mariah, a little girl who dreams of receiving a puppy as a gift for Christmas every year.
You can find out more about the top paying Christmas carols here.
