Cher hits charts for first time in 21 years, Mariah Carey sets record

All anyone wants for Christmas is our nation’s pop divas dominating the music charts — and Cher and Mariah Carey delivered Santa-centric slays on the Billboard Hot 100 this holiday season.

Cher’s festive foray into Yuletide tunes led to the 77-year-old’s first entry on the U.S. chart in 21 years, as her dance-oriented holiday smash “DJ Play a Christmas Song” entered this week’s ranking at No. 94 — her first positioning on the country’s premier chart since 2002’s “Song for the Lonely” peaked at No. 85 over two decades ago.

The publication revealed the icon’s chart achievement the same day Carey’s perennial holiday hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” notched its 14th overall week at No. 1 on the chart, making Carey the only artist in music history to have three songs rule the Billboard Hot 100 for that time period, after her Boyz II Men collaboration “One Sweet Day” led for 16 weeks from 1995 to 1996, and “We Belong Together” led for 14 weeks in 2005.

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” first reached No. 1 in December 2019, 25 years after its original release. It has since returned to the top position each year, amassing nearly 2 billion streams on Spotify alone. The song also extended Carey’s record as the artist with the most-ever non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, with the song giving the performer her 93rd week atop the chart since she first launched her career.

“When it first came out, it was more of a gradual thing,” Carey previously told EW about the song’s sustained success. “It was popular, but it didn’t have what it has now. I feel like people have grown up with the song and it’s become a part of people’s lives in terms of the way they celebrate the holidays. That makes me feel really proud as someone that loves Christmas so much.”

On the Billboard 200 albums chart, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” parent album Merry Christmas returned to the top 10 this week, while Cher’s Christmas has thus far topped out at No. 32. Cher promoted the album’s release with several high-profile TV performances, including one at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was interrupted by a brief Christmas-colored glitch on the live broadcast.

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