Mariah Carey Has Competition: The Two Greatest Christmas Movies Are Ruling Streaming—Again

Every December, the culture resets: Mariah Carey takes over your speakers, and Macaulay Culkin sets booby traps in your living room. As of December 4, 2025, the first two Home Alone movies just muscled into Disney+ Top Movies at #8 and #9 (per FlixPatrol), while Mariah crossed another giant milestone with 'All I Want For Christmas' blowing past 2 billion streams on Spotify (IB Times calls it record-breaking). Different lanes, same annual victory lap.

Mariah keeps winning the season

The 1994 single isn’t just timeless; it’s a full-on business. Forbes and The Economist have the track earning between $2.5 million and $3 million in royalties, and IB Times reports it has cleared $100 million total since release. The Independent notes it’s the highest-charting holiday song by a solo artist on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100 and reliably reenters charts in dozens of countries every year.

Also worth flagging: in 2021, it became the first and only holiday song to snag the RIAA Diamond Award. Carey’s reaction to the song’s endurance is pretty much the only quote you need:

It blows my mind that 'All I Want For Christmas is You' has endured different eras of the music industry. [It] never ceases to amaze me and fill my heart with a multitude of emotions.

Meanwhile, Kevin McCallister is back on your homepage

The Home Alone duo tends to climb as we get closer to the 25th, and the Disney+ Top Movies placement suggests it’s happening again. If you haven’t revisited them in a while, here’s the quick refresh plus the scores people still argue about:

• Home Alone (1990) — Directed by Chris Columbus; written/produced by John Hughes; stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister. Plot: Kevin is accidentally left behind in Chicago and turns his house into a trap-filled fortress against burglars Harry and Marv (aka the Wet Bandits). Setting: suburban Chicago, the McCallister home. Scores: IMDb 7.7/10; Rotten Tomatoes 66%.
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) — Also directed by Chris Columbus; written/produced by John Hughes; Culkin returns as Kevin. Plot: Kevin gets separated from the family again, lands in NYC, and outsmarts the same crooks—now calling themselves the Sticky Bandits—while protecting a toy store with bigger, meaner traps. Setting: New York City, including the Plaza Hotel and his uncle’s wrecked townhouse. Scores: IMDb 6.9/10; Rotten Tomatoes 35%.

Old hits, new charts

It’s a funny kind of holiday math: a 1994 song and a pair of early-90s family comedies keep outrunning the new stuff. The numbers back it up—Carey’s track keeps setting records, and Kevin vs. the Wet/Sticky Bandits still pulls viewers three decades later. None of this is subtle; it’s seasonal muscle memory, and it clearly still works.

Where to watch

Home Alone and Home Alone 2 are streaming on Disney+ in the U.S.