Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' joins National Recording Registry

Long Island pop star Mariah Carey's 1994 hit "All I Want for Christmas Is You," is among the 25 selections this year to join the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

"The song was first released in October 1994, but, now, almost like Christmas itself, the song comes back again and again; it continues to chart every year," the Registry said of the work Wednesday in a news release. "In fact, each year since 2000, the song has even charted higher than the year before! 'All I Want …' has now gone 12 times platinum [meaning 12 million units sold] and is the bestselling holiday song ever recorded by a female artist."

Written by Carey and collaborator/producer Walter Afanasieff (aka Baby Love), it was inducted alongside such rock/pop songs as John Lennon's "Imagine"; Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven"; John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads"; Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville"; and Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"; and such albums as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Déjà Vu"; The Police's "Synchronicity"; Madonna's "Like a Virgin"; and Queen Latifah's "All Hail the Queen."

Historical jazz, R&B, gospel and Latin music, and spoken-word recordings also made this year's list.

“The national library is proud to help ensure these recordings are preserved for generations to come, and we welcome the public’s input on what songs, speeches, podcasts or recorded sounds we should preserve next," Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said in a statement. "We received more than 1,100 public nominations this year for recordings to add to the registry.”

Carey, 54, who was born in Huntington and raised there and in Melville, Northport and Greenlawn, has not commented publicly on the induction. Wednesday she retweeted a Library of Congress post reading, "@MariahCarey wasn’t sure about doing a Christmas album so early in her career, but when writing 'All I Want for Christmas Is You,' she channeled all the happy holiday feelings she didn't always get as a kid. Now the song stands alone among modern Christmas tunes."

"All I Want for Christmas Is You," from Carey's album "Merry Christmas," has become a holiday perennial, marching to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 2017 and every year from 2019 to '22.

Throughout her career, Carey has had holiday concert tours and residencies and has released holiday-themed TV specials including Apple TV+'s "Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special" in 2020 and "Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues" in 2021.