Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' tops US charts


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A quarter-century after releasing her holiday classic that's become one of the season's love-to-hate, hate-to-love cliches, Mariah Carey has finally pushed All I Want for Christmas Is You to top the charts for the first time.

"We did it," the diva said Monday in a tweet that featured several emojis, including a face with happy tears.

Many social media users voiced shock that the inescapable pop juggernaut had not already jingled its way to the top.

But when the de facto Holiday Queen originally released the global hit in 1994 as part of her Merry Christmas album, Billboard's rules at the time did not allow it to compete on the Hot 100 chart, because it was not commercially available as a single.

That changed in December 1998, when cuts off an album were welcomed to the US top songs list, bumping Carey's song on to the chart for the first time on January 8, 2000.

The 2003 holiday film Love Actually helped keep Carey's bubbly Christmas wish for love in the collective consciousness, as streaming ensured its place in the holiday canon.

The earworm that showcases the pop mainstay's elastic vocal range started appearing the list annually beginning in 2012, when streams were added to Billboard's ranking metrics.

For the song's 25th anniversary this year, Carey promoted it even harder than usual, beginning her social media drive the morning after Halloween.

A new video

She also dropped a new video for it – which counts towards Hot 100 placement – and released the song as a stand-alone CD single for the first time.

This week the song posted 45 million streams, 27,000 digital sales and 34 million radio plays, according to Billboard.

Carey's climb to the top marks the first time a Christmas track has claimed number one on the Hot 100 in six decades, when The Chipmunk Song reigned for four weeks in 1958-1959.

It's Carey's 19th number-one hit, putting her just one song behind The Beatles' overall record of 20 top songs.

All I Want for Christmas Is You is currently Spotify's most-streamed song in the United Kingdom, and is gaining ground in France, whose SNEP top songs chart now has it in 31st place.

The singer – who will not confirm whether her age is 49 or 50 because she says "time is not something I acknowledge" – told The New York Times that finally nabbing number one for the holiday standard she wrote "in the womb, darling" was more of a concern to fans than her.

"I don't need something else to validate the existence of this song. I used to pick it apart whenever I listened to it, but at this point, I feel like I'm finally able to enjoy it," she told the paper.

"I just truly love the holidays," she said. "I know it's corny, and I don't care."

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Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Grubtech

Founders: Mohamed Al Fayed and Mohammed Hammedi

Launched: October 2019

Employees: 50

Financing stage: Seed round (raised $2 million)

 

AUSTRALIA%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3EPat%20Cummins%20(capt)%2C%20Scott%20Boland%2C%20Alex%20Carey%2C%20Cameron%20Green%2C%20Marcus%20Harris%2C%20Josh%20Hazlewood%2C%20Travis%20Head%2C%20Josh%20Inglis%2C%20Usman%20Khawaja%2C%20Marnus%20Labuschagne%2C%20Nathan%20Lyon%2C%20Mitchell%20Marsh%2C%20Todd%20Murphy%2C%20Matthew%20Renshaw%2C%20Steve%20Smith%2C%20Mitchell%20Starc%2C%20David%20Warner%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company profile

Company: Rent Your Wardrobe 

Date started: May 2021 

Founder: Mamta Arora 

Based: Dubai 

Sector: Clothes rental subscription 

Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded 

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Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.

  • It’s So Easy
  • Mr Brownstone
  • Chinese Democracy
  • Welcome to the Jungle
  • Double Talkin’ Jive
  • Better
  • Estranged
  • Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
  • Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
  • Rocket Queen
  • You Could Be Mine
  • Shadow of Your Love
  • Attitude (Misfits cover)
  • Civil War
  • Coma
  • Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
  • Sweet Child O’ Mine
  • Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
  • Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
  • November Rain
  • Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
  • Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
  • Nightrain

Encore:

  • Patience
  • Don’t Cry
  • The Seeker (The Who cover)
  • Paradise City

Profile of Foodics

Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani

Based: Riyadh

Sector: Software

Employees: 150

Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing

Funders: Raed Advanced Investment Co, Al-Riyadh Al Walid Investment Co, 500 Falcons, SWM Investment, AlShoaibah SPV, Faith Capital, Technology Investments Co, Savour Holding, Future Resources, Derayah Custody Co.

OPTA'S PREDICTED TABLE

1. Liverpool 101 points

2. Manchester City 80 

3. Leicester 67

4. Chelsea 63

5. Manchester United 61

6. Tottenham 58

7. Wolves 56

8. Arsenal 56

9. Sheffield United 55

10. Everton 50

11. Burnley 49

12. Crystal Palace 49

13. Newcastle 46

14. Southampton 44

15. West Ham 39

16. Brighton 37

17. Watford 36

18. Bournemouth 36

19. Aston Villa 32

20. Norwich City 29

 

 

 

 

 

 

ENGLAND SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope 
Defenders: John Stones, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, Danny Rose, Trent Alexander-Arnold 
Midfielders: Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph 
Forwards: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck

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Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

How to improve Arabic reading in early years

One 45-minute class per week in Standard Arabic is not sufficient

The goal should be for grade 1 and 2 students to become fluent readers

Subjects like technology, social studies, science can be taught in later grades

Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic

First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations

Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades

Improve the appearance of textbooks

Revision of curriculum should be undertaken as per research findings

Conjugations of most common verb forms should be taught

Systematic learning of Standard Arabic grammar

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UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
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