Superstar Mariah Carey wants to trademark her unofficial honorific, the “Queen of Christmas,” for use on merch including apparel, food, and decor.
But she’s meeting fierce resistance from two singers who argue she’s not the sole ruler of the Yuletide throne, per Variety.
Carey’s rise to royalty…
… began in 1994, when she released “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
- It’s the only certified Diamond holiday song, and earns Carey an estimated ~$2.5m annually — or $72m+ total.
Billboard dubbed Carey the QOC in 1995, but it didn’t stick until a 2013 press release used it again and media outlets followed, per Bloomberg.
If not Carey, then who?
- Darlene Love, whose exhaustive discography includes Phil Spector’s Christmas Album. David Letterman called her the QOC; she performed “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on his show from 1986 through 2014.
- Elizabeth Chan, who only releases Christmas music, including a 2021 album called “Queen of Christmas,” and is suing to stop Carey. “All Access” and The New Yorker have named her queen.
- The Virgin Mary, according to Carey in December 2021, despite applying for the trademark in March 2021.
A court may ultimately decide whether anyone can claim to be the sole monarch of a holiday — something not even Elvira has done.
As Chen’s lawyer points out, Carey can sell QOC merch sans trademark, leaving Christmas open to all.
Topics:
Celebrity
