“I don’t need much for Christmas/I just need one thing/an answer to a question/an estimate of Mariah Carey song royalties, okay?”

No, my improvised lyrics aren’t as catchy as the opening line to Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” the 1994 song that’s nearly ubiquitous on the airwaves during the holiday season.

But they do raise a question that probes the black box of the music industry’s economics: How much money the song made for the song’s performer, Kelly and the so-called “Kelly.”christmas queen,”each year?

revenue estimates billboard For example, she said she could earn between $2.7 million and $3.3 million by 2022 from song downloads and on-demand streaming. It does not include other potentially lucrative revenue streams, such as Christmas TV specials.

But experts say it’s difficult to know the exact amount, largely because details of the contract between Carey, her music label and the song’s publisher are not public. The pop star’s publicist, Chris Chambers, did not respond to a request for comment submitted to his company, The Chamber Group, about her royalties.

“No matter what it is, it’s a lot of money,” said Natasha Chee, a music, entertainment and intellectual property attorney at Donahue Fitzgerald.

Spotify Announce This month, the national anthem became the first holiday song in the world to hit 2 billion views. Spotify said the song has been the No. 1 song globally every Christmas since 2016.

The song’s popularity continues unabated: U.S. audio streams totaled 249 million in 2023, up about 49% from 167 million in 2019, according to Luminate, which tracks music industry data.

(Billboard estimates that as of Dec. 12, the song’s total U.S. plays are down 8% this year compared with 2023. Experts say that’s partly due to the shorter post-Thanksgiving holiday.)

George Howard, a professor at Berklee College of Music and former president of independent record label Rykodisc, said the song “is a money machine.” “This is a real phenomenon,” he said.

Howard, who also does consulting work on music rights valuations, estimated the chart-topper’s annual gross earnings at $2 million to $4 million.

Likewise, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, which specializes in music industry law, estimates the hit song generates $3.4 million annually.

The law firm estimates the song has earned about $103 million in the 30 years since its release. Manat, the creator of Billboard, said the forecasts include global streaming and non-streaming revenue sources Royalty Calculator.

According to the calculator, the song alone earned $9.8 million in royalties from its 2 billion plays on Spotify worldwide.

But Carey received only a portion of those earnings.

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Music royalties are different from royalties for other works, such as books or photography.

Jordan Bromley, partner and principal at Manat Entertainment, said this is because there are two different royalty streams – one for the creation of the music and another for the recording. The former, he said, is like a sheet of music on a piano (the songwriting), while the latter is the recorded song you hear.

Each has its own royalty structure. Royalties from music creation are collected by songwriters and publishers, while royalties from sound recordings are paid to the performers of the songs and their record companies, Howard said.

Howard said Carey “owns the rights to both the song and the recording, so she gets paid for both.”

“As of Sunday, she has six ways of getting paid,” he said.

Experts say the song’s writer and publisher, not the performer, will receive royalties when the song is played in public venues such as television, radio, restaurants and retail stores. Howard said the United States is one of the few countries with such rules.

This means that every time a cover version of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is played in the public domain, Carey (and her co-writer Afanasiev) will receive royalties. More than 150 performers covered the song, according to Performing rights organization ASCAP.

Carey and Afanasif share writing credits with publishers including Universal Music, Sony Music and Kobalt Songs Music Publishing, according to to ASCAP.

However, Bromley said the revenue from recording a song is typically four to five times that of writing it.

“If you’re a songwriter without record income, it’s hard to make a living even if you’re hot,” he said.

Bromley said how much an artist earns from a recording relative to what a record company earns can fluctuate widely, from 20% to 90%, depending on the contract. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is released by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music.

Afanasieff, Sony Music and Kobalt Songs Music Publishing did not respond to requests for comment. Universal Music Publishing Group declined to comment.

Copyright in works published after January 1, 1978 generally remains intact According to Donahue Fitzgerald’s Chee, during the author’s lifetime, plus 70 years after the author’s death.

In the case of a collaborative work between two or more authors, such as “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” this rule applies to the last surviving author.

She said that means Carey’s estate will likely earn royalties for decades until the song finally enters the public domain. When that happens, the song will join the ranks of Christmas classics like “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” that usually Free to share and adapt.