By Hugh McIntyre

This week, Mariah Carey’s perennial smash “All I Want for Christmas Is You” rises on the Hot 100 singles chart once again, lifting to No. 14. That’s an impressive placement for a track that’s been around as long as it has, but what is truly noteworthy this time around is the cut’s forward momentum, which should have Carey fans as excited as a child on Christmas Eve.

Last week, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” returned to the Hot 100 once again, which has turned into an annual tradition at this point. The popular tune landed at No. 29, entering the Top 40 once more. Jumping fifteen spots in a single week is the type of move typically reserved solely for new releases by big names being pushed to radio...and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” fits that description perfectly, despite its age (well, all except for the word “new”).

If “All I Want for Christmas Is You” stopped where it is and didn’t rise any higher, 2018 would still be a success for the singer and her song, but it’s still early in the season, and it is highly likely that even better days are still in store for Carey’s holiday blockbuster—and it could even bolt to a new all-time best placement.

Before Christmas day arrives, the Hot 100 will refresh three more times, which means Carey has about three tracking weeks (we’re in the middle of one now) in which to rack up enough sales, streams, and perhaps most importantly, radio play, to continue to push “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” With millions of people in the U.S. succumbing to the holiday spirit and dozens of radio stations switching over to an all-Christmas format, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is only going to be played more and more as the month progresses and the big day approaches. Carey’s smash was the eighth most-streamed song in the U.S. this week, and radio presence is growing by the hour, so things are looking better at this point in December than they ever have for the poppy standard.

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” didn’t break the top 10 in 2017 until just the week before the jolliest day of the year, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t peak around the same time again this year. At the rate it is going, it seems likely that the song will enter the top 10 for just the second time in the almost quarter-century since it debuted either next week or the following, and it stands a great chance of lifting higher than No. 9, a peak established just last year.

It's tough to say how much higher it will place, but if it's doing this well this early in the month, No. 9 seems like too low a slot for what has turned out to be one of the most successful Christmas songs of all time. 2018 could be the year that Äll I Want for Christmas Is You"finally breaks into the top five on the Hot 100 (an accomplishment that feels long overdue), and while the No. 1 spot is likely out of reach, itś impossible to bet against this spirited tune.