Mariah Carey: A Retrospective

Mariah Carey A Retrospective

Overview: Pop singer born 3/27/1970 in Huntington, Long Island, NY. Irish-American and Black-Venezuelan parentage. Referred to as the "Songbird Supreme" by the Guinness World Records, the 1990 Best New Artist Grammy winner is known for her five-octave vocal range. She is the only artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and is second only to the Beatles with 19 total chart-toppers. Her songs "One Sweet Day " (1995) and "We Belong Together" (2005) rank in the top 10 biggest #1 songs in the history of the Billboard charts. Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Mariah Carey Top 40 Songs MariahCarey.com (official site) Facebook Wikipedia

Awards:

Studio Albums:

Compilations: NO #1’s (covers 1990-98, released 1998) Under each album snapshot, songs featured on the anthologies are noted. If the song charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to charts.

Top 40 Songs These are the top Mariah Carey songs as ranked by the DMDB. The codes beside the songs indicate which of the above albums the songs appear on. In addition, you can scroll farther down the page to see a snapshot of the individual albums with the singles from each indicated. The songs are again followed by the codes, but also for those songs that charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. 1. We Belong Together (2005) 2. One Sweet Day (with Boyz II Men, 1995) 3. Vision of Love (1990) 4. Fantasy (1995) 5. Hero (1993) 6. Dreamlover (1993) 7. Without You (1993) 8. Always Be My Baby (1995) 9. Love Takes Time (1990) 10. Someday (1990) 11. Emotions (1991) 12. I’ll Be There (live, 1992) 13. When You Believe (with Whitney Houston, 1998) 14. Anytime You Need a Friend (1994) 15. Make It Happen (1991) 16. I Don’t Wanna Cry (1990) 17. Can’t Let Go (1991) 18. Touch My Body (2008) 19. My All (1998) 20. All I Want for Christmas Is You (1994) 21. I Still Believe (1999) 22. Endless Love (with Luther Vandross, (1994) 23. Honey (1997) 24. Shake It Off (2005) 25. Heartbreaker (with Jay-Z, 1999) 26. Don’t Forget about Us (2005) 27. Thank God I Found You (with Joe & 98 Degrees, 1999) 28. Butterfly (1997) 29. It’s Like That (with Fatman Scoop, 2005) 30. Loverboy (with Cameo, 2001) 31. I Know What You Want (with Busta Rhymes & the Flipmode Squad, 2003) 32. I Want to Know What Love Is (2009) 33. Breakdown (with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, 1997) 34. Obsessed (2009) 35. Through the Rain (2002) 36. Forever (1995) 37. Bye Bye (2008) 38. Crybaby (with Snoop Dogg, 1999) 39. U Make Me Wanna (with Jadakiss, 2004) 40. Never Too Far (2001)

Mariah Carey (1990): Vision of Love (6/2/90, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 1 RB, 9 UK, 1 CN, 9 AU, 4 DF, sales: 1.2 million, airplay: 2 million) NO Love Takes Time (9/14/90, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 1 RB, 37 UK, 2 CN, 14 AU, 25 DF, sales: ½ million, airplay: 2 million) NO Someday (1/11/91, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 5 AC, 3 RB, 38 UK, 1 CN, 44 AU, 21 DF, ½ million, airplay: 1 million) NO I Don’t Wanna Cry (4/5/91, 1 BB, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 2 RB, 54 UK, 2 CN, 49 AU, 33 DF, airplay: 1 million) NO

About the Album: Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

Emotions (1991): Emotions (8/13/91, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 3 AC, 1 RB, 17 UK, 1 CN, 11 AU, 24 DF, sales: ½ million, airplay: 1 million) NO

About the Album: Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

Music Box (1993): Dreamlover (7/27/93, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 2 AC, 2 RB, 9 UK, 1 CN, 7 AU, 21 DF, sales: 1.5 million, airplay: 2 million) NO Hero (10/15/93, 1 BB, 1 BA, 2 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 2 AC, 5 RB, 7 UK, 3 CN, 7 AU, 7 DF, sales: 3 million, airplay: 2 million) NO

About the Album: Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

Daydream (1995): Fantasy (9/8/95, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 8 AC, 1 RB, 4 UK, 1 CN, 1 AU, 20 DF, sales: 3.5 million, airplay: 1 million) NO One Sweet Day (with Boyz II Men) (11/3/95, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 1 A40, 2 RB, 6 UK, 1 CN, 2 AU, 6 DF, sales: 3.75 million, airplay: 1 million) NO Always Be My Baby (2/23/96, 1 BB, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 2 AC, 2 A40, 1 RB, 3 UK, 1 CN, 17 AU, 34 DF, sales: 5 million, airplay: 1 million) NO

About the Album: Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

Butterfly (1997): Honey (8/8/97, 1 BB, 6 GR, 10 RR, 3 UK, 1 CN, 8 AU, sales: 2 million) NO My All (4/3/98, 1 BB, 12 GR, 15 RR, 18 AC, 4 RB, 4 UK, 28 CN, 39 AU, sales: 2 million) NO Whenever You Call (with Brian McKnight) NO

