How much money do musicians make from carols?

On By Littum

Christmas Music - XMAS - Festive - General - Generic - Music

(Credits: Far Out / Rodion Kutsaiev / Eric Krull)

It comes every year, but people still seem surprised when they walk past a store in November and hear Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ playing. As the nights grow dark and cold, Christmas lights are put on in every house and high street as far as the eye can see, and people prepare their chimneys for a visit from old Saint Nick on December 25th, we are bombarded with a barrage of joy. tunes for the better part of two months.

There are two different camps for listening to Christmas music: those who love it and those who hate it. For some, the instant sleigh bells can be heard and sweet-sounding songs from the likes of Paul McCartney, The Darkness and The Pogues begin to be played in pubs, shops and on television, music has officially peaked. Then there are others who hear the same thing and want to turn their ears away in frustration.

There is no perfect time for people to start listening to Christmas music. People are divided in opinion, as some believe they can get happy as soon as Thanksgiving is over, others strictly believe it should wait until December, and some would push it further back than that.

According to data, Spotify tends to see a spike in Christmas music around November 13, which is likely when people start to give in to temptation and steadily get into the festive mood. Regardless of when you start or don’t start listening to Christmas, one fact remains the same: the songs get played quite a bit every year.

Some Christmas carols have been classics for decades, and no matter what happens in the world, how depressing or uplifting things may be, they will be played. Christmas carols remain a constant in an ever-changing and ever-evolving world; the only thing more certain than them is death. But keeping it light, it begs the question, how much do artists make from having their songs played on the radio by individuals, stores and bars for two solid months a year?

So how much do artists get paid for their Christmas carols?

The amount an artist earns for their carols obviously depends on how popular the specific carol is. If a track gets played a lot, the song will earn more, but if it only creeps up occasionally and finds itself at the bottom of most people’s holiday playlists, it won’t earn as much.

To give you some ballpark figures, based on streaming money and royalties, Mariah Carey is expected to earn £2.4 million every year due to her song ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’. This will be even higher in 2024 as it has been confirmed that Carey will appear before Netflix’s NFL games and her fee for it will be very high.

Some other big Christmas songs also make good money, but don’t come close to making Mariah’s numbers. For example, Slade earns around £520,000 a year with ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. Meanwhile, Wham, The Pogues and Bing Crosby earn upwards of £300,000 a year.

It’s impossible to put an exact number on what artists will make because of their Christmas songs, but if an artist is lucky enough to have their music considered essential Christmas listening, they can make millions, just like Mariah Carey is.

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