Mariah Carey has earned over $60m for ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ since its 1994 release

When Mariah Carey first released ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ in 1994, the catchy tune went on to become one of the highest charting holiday songs in 60 years earning staggering royalties each year.

If one thinks that the song got written in just 15 minutes 26 years ago, it's hard to imagine that it rakes in upwards of $500,000 in royalties each year. But since it's release, the song became one of the 13 most popular Christmas songs on Spotify.

With over 1 billion plays between the 13 most popular songs, Mariah’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ was by far the most popular, accounting for 210 million of those plays.

Overjoyed by how well the song is doing Mariah recently said during an interview with Billboard:

"It never ceases to amaze me when this song re-emerges on the Billboard charts every year. What an incredible Christmas gift. It's been an amazing year for me with the release of my album Caution, and this is the star on top of my Christmas tree. Thank you, everyone, for the support."

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Mariah’s Christmas classic topped the Holiday 100 chart for 33 out of a total of 38 weeks since the survey began in 2011.

The $60 million in royalty fees since its release came with its fair share of drama. During an interview with Walter Afanasieff, co-writer of the hit song ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You,’ admitted to a relationship with Mariah, but matters did not work out as planned as Walter said:

“We had a falling out. I would have hoped that in 20 years, she would have knocked on my door — but she hasn’t, so...”

Walter also stated that even though his contribution to the making of the song was vital, he received no credit for his part in it as he added:

“She doesn’t like to acknowledge other people. It seems to be a problem with singers. If you see a singer talking about something that they wrote, they will probably say, ‘I wrote the song when I was 12 years old, or here’s another song I wrote.’ It doesn’t matter how many interviews she’s done or when she’s on stage; she’ll never, ever say, ‘Here’s the song that I wrote with Walter.’”

The collapse of their relationship still weighs on Walter, and says he holds no grudge against Mariah as he said:

“I love Mariah Carey. She’s the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go both ways.”

In November Mariah posted a video of her and her two children, Monroe and Moroccan singing the very same Christmas hit, ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ together.

The result showcased a family of talented vocalists and quickly became one of the more popular Christmas video’s this year.