NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Mariah Carey’s Christmas classic sets new record on Spotify

NEW YORK

Mariah Carey’s 24-year-old Christmas classic is so popular it set a new one-day streaming record on Spotify on Christmas Eve.

Chart Data reported that “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” released in 1994, was played 10.8 million times on Spotify on Monday. The song bested the record set by rapper-singer XXXTentacion, who logged 10.4 million streams with “SAD!” a day after his death in June.

Spotify wouldn’t comment on the news when reached by The Associated Press. Carey called the new feat “such an amazing Christmas gift” in an Instagram post Tuesday.

Every holiday season “All I Want for Christmas Is You” begins to climb the Billboard charts as its popularity resurfaces. This year the song reached its highest peak – No. 6 – on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; it’s currently No. 7 on the chart.

The success has helped Carey’s first Christmas album, 1994’s “Merry Christmas,” spend its fourth week at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart.

Thicke surprises girlfriend with marriage proposal

LOS ANGELES

Singer Robin Thicke surprised his pregnant girlfriend with a marriage proposal.

The 41-year-old “Blurred Lines” singer proposed to model April Love Geary with friends and family. She announced the couple’s engagement in an Instagram post Monday as a video shows Thicke asking the 24-year-old Geary to marry him and her writing “YES YES 1000x YES.”

The post featured pictures of Thicke and Geary hugging and kissing in front of a Christmas tree. In the video, the Grammy-nominated singer hands her the ring as Geary asks “Are you serious?” before they embrace each other.

Geary is pregnant with their second child after giving birth to their daughter earlier this year.

Thicke was previously married to actor Paula Patton for nine years before they divorced in 2015. They have a son together.

Associated Press