Billboard Names Top 125 Artists, with Mariah Carey as Top Female

The queen of Christmastime is now the greatest female artist of all time, according to Billboard.

In honor of their 125th anniversary, the magazine published its official ranking Thursday of the 125 greatest musical artists of all time, based on titles from the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart as well as the Billboard 200 albums chart.

The Beatles stand at number one, followed by The Rolling Stones and then Elton John. Mariah Carey lands at number four, making her the most-highly-ranked female artist on the list, followed by Madonna at number five.

The rest of the top 10 include Barbara Streisand at number six, followed by Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, Stevie Wonder and Chicago.

Pop icon Carey opened up to USA TODAY before the ranking came out, about the inspiration behind her hit "All I Want for Christmas is You," a song that has become one of the best-selling singles of any genre and no doubt a big reason for Carey's high placement on Billboard's new chart.