How Mariah Carey and Wham! Conquered the Holiday Season

The Queen of Christmas has declared it: the season is officially upon us. And it wouldn’t be the Christmas season — at least over the past several years — if Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” did not return to the No. 1 slot on the Billboard Hot 100.

And what a year for that to happen, too: This week, Carey’s holiday hit spends its 19th total week at No. 1 on the chart, tying the all-time record for most weeks atop the list with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” a mark she will surely break before the year is up. But that’s not the only significant milestone that happened this week for Sony’s Legacy holiday songs: Wham!’s “Last Christmas” reached No. 2 on the Hot 100, an all-time high for the song, giving the label group the top two slots on the chart this week and some significant milestones to go along with it. And that festive cheer helps make Monica Cornia — senior vp of marketing and partnerships, commercial music group at Sony Music Entertainment — Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

Here, Cornia talks about the success of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and “Last Christmas,” how streaming has changed the holiday-hit conversation and the marketing plans around this time of year. “Holiday season means all-hands on deck,” Cornia says. “Every member of every team is involved to an extent. It is an evergreen, year-round project that requires consistent conversation and adaptation in order to truly maximize opportunities at the end of the year.”

This week, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” tied the record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, while Wham!’s “Last Christmas” reached a new peak, hitting No. 2 on the chart. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?

Both songs have become tentpole cultural markers for the holiday season, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to help further grow their reach and impact every single year. This week’s charting success is the result of incredible collaboration with each respective artist’s team and the execution of months-long strategic planning. 

At this point, Mariah’s Christmas kickoff is an annual event. How do you guys help out with the marketing of her annual holiday rollout?

The success of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” every single year continues to be an amazing feat, and Mariah’s team fully leans in, which has helped to make the song a true cultural phenomenon. We work extremely closely with them on the development and execution of a meticulous marketing plan that is created with the fans at the front and center of everything. Every year, we challenge ourselves and each other to think about how we can create fresh conversation, build social buzz and drive new engagement around the track, all while continuing to introduce the song to new generations of listeners. 

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” was originally released in 1994, but it has really kicked into overdrive since 2019, when it started hitting No. 1 each year. What changed, and how have you worked to help that keep happening?

The song has always been a hugely impactful and important song for us, but its cultural influence reached a whole new level around the 25th anniversary in 2019. With the dominance of streaming and a strong social strategy, most notably tied to her first-ever “It’s Time” video in 2019, the song truly took off, and now it’s hard to think about Christmas without Mariah. In the last six years, we’ve worked alongside her team to curate a range of new offerings and moments for fans, such as developing her concert special Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas To All!, supporting her appearance in Fortnite last year, partnering with the DSPs on various opportunities and leaning into social media trends that continue to drive both conversation and more listening. 

“Last Christmas” was released in 1984 and has been steadily gaining in popularity year after year, particularly in the last several, reaching the new peak this year. In what ways have you pushed that song during that time to help it reach new heights?

Last year was the song’s 40th anniversary, so we executed a huge strategic campaign to help it reach a new U.S. peak of No. 3. Now, we continue to put our foot on the gas and couldn’t be more thrilled to see the ways fans are continuing to engage with the song to help it reach its newest heights at No. 2. Andrew Ridgeley and the Wham! team, along with our U.K. company, have also been such great partners in leaning in to support the song. From the release of Sony Music Vision’s documentary WHAM!: Last Christmas Unwrapped on Netflix to incredible social and playlist curation and exposure, our focus has been on finding ways to connect the song’s timeless emotional depth with expanding audiences around the world. 

Every year, it seems that the holiday song season starts earlier than it did in the past — and this year is no different. Do you guys start planning for it earlier each year, or is that something that is dictated by consumers?

This may sound unbelievable, but it’s true: We never stop planning. Given how beloved and globally consumed holiday music is, we have to be strategically mapping out our plans, talking to artist teams and evolving our strategy consistently throughout the year. 

What are your plans for these songs as the holiday season continues?

Our goal is always to help our artists and their music reach more and more fans around the world, so we will continue to focus on finding unique ways to do just that.