Saturday, December 2, 1995

Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men debuted at #1 with "One Sweet Day"

First posted 12/2/2011; updated 1/23/2020.

One Sweet Day

Mariah Carey with Boyz II Men

Writer(s): Mariah Carey/Michael McCary/Nathan Morris/Wanya Morris/Shawn Stockman/Walter Afanasieff (see lyrics here)

Released: November 14, 1995

Peak: 1¹⁶ US, 1¹¹ CB, 1⁸ RR, 1¹³ AC, 1¹⁰ A40, 2 RB, 6 UK, 1² CN, 2 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.)

Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.25 UK, 3.5 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 139.0 video, -- streaming

Awards: (Click on award for more details).

About the Song:

This ballad paired “some of the best R&B ballad singers of their generation” ^BBC emphasizing Carey’s “vocal gymnastics, artfully supported by the more restrained vocalizing of…Boyz II Men.” ^JA Done with “fitting and tender simplicity”, ^BBC “this passionate expression of loss” ^BBC was reportedly inspired by the death earlier that year of David Cole, half of the group C+C Music Factory and a friend of Carey’s. ^TB However, she says the song wasn’t inspired by just one specific person. ^BR

Meanwhile, Boyz II Men were working on a tribute to Khalil Roundtree, their road manager who had been murdered. ^TB When Carey and the Boyz decided to pair up, they merged their efforts into what became not just the biggest pop hit of 1995, ^WHC but the biggest hit of the latter half of the 20th century.

In fact, from 1900 to 1999, the only song to log more weeks at number one (17) was the 1947 song “Near You” by Francis Craig and His Orchestra. Interestingly enough, it was the THIRD time that Boyz II Men could claim to have the biggest hit of the rock era – first with 1992’s “End of the Road” and again with 1994’s “I’ll Make Love to You.”

Collectively, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men had already accumulated 69 weeks (36 and 33 weeks respectively) atop the charts ^BB100 in just the first half of the 1990s. Mariah Carey went on to hit the top spot another eight times after this, giving her a total of 79 weeks at #1 – only one week behind Elvis Presley’s record 80 weeks. Boyz II Men only scored one more #1 (1997’s “4 Seasons of Loneliness”) and one more top 10 (1997’s “A Song for Mama”), but their total of 50 weeks in the pole position ranks them fourth all-time behind Elvis, Mariah, and The Beatles (59 weeks).

Resources and Related Links:

DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Mariah Carey
DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Boyz II Men
^BBC BBC Radio 2 (2004). “Sold on Song Top 100”
^BB100 Billboard (9/08). “All-Time Hot 100”
^BR Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 843.
^JA David A. Jasen. (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 153.
^TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 269.
^WHC Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 126.

First posted 12/2/2011; last updated 4/1/2021.

Friday, December 1, 1995

50 years ago: Bing Crosby charted with Christmas album

First posted 3/2/2008; updated 9/29/2020.

Merry Christmas (aka “White Christmas”)

Bing Crosby

Charted: December 1, 1945

Peak: 1³⁹ US, 45 UK, -- CN, -- AU

Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, -- UK, 15.0 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: traditional pop/Christmas

Tracks:

Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.

Silent Night (12/21/35, 7 US, 8 UK, sales: 10 million)
Adeste Fideles (O, Come All Ye Faithful) (12/12/60, 45 US)
White Christmas (with the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Orchestra) (10/3/42, 1¹⁴ US, 1¹⁰ HP, 77 CA, 11 HR, 1² GA, 3 AC, 1³ RB, 5 UK, 1²⁰, sales: 56 million)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Faith of Our Fathers
I’ll Be Home for Christmas (12/4/43, 3 US, 8 RB, sales: 1 million)
Jingle Bells (with The Andrews Sisters & Vic Schoen) (12/25/43, 19 US)
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (with Carol Richards and John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra) (12/25/43, 22 US)
Silver Bells (with Carol Richards and John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra) (12/27/52, 20 US)
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Christmas in Killarney
Mele Kalikimaka (with The Andrews Sisters & Vic Shoen)

Total Running Time: 27:24

Rating:

4.159 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)

Quotable: --

Awards:

About the Album:

“Try to forget the fact that Bing Crosby probably never had to record another song in his life after he immortalized White Christmas. If you can do that, you’ll find plenty more to like in this crooning Christmas collection.” ^AZ

“White Christmas” is the best-selling song of all time, but this album didn’t too shabby either. When it comes to seasonal recordings, only Elvis Presley’s Christmas Album has sold more at 19 million copies worldwide. However, Merry Christmas reached the lofty heights of 39 whopping weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart, thanks to multiple reissues, repackagings, and rereleases over the years.

The original album was packaged as five 78 records, each with two songs. All of the songs had been released previously and were Christmas-themed with the exception of “Danny Boy.” When a second edition was released in 1947, “Danny Boy” and “Let’s Start the New Year Right” were omitted and new recordings of “White Christmas” and Silent Night from March 19, 1947 were added. ^WK

In 1955, the vinyl reissue of the album followed the 1947 track listing and added four tracks, including Silver Bells and three tracks with the Andrews Sisters: Jingle Bells, Mele Kalikimaka, and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. The 1955 version of the album has been continually in print ever since. Only the original cast recording of Oklahoma! has been in print longer. ^WK It’s also this cover with Crosby in a Santa Claus stocking cap which became the standard, replacing the original cover which had Crosby’s floating head on a blue background. ^WK

The album finds “‘Der Bingle’ in two distinctly different moods: from the solemnity of ‘Silent Night’ and Adeste Fidelis (sung in Latin and English) to the playfulness (‘gonna have a lotta fun’) on ‘Jingle Bells,’ with The Andrews Sisters providing some smiles with their ‘Ji-ji-jingle’ vocals.” ^AMG