This post originally APPEARED on stereogum.com
A billboard truck pulled up outside Caesar’s Palace, broadcasting its message to anyone who might’ve stumbled out of the casino at that moment, as well as the various photographers and videographers who have assembled to document this particular publicity stunt. The truck’s message was written in gleaming white, against a royal blue background: “#1 Vision Of Love.” Behind it, there was another billboard truck just like it, except this one said, “#2 Love Takes Time.” A long line of these trucks — 18 of them, to be exact — stretched on down the road. Every truck was stamped with a different Mariah Carey song that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Those trucks, all lined up, were there to announce Number 1 To Infinity, a new Mariah Carey concert residency at Caesar’s, and to remind the world of the star’s near-unprecedented level of chart success. But something was missing.
Those trucks all arrived outside Caesar’s Palace in May 2015. At that moment, Mariah Carey wasn’t really a factor on the Billboard Hot 100 anymore, but her legacy was undeniable. Carey’s 18 chart-toppers spanned 18 years, from 1990’s “Vision Of Love” to 2008’s “Touch My Body.” Carey went through tons of different aesthetic periods in that 18-year stretch. She had imperial stretches, flop eras, triumphant comebacks. The evening that the trucks pulled up, she had the longest-running #1 hit of all time — “One Sweet Day,” the Boyz II Men collaboration that held down the top spot for 16 weeks between 1995 and 1996. She had more #1 hits than anyone other than the Beatles. Those 18 chart-toppers were all collected on a career-spanning compilation, also called #1 To Infinity. “Infinity,” the bonus track on that compilation, peaked at #82 — one more sign that Mariah Carey couldn’t command the Hot 100 at will anymore.
Outside of Caesar’s Palace, a classic pink convertible followed those 18 trucks. When it pulled up to the casino entrance, Mariah Carey herself stepped out. A bunch of little kids did some choreographed dancing, as fans surrounded the sparkly-gowned singer. Fake Roman gladiators carried her into the casino as she lounged on a red velvet throne. The gaudiness of that display was perfect, and it must’ve felt like a fitting career victory lap at the time. But Mariah Carey wasn’t done with the #1 spot. She had another hit hiding in plain sight, and that song would come to eclipse all of her others, to the point that it now threatens to overshadow a legendary career.
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When the trucks pulled up, that final hit had finally started to make regular appearances on the Hot 100, a chart where it didn’t appear when Carey first released the song in 1994. After Carey’s Caesar’s Palace residency ended and her next one began, that song finally ascended to the top of the Hot 100, giving Carey her 19th chart-topper and putting her just one behind the Beatles on the all-time list. That song then returned to the #1 spot every year, adding a few more weeks to its total. As I write this column, the song has racked up more weeks at #1 than “One Sweet Day” before it. Barring a Billboard rule change, it’s practically inevitable that this single will soon break the all-time longevity record, once again making Mariah Carey the artist with the longest-reigning #1 hit in history.
The song in question is “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” the only true holiday standard to emerge since the years after World War II. Thanks to Billboard rule changes and other headwinds of history, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” finally reached #1 a quarter-century after its release. For all we know, it’ll continue to dominate the chart every December for another quarter-century after that. At least for a couple of months a year, it’s a forever song. It’s ridiculous for me to write a column about this particular song in July, and it’s ridiculous for you to read it. But Mariah Carey wrote and recorded “All I Want For Christmas Is You” in August, so we’re all just going to have to be ridiculous here. An achievement of this magnitude demands ridiculousness. Even if you don’t love the song, even if you never want to hear it again, you must respect its omnipresence.
Every year, Mariah Carey earns a few million more dollars thanks to “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” Given all the terrible ways that people earn baffling passive incomes, this is about the nicest way she could’ve done it — by writing and recording a song that will always evoke the glow of wintertime togetherness for countless people around the planet. She deserves whatever riches this song brings her. Give this lady another billboard truck.
