IT’S the holiday season, and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 again. It is the first song in the chart’s history to have led in three distinct runs on the ranking. While the song was first released on Carey’s “Merry Christmas” album in 1994, its popularity has actually grown as the years have gone by: It reached the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time in December 2017; No. 1 for the first time in December 2019 (for three weeks) and December 2020 (two), and now this year. As the song rules the latest, Dec. 25, 2021-dated chart, it claims its sixth total week at No. 1 in its third seasonal run at the summit, becoming the first song in the Hot 100’s 63-year history to lead in three distinct chart runs. As Billboard notes, the song has made four interrupted climbs to the top of the Hot 100, on charts dated Dec. 21, 2019, Dec. 19, 2020, Jan. 2, 2021, and now Dec. 25, 2021, tying 24kGoldn’s “Mood,” featuring Iann Dior, beginning in October 2020, and Drake’s “Nice for What,” in 2018, as the only songs with four separate ascents to No. 1. However, unlike “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” the latter two tracks logged their four distinct rises to No. 1 over unbroken chart stays. Not surprisingly, the chart is loaded with holiday songs, including six in the top 10: Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is at No. 2, Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” rises to No. 4, Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” holds at No. 5, Andy Williams’ “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and Wham!’s “Last Christmas” reach No. 6 and No. 9, respectively.(SD-Agencies) | 