Welcome to a post about Christmas songs. I thought I’d try to get something settled. This might come as shock to some of you, so buckle up. Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas’ is about to set a new record for streaming. Here’s the reason: It’s a good song. I know that it’s hip to hate on Mariah and this song but guess what? It gets the crap played out of it because it’s so good. End of story. It’s the kind of song that singers and songwriters and everyone in the entertainment biz dream about.

Everyone and their mother have a Christmas song. And if they don’t? It’s because they haven’t released it… yet. It used to be that if you had a modest hit at Christmas with your tune, you could count on a healthy check every holiday season. A Christmas song was a retirement plan. And if you had a hit like “Rudolf the Red nosed Reindeer”? Forget about your worries and your strife. You’re all set for cash.

So, don’t get mad at Mariah Carey. She’s with all the rest of them. She just lucked into a great song that she sang wonderfully. We’re not mad at her. We’re not mad at Billy Squier or Tom Petty either. They just wanted to bring some holiday cheer and make some Christmas money. You’d do it too. Merry Christmas!