"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is the title of a Christmas song recorded by the American novelty act Vince Vance & the Valiants

Vince Vance & The Valiants

Vince Vance & The Valiants are a country pop and rock and roll musical group from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The current Vince Vance, Andy Stone, is the last original member of the Valiants. He was born Andrew John Franichevich Jr...

. Initially released as a single in 1989, Vince Vance's version of the song has charted several times on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

country singles charts. It is the most-played Christmas song on country radio, as well as Vince Vance & the Valiants' only chart entry

One-hit wonder

A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...

.

Content

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a mid-tempo in triple meter, featuring lead vocals from Lisa Layne. In it, the female narrator explains that she does not want Christmas decorations, or gifts from Santa Claus

Santa Claus

Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...

. Instead, all she wants for Christmas is her lover. The melody used in the song is based on Bobby Vinton

Bobby Vinton

Bobby Vinton is an American pop music singer of Polish origin. In pop music circles, he became known as "The Polish Prince".-Early life:...

's number 9 pop hit single from early 1964, "My Heart Belongs to Only You", with a few minor alterations.

Reception

In his review of the album All I Want for Christmas Is You, Allmusic reviewer Jason Birchmeier referred to the song as a "holiday favorite within the country community during the '90s" but noted that the rest of the album was not "remotely worth bothering with". Having received frequent rotation during the Christmas season since its 1993 re-release, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is also the most-played country music Christmas song.

The song was also made into a music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

, directed by Steve Dunning.

Chart performance

The song first charted in early 1994 based on airplay from the 1993 Christmas season, peaking at #55 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

) charts on the chart week of January 8, 1994. It re-entered in December 1994, reaching a new peak of #52 on the chart week of January 7, 1995. The song re-entered the country charts again every January afterward (except for 1999), with its last Hot Country Singles & Tracks entry being in January 2000. Although it never charted on the country charts again, it peaked at #23 on the Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay chart in 2002 (despite having never entered the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 or Hot 100 Airplay

Hot 100 Airplay

The Hot 100 Airplay chart is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It measures radio airplay, and is one of the three component charts, along with the Hot Singles Sales and the Hot Digital Songs charts, that determine the chart positions of singles on the Billboard...

charts), and has re-appeared on the Hot Country Recurrents chart every Christmas since late 2000-early 2001.

Chart (1994)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	55
Chart (1994–1995)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	52
Chart (1995–1996)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	52
Chart (1996–1997)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	49
Chart (1997–1998)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	43
Chart (1999–2000)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	31
Chart (2002)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay	23