Mariah Carey set to release 25th anniversary deluxe edition of 'Merry Christmas'

September 23, 2019 12:14 pm Uncategorized
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Columbia RecordsMariah Carey is ushering in the holiday season early: On November 1, she’ll gift fans with a deluxe 25th anniversary edition of her 1994 holiday album Merry Christmas. 

Monday, the powerhouse vocalist announced the release in an Instagram video, and revealed that it would be a two-disc set, featuring, for the first time ever, a benefit concert for the Fresh Air Fund that she did in December of 1994 at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine.  That event featured performances of six songs: Five holiday tunes, and her hit “Hero.”

The Merry Christmas album of course, gave us Mariah’s holiday anthem “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”  Initially, the song wasn’t eligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 because of the publication’s arcane rules.  But the rules changed, and as a result, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 every year since 2012. 

Last year, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” became the the highest-charting Christmas song on the Hot 100 in 60 years, reaching number six.  In addition, thanks to streaming, last year, the Merry Christmas album reached the top 10 on the Billboard album chart for the first time since 1995.

In 2017, Mariah told Billboard that she was initially hesitant to record a Christmas-themed record. 

“I felt like it was a little bit too early in my career to be doing a Christmas album,” she said. “And then — I decided to do it.”

She added: “I’m very thankful that people seem to still have an attachment to it. It makes me feel good when people tell me that it’s part of their lives.”

You can pre-order the new album in a variety of merchandise bundles now.

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