Malaysians are not alone in their love for Mariah Carey’s Christmas number, as it is also heavily played by our neighbours in South-East Asia.
PETALING JAYA: It’s been named the greatest holiday song of all time by Billboard, and is the most played track on Spotify globally during Christmas.
Being heard on the radio, malls and Instagram stories, it’s clear that many adore Mariah Carey’s infectious bop, All I Want For Christmas Is You.
The holiday hit is turning 30 this year, but it’s proven to be timeless, making its way to the No. 1 spot on Spotify globally on Dec 25 last year.
In this part of the world, it’s no exception – four Asean countries, namely Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia made it their most played Christmas song on the music streaming platform last year.
In Malaysia alone, the jingle was the No. 1 Christmas-themed song, being streamed over 63,000 times on Christmas day itself.
In second place was another classic: the lovelorn hit Last Christmas by English pop duo Wham!, based on data from Spotify.
Here’s a taste of what Malaysians love listening to get into the holiday mood, according to streams on Spotify, on Christmas Day.
Click on the play button on the bottom right of each box to listen to a preview of the song:
Globally on Spotify, Carey and Wham! were also the top two on the list.
Here’s a look at how Malaysia’s top Christmas tunes stack up with the rest of the world:
On Dec 14, Carey's song was once again ranked No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart – the sixth consecutive year that it topped the list since 2019.
Asean joins in the chorus
Malaysians are not alone in their love for Carey’s number, as the catchy hit was also heavily played by our neighbours in South-East Asia on Christmas Day last year.
The song was played a total of 721,116 times in six countries in this region on Spotify.
That means, people from this part of the world contributed 3.9% of the world's total 18.5 million streams of the song on that day.
People in the Philippines played the song the most compared with other Asean countries at 301,044 streams.
Meanwhile, Singaporeans kept Carey’s hit on their charts the longest at a cumulative total of 315 days since it ever entered the chart.
In fact, people in Singapore were especially passionate about the festive season, as the top 10 most streamed songs on Dec 25 were all Christmas-themed tunes.
This was unlike other Asean countries where the top 10 songs were not necessarily about Christmas.
Check out the top 10 Christmas songs in each of the following Asean countries, ranked by the most number of streams:
Malaysia's vision of love for Carey
Here in Malaysia, fans renew their interest in Carey’s song at the same time every year – almost always in December.
Many in the country started searching on Google for the words “All I Want For Christmas Is You” in October or November over the past five years.
Almost like clockwork, the level of interest peaks in December during the festive season, based on data from Google Trends.
Most people find themselves wanting to sing the legendary diva’s classic – or at least, they want to know the words to the song.
The top related searches on Google are “all I want lyrics” and “all I want for Christmas is you lyrics.”
In terms of where Carey’s fans are located, the data showed that people in Sabah and specifically, the Penampang district, had the most interest in her Christmas hit.
Sabah was the top state with the highest level of interest, followed by Sarawak, Penang and Kuala Lumpur, based on data from Google over the past five years.
Among cities and towns, Penampang in Sabah was tops, while Kota Kinabalu in Sabah and Kuching in Sarawak were second and third.
Local ‘Lambs’ celebrate their queen
Meanwhile, fans of Carey, affectionately known as "Lambs", were more than happy to celebrate their idol for her phenomenal success and talent.
Writer Desiree Gasper, 40, said she has been a fan of Carey’s amazing vocals and hits from the 1990s.
She acknowledged that while All I Want For Christmas Is You was heavily played, it was still tough to get tired of it.
“As much as I want to tell myself that I'm sick of this song, I just cannot help but mouth the lyrics as soon as I hear it on social media or on the radio,” she said.
With music being a big part of Christmas for her, Gasper said she loves playing carols and Christmas songs in the background as she puts up her tree and decorations.
“It amplifies the whole experience for me,” she added.
A fan known only as Jojo, 43, from Penampang, Sabah said music was a fun aspect of her Christmas celebration, as there would be karaoke sessions or just simple carol sing-alongs.
“Karaoke is a big thing during Christmas gatherings and I think this is a reason why Carey’s song is so popular back home.
“It’s bouncy, cheerful and something everyone can sing.
“It gets more fun when everyone tries to reach that final high note in the song,” said the business development executive, who currently lives in Kuala Lumpur.
Another fan, MY Chan, 42, said she listens to All I Want For Christmas Is You even when it isn't December.
And when it is, she can't help but feel the festive Christmas vibes.
"It's also a sweet love song. It would be really nice if someone dedicated this song to you," she said, adding that Carey was a talented lyricist too.
Amid today's pool of new pop stars and singers, Chan felt that nobody really came close to the diva, whose vocal range can only be described as remarkable.
A business owner who wishes to be known only as Jules, 43, said she could relate to some of Carey's emotional songs.
"When I was younger, my friends in school dedicated Carey's inspirational song, Hero, to me and it has a special place in my heart," she said.
Even though Jules hears Carey's Christmas hit almost everywhere during the yuletide season, she has yet to be bored of it.
"When I hear it on the radio, I don't even touch the dial," she quipped.
Company executive S. Vimala, 35, said she fell in love with Carey's voice after hearing the diva belt out the high notes on her pop hit, Emotions.
She said in the song, which describes the feeling of being in love, Carey uses her whistle register, or the highest register of the human voice.
"I have never heard any other artiste sing like that so effortlessly. She's a legend," she said.
