One Sweet Day

"**One Sweet Day**" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey and American R&B boy band Boyz II Men. The song was released on November 14, 1995, as the second single from the former's fifth studio album, _Daydream_ (1995) by Columbia Records. The artists co-wrote the song with Walter Afanasieff, who co-produced it with Carey. Lyrically, the song speaks about the death of a loved one and misses them, and finally about seeing the person in heaven. The artists wrote the song about specific people in their lives, being inspired by sufferers of the AIDS epidemic, which was a topic at the time.

## Music video

The music video for "One Sweet Day" was filmed in February 1995, and features snippets of Carey and Boyz II Men in the studio and recording the song. The busy schedule of both Carey and Boyz II Men did not allow time for them to shoot a proper video.

## Chart performance

"One Sweet Day" debuted at number one on the US _Billboard_ Hot 100 chart dated December 2, 1995, with sales of 204,000 units. Columbia distributed free copies to stores, where it was sold for as low as 49 cents. It became Carey's tenth number one single on the _Billboard_ chart and Boyz II Men's fourth number one. he song remained at the peak for a record-breaking 16 consecutive weeks, from December 2, 1995, to March 16, 1996. It became a record for being the only song to stay at number one on the chart for 16 weeks until 2017, when the record was tied by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito", featuring Justin Bieber. The record would remain until Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road", featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, broke the record in 2019, spending nineteen weeks on top the _Billboard_ Hot 100. It still remains the only number one debut to spend sixteen continual weeks at number one.

## Track listing and formats

- **Worldwide Cassette CD single**
1. "One Sweet Day" (Album Version) – 4:41
1. "One Sweet Day" (Live Version form _Fantasy: Mariah Carey at Madison Square Garden_) – 5:08

- **Japanese CD maxi-single**
1. "One Sweet Day" (Album Version) – 4:42
1. "One Sweet Day" (Live Version from _Fantasy: Mariah Carey at Madison Square Garden_) – 5:10
1. "Open Arms" – 3:30

- **UK CD maxi-single #1**
1. "One Sweet Day" (Album Version) – 4:41
1. "One Sweet Day" (Sweet A Cappella) – 4:52
1. "One Sweet Day" (A Cappella) – 4:48
1. "One Sweet Day" (Chucky's Remix) – 4:51
1. "One Sweet Day" (Live Version from _Fantasy: Mariah Carey at Madison Square Garden_) – 5:08

- **UK CD maxi-single #2**
1. "One Sweet Day" (Album Version) – 4:44
1. "Fantasy" (Def Drums Mix) – 4:01
1. "Joy to the World" (Celebration Mix) – 7:58
1. "Joy to the World" (Club Mix) – 7:35

- **US CD maxi-single**
1. "One Sweet Day" (Album Version) – 4:41
1. "One Sweet Day" (Sweet A Cappella) – 4:52
1. "One Sweet Day" (A Cappella) – 4:48
1. "One Sweet Day" (Chucky's Remix) – 4:51
1. "One Sweet Day" (Live Version) – 5:08
1. "Fantasy" (Def Drums Mix) – 4:00

- **One Sweet Day EP**
1. "One Sweet Day" (Chucky's Remix) – 4:51
1. "One Sweet Day" (Sweet A Cappella) – 4:52
1. "One Sweet Day" (A Cappella) – 4:49
1. "One Sweet Day" (Live at Madison Square Garden - October 1995) – 5:09

## Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the _Daydream_ liner notes.
- Mariah Carey – co-production, songwriting (music and lyrics), vocals
- Walter Afanasieff – co-production, songwriting (music)
- Nathan Morris – songwriting (lyrics), vocals
- Wanya Morris – songwriting (lyrics), vocals
- Shawn Stockman – songwriting (lyrics), vocals
- Michael McCary – songwriting (lyrics), vocals

### Weekly charts

|Chart (1995–1996)|Peak position|
| --- | --- |
|3||
|style="text-align:center;"|2|
|3||
|align="center"|2|
|align="center"|1|
|align="center"|3|
|6||
|style="text-align:center;"|5|
|style="text-align:center;"|6|
|align="center"|2|
|align="center"|2|
|1||
|style="text-align:center;"|25|
|9||
|style="text-align:center;"|20|
|23||
|4||
|style="text-align:center;"|87|
|24||
|3||
|9||
|10||
|2||
|3||
|8||
|align="center"|1|
|align="center"|1|
|1||
|1||
|1||
|1||
|2||
|1||
|3||
|Chart (2002)|Peak position|
| --- | --- |
|35||

### Year-end charts

|Chart (1995)|Position|
| --- | --- |
|style="text-align:center;"|32|
|style="text-align:center;"|178|
|style="text-align:center;"|87|
|style="text-align:center;"|23|
|style="text-align:center;"|92|
|style="text-align:center;"|60|
|style="text-align:center;"|68|
|style="text-align:center;"|61|
|style="text-align:center;"|82|
|Chart (1996)|Position|
| --- | --- |
|style="text-align:center;"|40|
|style="text-align:center;"|83|
|style="text-align:center;"|48|
|style="text-align:center;"|12|
|style="text-align:center;"|14|
|28||
|style="text-align:center;"|59|
|style="text-align:center;"|37|
|style="text-align:center;"|34|
|style="text-align:center;"|32|
|style="text-align:center;"|86|
|style="text-align:center;"|49|
|style="text-align:center;"|2|
|style="text-align:center;"|3|
|style="text-align:center;"|17|
|28||
|style="text-align:center;"|15|
|style="text-align:center;"|10|
|style="text-align:center;"|11|
|style="text-align:center;"|4|
|style="text-align:center;"|19|
|style="text-align:center;"|15|
|style="text-align:center;"|17|
|style="text-align:center;"|49|
|style="text-align:center;"|18|

### Decade-end charts

|Chart (1990–1999)|Position|
| --- | --- |
|1||

### All-time charts

|Chart|Position|
| --- | --- |
|style="text-align:center;"|43|

## Release history

|scope="col"|Region|scope="col"|Date|scope="col"|Format|scope="col"|Label|scope="col"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|November 14, 1995|CD maxi single|rowspan="2"||align="center"||||||
|November 27, 1995||align="center"||||||||
|November 30, 1995|Mini CD single|Sony Music Japan|align="center"|||||||

## Infobox (song)

- **name**: One Sweet Day
- **border**: yes
- **type**: single
- **artist**: Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
- **album**: Daydream (Mariah Carey album), Daydream
- **b-side**: Open Arms (Journey song), Open Arms
- **genre**: Contemporary R&B, R&B
- **label**: Columbia Records, Columbia
- **writer**: * Mariah Carey
* Walter Afanasieff
* Nathan Morris
* Michael McCary
* Shawn Stockman
* Wanya Morris
- **producer**: * Mariah Carey
* Walter Afanasieff
- **chronology**: Mariah Carey
- **prev title**: Fantasy (Mariah Carey song), Fantasy
- **prev year**: 1995
- **next title**: Open Arms (Journey song)#Mariah Carey version, Open Arms
- **next year**: 1995