Mariah Carey Slammed With A $20 Million Copyright Lawsuit For 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'

Legendary singer and songwriter Mariah Carey rose to fame with her debut album "Mariah Carey" in 1990. One of her most popular nicknames is "Queen of Christmas," which is a reference to her fan-favorite holiday classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You" from her first-holiday album "Merry Christmas" in 1994.

The song has become a classic Christmas song and gets more popular every holiday season. After topping the US billboard 100 chart over 25 years after its release, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" has become the most widely sold holiday song by a female musician.

However, The 53-year-old was recently hit with a lawsuit over the hit song. The copyright lawsuit was brought by Andy Stone, a songwriter who claimed to have written a song with the same name five years before Carey's. Keep scrolling to find out more details.

On Friday, Stone filed a complaint about copyright infringement in the federal court of New Orleans. The singer and frontman of Vince Vance & the Valiants, a country-pop band, asked for a $20 million minimum in damages. 

In the suit, Carey herself, Sony Corporation of America, Sony Music Entertainment, and her co-writer Walter Afanasieff were all named as Stone claimed that the team illegally took advantage of his "popularity and unique style."

According to the complaint (Via Entertainment Weekly), Stone co-wrote his own version of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" in 1989. However, many fans have noted that although the two songs share the same title, they are very different in melodies and lyrics. 

Stone also argued that his version was relatively popular and received an "extensive airplay" during the Christmas season in 1993. It, therefore, "began making appearances on the Billboard Music Charts." He revealed that he attempted to reach some sort of understanding with Carey and her co-defendants earlier in April 2021, but it was unsuccessful

However, the popularity of Stone's 1989 recording is much less than Carey's 1994 version as it returns to the number one spot every year. It becomes more popular among fans as the end of the year approaches. 

In 2021, the song was banned by a bar from being played on the jukebox by patrons before December. They could only play it once every night of the Christmas month. Fans believe that this triggered Carey to tweet about her role in making people wage a "war on Christmas."

In 2019, Carey opened up to EW about how proud she was of her song's climb to success. She never expected that "All I Want For Christmas Is You" would become the holiday anthem. "When it first came out, it was more of a gradual thing," Carey recalled. 

"It was popular, but it didn't have what it has now. I feel like people have grown up with the song and it's become a part of people's lives in terms of the way they celebrate the holidays. That makes me feel really proud as someone that loves Christmas so much."

Carey also told fans that she tried her best not to acknowledge how old the song actually is. Over the years, it has been featured in holiday films, including "Love Actually," the popular 2003 Christmas rom-com. "I rebuke time," she said, "I have a thing where I just live outside the traditional realm of how we measure [it]. So in that way, Santa and myself are very similar."

Carey wasn't the only popular musician to be hit with a copyright lawsuit this year. Earlier in March, pop-musician Dua Lipa was faced with a lawsuit by Artikal Sound System, a Florida-based team, for her 2020 hit "Levitating." The group demanded some money from the profit earned from "Levitating" in the suit.

The claim was that Lipa "listened to and copied" their 2017 record "Live Your Life" before and while creating "Levitating," therefore her song was heavily influenced by their recording. For Carey, the lawsuit argued that she and the other listed defendants were in the wrong as they "never sought or obtained permission" to distribute, use or reproduce Stone's single.

While no comments have been made about the lawsuit by the music star, many fans hope for the best outcome.