Which Mariah Carey song did Billboard compare to Taylor Swift’s annual August streaming perennial?

Billboard compared Taylor Swift’s annual August streaming perennial with Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

The comparison concerns seasonal listening behavior rather than musical style. Carey’s holiday song reliably returns to streaming charts during the Christmas period, while Swift’s “august” experiences a recurring resurgence during the month named in its title. Both songs have become tied to a particular time of year through listener habits.

Swift’s track gained this pattern after its 2020 release. In the United States, it recorded a 39 percent streaming gain during August 2021, and its daily streams rose dramatically during August 2022. The song’s lyrics, imagery, and title all reinforce the calendar connection.

The two songs remain very different compositions. Carey’s is a Christmas pop standard, while “august” is a dream-pop, guitar-pop, and soft-rock ballad about a fictional summer romance. Billboard’s comparison describes their recurring seasonal relevance, not their genre, storyline, or chart history.