--- title: How Mariah Carey Stole Christmas description: Mariah Carey's appearance on James Corden's carpool karaoke was pretty much inevitable. This is the time of every year when Carey cashes in. authors: - name: Alicia Adamczyk url: https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 201 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/aliciaadamczyk former_staff: true published: '2016-12-16T17:24:51.000Z' modified: '2016-12-16T17:24:51.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Holidays word_count: 396 canonical: https://money.com/mariah-carey-owns-christmas/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Mariah, Carpool Karaoke](https://img.money.com/2016/12/161216_carpoolmariah.jpg) Mariah Carey's festive appearance on James Corden's [carpool karaoke series](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/12/16/carpool-karaoke-mariah-carey-adele-all-i-want-for-christmas) this week was pretty much inevitable. This is the time of every year when Carey emerges, bedazzled and cleavage-baring, to cash in on Christmas. Her pitch perfect pop song, "All I Want for Christmas Is You," is one of the few modern classics. It's the most downloaded Christmas song of all time, according to [Nielsen](http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7588783/what-are-the-top-selling-christmas-music-holiday-songs), and the most popular Christmas song of all time on Spotify, with over 147 million streams. Last year, the song hit #11 on the Billboard Hot 100—its highest position yet, and 21 years after its initial 1994 release. It's also made the elusive chanteuse a pretty penny. Carey is credited as both co-writer and producer of the annual chart-topper, which netted $50 million by 2013, according to the *New York Post.* More importantly for Carey's bank account, the song has fueled a mini cottage industry that pays off all year. In 2016, there's an expanded [holiday makeup collection](http://www.popsugar.com/beauty/MAC-Cosmetics-x-Mariah-Carey-Holiday-2016-42711815#photo-42711815) with MAC and another run of sold-out holiday shows at New York City's Beacon Theater. There's also *Mariah's World,* an eight-part docuseries on the E! network. The show, which premiered at the beginning of December, doesn't just provide us commoners with undeserved access into Carey's life. It's also a business move that reminds viewers that Carey basically owns the most wonderful time of the year (sorry, Santa): This December, we're watching *her* show, singing *her* song, and wearing *her* makeup. Mariah "may be the first person to announce a reality TV show about her life and not have it seem desperate or demeaning—despite what some vocal critics have said. Instead, it seems like a fabulous career move," The [Daily Beast](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/26/mariah-carey-now-has-entrance-music-let-us-celebrate-the-greatest-diva-ever.html)'s Kevin Fallon writes. ![Mariah at the Beacon Theater.](https://img.money.com/2016/12/161213_mariahxmas.jpg) *Mariah Carey and dancers Anthony Burrell and Bryan Tanaka perform during the opening show of Mariah Carey: All I Want For Christmas Is You at Beacon Theatre on December 5, 2016 in New York City.* All of it helps Carey pad her bank account and keep her popularity afloat throughout the year. Carey shrewdly announced a spring tour with Lionel Richie this month, likely hoping to capitalize on all the attention. [*Forbes*](http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2015/11/04/mariah-carey-earnings-27-million-in-2015/#42e00a887a28) notes that a large chunk of Mimi's income over the past two years (including an estimated $27 million in 2015) stems from her residency in Las Vegas, where fellow icons Céline Dion and Britney Spears have also made a killing (*Forbes* credits Dion's "[eight-figure earning power](http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eeel45fhgfm/10-celine-dion-27-mil/#6f0974d93078)" to her gig at Caesars Palace). And with a performance scheduled for New Years Rockin' Eve, it appears Mimi has her eye on expanding her holiday reign. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/mariah-carey-owns-christmas/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Celebrities", "item": "https://money.com/celebrities/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "How Mariah Carey Stole Christmas" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/mariah-carey-owns-christmas/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/mariah-carey-owns-christmas/", "name": "How Mariah Carey Stole Christmas", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-12-16T17:24:51.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/mariah-carey-owns-christmas/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/mariah-carey-owns-christmas/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2016-12-16T17:24:51.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "How Mariah Carey Stole Christmas", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/12/161216_carpoolmariah.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1313, "caption": "161216_CarpoolMariah" }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/12/161213_mariahxmas.jpg", "width": 300, "height": 200 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alicia Adamczyk", "url": "https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2016/01/alicia-headshot-2.jpg?quality=85&w=640&h=640&crop=1", "email": "alicia.adamczyk@moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/aliciaadamczyk" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-12-16T17:24:51.000Z", "description": "Mariah Carey's appearance on James Corden's carpool karaoke was pretty much inevitable. 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