+++ | DISCOGRAPHY |
Mariah's discography consists of fourteen studio albums, two holiday albums, one soundtrack album, one live album, four compilation albums, one extended play and one remix album. In 1988 she began recording music for her self-titled debut album, which was released in June 1990. The album was certified nine-times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of over nine million copies in the United States. Additionally, the album spawned four consecutive US number-one singles. In September 1991, Mariah released her second album, Emotions. The album was a commercial success, selling over eight million copies worldwide. While successful, the album failed to match the sales of its predecessor, which in the US, shipped more than double the amount. By 1993, Carey released her most successful studio album to date, Music Box, which was certified Diamond in the United States and topped the charts in many countries around the world. Music Box was one of the best-selling albums of 1994 in Asia and remains one of the best-selling albums of all time, with sales of over 32 million copies.
In 1994 Carey released her first holiday album Merry Christmas, which has become the best-selling Christmas album of all time, and has produced the worldwide holiday classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You". It has become the best-selling Christmas song in history with over 14 million copies sold worldwide. By 1995, Carey released her fourth studio album, Daydream, becoming her most successful album in the United States. It was certified Diamond by the RIAA, with worldwide sales of over 25 million copies. Her fifth studio album Butterfly, was released in 1997. The album introduced a new musical direction and style, as well as the video for "Honey" portraying Carey in revealing clothing for the first time in her career. Butterfly and Carey's next release #1's were both certified five-times Platinum in the US; the latter album remains the best-selling album in Japan by a non-Asian artist, selling over 3,250,000 copies. In 1998, Carey received the World Music Award for the World's Best Selling Recording Artist of the 1990s as well as the award for "World's Best Selling R&B Artist." Rainbow, Mariah's sixth studio effort, was released in 1999. The album became her first album since Emotions to not reach number one in the US. Rainbow was certified three-times platinum by the RIAA. In 2001 Carey parted from Columbia/Sony Music and signed a contract with EMI's Virgin Records worth a reported US$80 million, the largest record contract ever signed, and released her next album Glitter, which was the soundtrack album to the film of the same name. The album suffered from poor publicity and thus became a commercial failure compared to her previous efforts, receiving only Platinum status in the United States and becoming her second lowest selling album to date.
In 2002 Mariah signed a new deal with Island Records and released her seventh studio album Charmbracelet. The album's sales were an improvement over Glitter, however, still falling short of her earlier success. She took a three year break after Charmbracelet to record new material and introduced a hip-hop flavored album entitled The Emancipation of Mimi, which became the best-selling album of 2005 in the United States, and was a worldwide success, being certified six-times Platinum by the RIAA and selling over twelve million copies worldwide. The Emancipation of Mimi produced "the biggest song of the decade in the US," "We Belong Together", which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for fourteen weeks, and reached the top five in many worldwide markets. It is also considered Carey's comeback album. In 2008, Carey released her ninth studio album E=MC², which was certified Platinum by the RIAA, and has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. It produced the chart-topping single "Touch My Body", breaking her tie with Elvis Presley for the most number one singles on the Hot 100. Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, Mariah's twelfth studio album, became her least commercially successful stateside album in her career, having only been certified Gold in the United States, but worldwide it has sold over 2 million copies. 2010 came along and Mariah was working on Angels Advocate, a remix album for Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel, but she chose to scrap that project because she was inspired to record brand new material for a second Christmas album, entitled Merry Christmas II You. The album received a Gold certification in the United States and has gone on to sell 1.5 million copies worldwide.
Over the next few years, Mariah would record her most recent studio album, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse, but there were a few bumps along the road...literally. While recording Merry Christmas II You, she became pregnant and gave birth in 2011. With her children and her expanding family becoming her top priority, her music was put on the back burner. Flash forward to summer of 2012, Mariah was ready to release some new music. She took to Twitter to promote a new single, Triumphant (Get 'Em), she wrote for her husband during health problems he was enduring. While Triumphant underperformed, Carey remained determined. In 2013 she lent her voice to Disney's Oz The Great and Powerful soundtrack, on a song entitled Almost Home, that performed strongly on Adult Contemporary formats and was met with acclaim from both critics and fans alike. During the release of Almost Home, Mariah had began her season as a judge on the thirteenth season of American Idol and was continuing to write and record her album. Nearing the end of American Idol, Mariah released the lead single from her album, #Beautiful, a collaboration with Miguel. The single was successful, peaking at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, but unfortunately while filming the remix video Mariah fell and was injured. She dislocated her shoulder, broke a few of her ribs and suffered severe nerve damage and ended up pushing the album back. In the meantime she released a single, The Art Of Letting Go, on Facebook as a thank you to the Lambily for their continued support and as a preview of what direction she was taking the album in. Then, on Valentines Day of 2014 she released You're Mine (Eternal) as a promotional single to hold her fans over and on April 30 she announced the album would be released on May 27.
