Do You Know The History Behind Your Favorite Christmas Songs? Learn About Mariah Carey to Michael Buble’s Holiday Hits

Every holiday season, people are eager for Christmas music to start playing on every radio station. Over the years, as more artists have provided their own twists on classic holiday tunes, as well as entirely new tracks, the anticipation for this time of year has only grown. With holiday originals like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” becoming Christmas staples, you might be wondering what inspired your favorite hits and how these artists became intertwined with the season. 

Learn about the stories behind your favorite Christmas songs, including why Mariah Carey didn’t want to write a holiday track. 

‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ by Mariah Carey

Following the 1990 release of her self-titled debut album, the singer was only four years into her career when the idea of a holiday record began floating around. Carey wasn’t too interested in releasing Christmas music at the time, feeling that she needed to grow in other areas first. 

“So that [album] was the record company saying, ‘You should do a Christmas album’ and I was, like, ‘I don’t know that I should at this juncture,’” Carey revealed. “Because, you know, I was very young and was just starting out and I felt like people do Christmas albums later in their lives.”

However, she soon changed her tune and worked on the 1994 album Merry Christmas, which became a massive success as one of the best-selling Christmas albums of all time. 

“But now people have started to do them whenever, like right at the top of their career,” she said. “So, I mean, what was I feeling like? I was a little bit apprehensive and then I was, like, ‘I love this.’ And I decorated the studio and just had the best time.”

The song has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a total of 19 weeks, marking Carey as the unofficial “Queen of Christmas.”

‘Last Christmas’ by Wham!

Did you know that “Last Christmas” by Wham! was written in under an hour? The pop duo of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley are known for hit songs like “Careless Whisper” and “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” but “Last Christmas” was a huge success for them as well. After a significant year with the release of the previously mentioned songs, “Last Christmas” was just another notch to add to their belt. 

Michael decided to write the song to express a personal heartbreak he had experienced and it was written quickly while the duo was visiting Michael’s parents. 

“We’d had a bite to eat and were sitting together relaxing with the television on in the background when, almost unnoticed, George disappeared upstairs for an hour or so,” Ridgeley recalled. “When he came back down, such was his excitement, it was as if he had discovered gold, which, in a sense, he had. We went to his old room, the room in which we had spent hours as kids recording pastiches of radio shows and jingles, the room where he kept a keyboard and something on which to record his sparks of inspiration, and he played me the introduction and the beguiling, wistful chorus melody to ‘Last Christmas.’ It was a moment of wonder.”

The song shot up to Number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and has been a part of holiday music history ever since its release. 

“George had performed musical alchemy, distilling the essence of Christmas into music,” Ridgeley said. “Adding a lyric which told the tale of betrayed love was a masterstroke and, as he did so often, he touched hearts.”

‘Christmas’ by Michael Bublé

Every time one of Michael Bublé’s holiday tracks plays in the supermarket, it instantly gives you that nostalgic feeling of Christmas as a kid—and that was intentional. The singer, who released his Christmas album, Christmas, in 2011, purposely gave the tracks on his album that classic warm feeling by recording with no help from Pro Tools. 

“I pushed to keep the music recorded live, the old-school way,” Bublé shared. “And I mean really live, like Frank [Sinatra] and Bing [Crosby] and Dean [Martin] did it–not the so-called live recording where you sing it live, then fix everything afterwards… I wanted it beautiful, rich and authentic.”

Clearly, his instinct was right, as the album soared to Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 and has topped other charts as well, including the Billboard Holiday Albums chart. The album is now forever intertwined with the holiday season and consistently played on radio stations and streaming services everywhere. 

“It means a lot to me [making Christmas music],” Bublé said. “I didn’t just want to make a Christmas record, I wanted to make the Christmas record.”