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.