Sleigh Queen

She’s the queen of the festive season charts and holidays at Mimi’s house are more spectacular than you might imagine

- Dennis Cavernelis

DASHING through the snow, in a two-horse open sleigh, with real-life reindeer, pulling all the way . . .

That could be the Mariah Carey version of Jingle Bells. Not for her the one-horse sleigh of the timeless Christmas tune – or even horses, for that matter. Mimi has Rudolph and his pals hauling her and her kids through a wintry wonderland come to Christmas Eve – oh, and Santa himself is there too.

Because when it comes to Christmas, Mariah is the undisputed queen of the over-the-top castle. And who can blame her for a dash of extravagance when the holiday practically belongs to her – on the charts, anyway?

Her evergreen 25-year-old hit, All I Want for Christmas is You, holds the Guinness World Record for being the best-charting holiday single by a solo artist. It is also the most-streamed track on Spotify in a day (10,8 million times on Christmas Eve last year) and the Christmas song with the most weeks – 20 – on the British singles chart.

It has raked in over $60 million (about R880m) in royalties – and that figure is set to swell even more. This festive season the song is back on the charts in more than 25 countries, thanks to the re-release of a deluxe edition of Mimi’s holiday album, Merry Christmas.

The 49-year-old Grammy winner doesn’t like to acknowledge the passing of time because she finds it unnerving that her holiday classic has already hit the quarter-century mark.

“The more I hear [it’s turning 25], the more I freak out. I’d rather just say it feels like it’s going to be a great anniversary for the album,” she told Cosmopolitan recently.

IT’S strange to think Mariah’s runaway hit almost didn’t happen. For starters, her childhood memories of the festive season weren’t pleasant, and she thought it was too early in her career to record a Christmas album.