Why is Mariah Carey being sued for 'All I Want for Christmas is You'?

Iconic American singer Mariah Carey has become synonymous with Christmas over the years thanks to her festive song 'All I Want for Christmas Is You.'

All I Want for Christmas Is You rises in the music charts over the festive period time each year and reportedly earns the singer $2.5 million per annum.

But now, Carey is being sued for copyright infringement over the Christmas classic by songwriters Troy Powers and Andy Stone.

Why is Mariah Carey being sued?

According to TMZ, documents show Stone and Powers are seeking damages of $20 million and a jury trial, arguing that there are similarities between their 1993 song of the same name, which made it on the Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, and Carey’s song.

The pair claim that the track’s lyrics, melody and feel bear similarities to the song they co-wrote. They suggested that Carey “palmed off these works with her incredulous origin story, as if those works were her own”.

Stone and Powers claim they recorded the song in 1989 in Nashville and that it received extensive airplay on the radio, reaching the billboard chart in 1994, the same year Carey’s version was first released.

It is not the first time Carey has been sued over the song, as Stone and Powers filed an almost identical copyright infringement lawsuit in June last year, which was dropped five months later.

It comes as Carey released a new video on her social media, stating that “It’s… TIME” for “#MariahSZN” and All I Want For Christmas Is You.

The video depicted the singer breaking out of a block of ice, poking fun at the ongoing joke that she “defrosts” every festive season.

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