About the Album: Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

#1’s Mariah Carey

Recorded: 1990-1998 Released: November 16, 1998 Peak: 4 US, 10 UK, 6 CN, 6 AU Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 0.77 UK, 20.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop Rating: 4.373 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: (1) Sweetheart (with Jermaine Dupri) (2) When You Believe (with Whitney Houston) (3) Whenever You Call (with Brian McKnight) (4) My All (5) Honey (6) Always Be My Baby (7) One Sweet Day (with Boyz II Men) (8) Fantasy (9) Hero (10) Dreamlover (11) I’ll Be There (live with Trey Lorenz) (12) Emotions (13) I Don’t Wanna Cry (14) Someday (15) Love Takes Time (16) Vision of Love (17) I Still Believe Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: I’ll Be There (live with Trey Lorenz) (5/15/92, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 11 RB, 2 UK, 1 CN, 9 AU, 8 DF, sales: 0.9 million) NO Sweetheart (9/19/98, 45a RB) NO When You Believe (11/2/98, 15 BB, 28 RR, 3 AC, 37 A40, 33 RB, 4 UK, 20 CN, 13 AU, 31 DF, sales: 1.4 million) NO I Still Believe (1/22/99, 4 BB, 19 RR, 8 AC, 3 RB, 16 UK, 9 CN, 54 AU, 32 DF, sales: 1 million) NO About the Album: Apparently, Mariah Carey doesn’t understand the term ‘greatest hits,’ witnessed by her claim “in the liner notes that #1’s is ‘not a greatest hits album! It’s too soon, I haven’t been recording long enough for that!’” AMG Huh? “Between 1990’s Vision of Love and 1998’s My All, all but four commercially released singles (‘Anytime You Need a Friend,’ ‘Can't Let Go,’ ‘Make It Happen,’ ‘Without You’) hit number one, with only a handful of radio-only singles (‘Butterfly,’ ‘Breakdown’) making the airwaves, not the charts. That leaves 12 big hits on #1’s, all number ones.” AMG That seems as close to the definition of ‘greatest hits’ as one can get. “Since Carey’s singles always dominated her albums, it comes as no surprise that #1’s is her best, most consistent album, filled with songs that represent state-of-the-art ‘90s adult contemporary and pop-oriented urban soul.” AMG “That said, it isn’t a perfect overview – a couple of good singles are missing because of the self-imposed ‘#1 rule’; plus, the Ol’ Dirty Bastard mix of Fantasy is strong, but fans familiar with the radio single will be disappointed that the chorus is completely missing on this version.” AMG “The album is also padded with a personal favorite (her Brian McKnight duet Whenever You Call, taken from Butterfly) and three new songs – the Jermaine Dupri-produced Sweetheart, the Whitney Houston duet When You Believe (taken from The Prince of Egypt soundtrack), and I Still Believe, a remake of a Brenda K. Starr tune – which are all fine, but not particularly memorable.” AMG “Still, that’s hardly enough to bring down a thoroughly entertaining compilation that will stand as her best record until the ‘official’ hits collection is released.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Mariah Carey Dave’s Music Database: Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists AMG All Music Guide review of #1’s by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Wikipedia page for #1’s First posted 3/26/2008; last updated 5/13/2024.

Mariah Carey debuted at #1 with “Fantasy”

Fantasy Mariah Carey

Writer(s): Mariah Carey, Adrian Belew, Christopher Frantz, Dave Hall, Steven Stanley, Martina Weymouth (see lyrics here) Released: September 12, 1995 First Charted: September 30, 1995 Peak: 18 US, 19 CB, 19 GR, 16 RR, 8 AC, 16 RB, 4 UK, 12 CN, 11 AU, 15 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.25 US, 0.48 UK, 3.5 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 116.42 video, 164.5 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Fantasy” was the lead single from Daydream, Mariah Carey’s fifth studio album. It was the second song in history – following Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone” – to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It spent eight weeks on top and also hit the pinnacle in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. It wa her ninth song to reach the top in the U.S. In Canada, its 12 weeks at #1 tied it with six other songs for the most weeks at the top. SF Lyrically, the up-tempo R&B, dance-pop song talks about a woman in love with a man and fantasizing about an impossible relationship with him. The song samples Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love” from 1981, a song which peaked at #31, but was popular in dance clubs. SF Carey got the idea to sample the song after hearing it on the radio. WK The New York Times’ Stephen Holden said that with the song, Carey “glides confidently into the territory where gospel-flavored pop-soul meets light hip-hop.” WK About.com’s Bill Lamb called the song “truly inspiring” and a “career high water mark” for Carey. WK All Music Guide’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine said “she has earned her status as an R&B/pop diva.” WK Slant magazine called it “escapism perfected, [a] summer bubblegum gem with a sweet, flawless vocal line driven by a diva in her prime.” WK A remix featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard was credited with introducing collaborations between R&B and hip-hop to the mainstream pop culture. WK Carey had wanted to branch into hip-hop for a while, but her husband, Tommy Mottola (the head of Sony Music), dismissed the genre as a “passing fad.” SF She later referred to the song as “a major turning point” in her career and one of her “proudest and happiest moments.” SF The Fader’s Judnick Mayard, said it “may still be the best and most random hip-hop collaboration of all time.” WK The New Yorker’s Sasha Frere-Jones said that Carey’s “idea of pairing a female songbird with the leading male MCs of hip-hop changed R&B and, eventually, all of pop.” WK She said that because of “Fantasy,” “It became standard for R&B/hip-hop stars like Missy Elliott and Beyoncé, to combine melodies with rapped verses.” WK Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 4/2/2021; last updated 4/10/2023.