How Mariah Carey Built All I Want for Christmas Is You Into a Holiday Juggernaut

Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” seems tailor-made to succeed in the online holiday music ecosystem.

If you can’t say “All I Want for Christmas” without adding “Is You,” Mariah Carey’s beloved Christmas standard already forms part of your holiday. The song doesn’t evoke or reflect a particular era, but its jazzy, gymnastic vocals, cheery tune, holiday sounds and 60’s production style make it feel like a classic. It fits right in with all sorts of holiday tunes, from pop novelties and rock-and-roll to standards, lending itself well to being included everywhere from holiday parties to algorithmically generated streaming playlists.

Given the social media “network effect,” the more people who share the tune seasonally, the exponentially more popular it becomes. Carey super-fans, known as “Lambs,” actively promoted streaming and purchasing “All I Want for Christmas,” and their efforts contributed to its number one position on Billboard’s 2019 “Hot 100” ...