Back in 1994, Mariah Carey released the album “Merry Christmas,” with an anchor track, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” that mixed the R&B production style of the era with nostalgic touches reminiscent of Phil Spector. The song did well at radio, and the album reached No. 3 on Billboard’s chart, behind LPs from Kenny G and Boyz II Men.
Flash forward a couple of decades and Carey’s song had become a modern classic, but chart domination had long eluded it. After a yearslong promotional push that included a concert residency at the Beacon Theater in New York, an animated film and a new music video — as well as the song’s annual ubiquity on streaming playlists — “All I Want” finally made it to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in 2019, and repeated the feat in 2020 and 2021.
Now Carey’s seasonal blockbuster has returned to No. 1 yet again, ending the six-week reign of Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero.” Buoyed by streaming, “All I Want” leads a new Top 10 dominated by decades-old holiday hits, including Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (1958) at No. 2, Bobby Helms’s “Jingle Bell Rock” (1957) at No. 3 and Burl Ives’s “A Holly Jolly Christmas” (1964) at No. 4.
On the album chart, “Heroes & Villains,” the new LP by the rap super-producer Metro Boomin, opens at No. 1 with the equivalent of 185,000 sales in the United States, including 233 million streams, according to the tracking service Luminate. Metro Boomin, whose real name is Leland Wayne, has produced hits for artists like Migos, Future, Gucci Mane and Post Malone, but “Heroes & Villains” is his third time at No. 1 with an album of his own.
The release features a deep bench of guest stars, like the Weeknd, 21 Savage, Travis Scott, Future and Takeoff from Migos, who was shot and killed six weeks ago. The 85-year-old actor Morgan Freeman also contributed his familiar voice-of-God narration to a promotional short film and parts of the album, as he did on a joint LP by Metro Boomin and 21 Savage two years ago.
Swift’s LP “Midnights” falls to second place in its seventh week out, five of those at No. 1. Drake and 21 Savage’s “Her Loss” is No. 3, Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” is in fourth place and Michael Bublé’s 11-year-old holiday favorite “Christmas” falls one spot to No. 5.
Carey’s “Merry Christmas,” from 1994, lands at No. 10 on the album list.
