MARIAH CAREY SPREADS THE CHEER: “OH SANTA!” HITS #1 ON BILLBOARD MAINSTREAM AC CHART

FIRST TIME IN NEARLY 20 YEARS FOR SONG TO HIT #1 IN TWO WEEKS OR LESS!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS II YOU IS FIRST HOLIDAY ALBUM SINCE 1994 TO DEBUT AT #1-BULLET ON R&B/HIP-HOP ALBUMS CHART !

Holiday tv appearances scheduled throughout the month:

• December 12th: special guest on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

• December 13th: ABC holiday special, Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You;

• December 17th: TNT’s all-star Christmas in Washington special;

• December 25th: ABC’s broadcast of Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade

Interna­tional superstar Mariah Carey rings in the holiday spirit at Billboard, as “Oh Santa!” takes over the #1 spot on the Mainstream AC list – the first time in the BDS era (which began in 1992) that a song has hit #1 at Mainstream AC in just its second week out. Earlier this season, Mariah inaugurated the Holiday Digital Songs chart as the first artist to claim the top two positions, with “Oh Santa!” debuting at #1, and her all-time standard, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” at #2.

Both songs are from Mariah’s runaway best-selling MERRY CHRISTMAS II YOU on the Island Def Jam Music Group (released November 2nd). The album debuted at #1-bullet on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart, #1 on the Holiday Albums chart, and #4-bullet on the Billboard 200 albums chart. This success eclipses the first week sales and chart debut of Mariah’s first Christmas album back in 1994.

After performing in New York last week at the annual televised Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center, Mariah segues into a busy month of holiday tv appearances. On December 12th, she will be the special guest on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. On Monday night, December 13th (9:00 p.m. ET), ABC presents the music special, Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas To You, featuring live performances of songs from the new album and other holiday fare (including a special guest appearance by Mariah’s mother, Patricia Carey, on “Oh Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus”). Four nights later on December 17th, Mariah will be part of TNT’s all-star Christmas in Washington special. And on December 25th, Mariah will join the festivities for ABC’s broadcast of the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade.

In addition to traditional yuletide fare – “The First Noel,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Little Drummer Boy,” “O Come All Ye Faithful” and more – MERRY CHRIST­MAS II YOU also contains four original songs composed by Mariah, “Oh Santa!” and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” among them. Album producers include American Idol’s Randy Jackson, multi-platinum hit-maker Jermaine Dupri, James Poyser (who has worked with Aretha Franklin, The Roots, Lauryn Hill and others), and five-time Oscar nominee and Grammy/Tony/Emmy award winning composer Marc Shaiman.

MERRY CHRISTMAS II YOU follows up Mariah’s worldwide multi-million-selling Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel (released September 2009), her multi-platinum E=MC² (2008), and worldwide 10 million selling The Emancipation Of Mimi (2005). The Emanci­pation Of Mimi generated three Grammy awards (including Best Contemp­orary R&B Album), two #1 singles, and countless more honors during its 18-month chart stay. Soundscan’s biggest-selling album of 2005, Mimi featured “We Belong Together” (Grammy winner for Best Female R&B Vocal and Best R&B Song) and “Don’t Forget About Us,” Mariah’s 16th and 17th #1 career singles respectively. They tied one of the most enduring chart records in Billboard Hot 100 history, Elvis Presley’s 17 #1’s.

Three years later, Mariah surpassed Elvis when “Touch My Body” (from E=MC²) became her 18th #1 Hot 100 hit. “Touch My Body” spent two weeks at the top, Mariah’s 78th and 79th cumulative career weeks at #1, which tied Elvis’ long-standing all-time high of 79 weeks at #1, as calculated by Billboard. Mariah is now positioned as the only active recording artist in the 52 years of the Hot 100 (which began in 1958) with the potential to surpass the Beatles’ all-time high of 20 #1 hits. The success of E=MC² brought total sales of Mariah’s albums, singles and videos to more than 200 million worldwide, distancing her even further from the pack as the top-selling female recording artist in history.