At the 2000 World Music Awards, Mariah was presented with the Millennium Award for becoming the best-selling female artist of the millennium. She was also the recipient of the Chopard Diamond Award at the 2003 World Music Awards, recognizing sales of over 150 million albums worldwide. According to the RIAA, she is the third best-selling female artist and sixteenth overall recording artist with shipments of over 63 million albums in the US. She is also ranked as the best-selling female artist of the US Nielsen SoundScan era (third best-selling artist overall) with album sales of 54 million. Her albums Mariah Carey, Music Box, Daydream and The Emancipation of Mimi are among the top 100 certified albums according to the RIAA. After Carey's success in Asia with Merry Christmas, Billboard estimated Carey as the all time best-selling international artist in Japan. Carey is one of the best-selling music artists of all-time, with sales of over 260 million albums, singles and videos worldwide.
In 1994 Carey released her first holiday album Merry Christmas, which has become the best-selling Christmas album of all time, and has produced the worldwide holiday classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You". It has become the best-selling Christmas song in history with over 14 million copies sold worldwide. By 1995, Carey released her fourth studio album, Daydream, becoming her most successful album in the United States. It was certified Diamond by the RIAA, with worldwide sales of over 25 million copies. Her fifth studio album Butterfly, was released in 1997. The album introduced a new musical direction and style, as well as the video for "Honey" portraying Carey in revealing clothing for the first time in her career. Butterfly and Carey's next release #1's were both certified five-times Platinum in the US; the latter album remains the best-selling album in Japan by a non-Asian artist, selling over 3,250,000 copies. In 1998, Carey received the World Music Award for the World's Best Selling Recording Artist of the 1990s as well as the award for "World's Best Selling R&B Artist." Rainbow, Mariah's sixth studio effort, was released in 1999. The album became her first album since Emotions to not reach number one in the US. Rainbow was certified three-times platinum by the RIAA. In 2001 Carey parted from Columbia/Sony Music and signed a contract with EMI's Virgin Records worth a reported US$80 million, the largest record contract ever signed, and released her next album Glitter, which was the soundtrack album to the film of the same name. The album suffered from poor publicity and thus became a commercial failure compared to her previous efforts, receiving only Platinum status in the United States and becoming her second lowest selling album to date.
In 2002 Mariah signed a new deal with Island Records and released her seventh studio album Charmbracelet. The album's sales were an improvement over Glitter, however, still falling short of her earlier success. She took a three year break after Charmbracelet to record new material and introduced a hip-hop flavored album entitled The Emancipation of Mimi, which became the best-selling album of 2005 in the United States, and was a worldwide success, being certified six-times Platinum by the RIAA and selling over twelve million copies worldwide. The Emancipation of Mimi produced "the biggest song of the decade in the US," "We Belong Together", which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for fourteen weeks, and reached the top five in many worldwide markets. It is also considered Carey's comeback album. In 2008, Carey released her ninth studio album E=MC², which was certified Platinum by the RIAA, and has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. It produced the chart-topping single "Touch My Body", breaking her tie with Elvis Presley for the most number one singles on the Hot 100. Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, Mariah's twelfth studio album, became her least commercially successful stateside album in her career, having only been certified Gold in the United States, but worldwide it has sold over 2 million copies. 2010 came along and Mariah was working on Angels Advocate, a remix album for Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel, but she chose to scrap that project because she was inspired to record brand new material for a second Christmas album, entitled Merry Christmas II You. The album received a Gold certification in the United States and has gone on to sell 1.5 million copies worldwide.
Over the next few years, Mariah would record her most recent studio album, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse, but there were a few bumps along the road...literally. While recording Merry Christmas II You, she became pregnant and gave birth in 2011. With her children and her expanding family becoming her top priority, her music was put on the back burner. Flash forward to summer of 2012, Mariah was ready to release some new music. She took to Twitter to promote a new single, Triumphant (Get 'Em), she wrote for her husband during health problems he was enduring. While Triumphant underperformed, Carey remained determined. In 2013 she lent her voice to Disney's Oz The Great and Powerful soundtrack, on a song entitled Almost Home, that performed strongly on Adult Contemporary formats and was met with acclaim from both critics and fans alike. During the release of Almost Home, Mariah had began her season as a judge on the thirteenth season of American Idol and was continuing to write and record her album. Nearing the end of American Idol, Mariah released the lead single from her album, #Beautiful, a collaboration with Miguel. The single was successful, peaking at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, but unfortunately while filming the remix video Mariah fell and was injured. She dislocated her shoulder, broke a few of her ribs and suffered severe nerve damage and ended up pushing the album back. In the meantime she released a single, The Art Of Letting Go, on Facebook as a thank you to the Lambily for their continued support and as a preview of what direction she was taking the album in. Then, on Valentines Day of 2014 she released You're Mine (Eternal) as a promotional single to hold her fans over and on April 30 she announced the album would be released on May 27.
At the 2000 World Music Awards, Mariah was presented with the Millennium Award for becoming the best-selling female artist of the millennium. She was also the recipient of the Chopard Diamond Award at the 2003 World Music Awards, recognizing sales of over 150 million albums worldwide. According to the RIAA, she is the third best-selling female artist and sixteenth overall recording artist with shipments of over 63 million albums in the US. She is also ranked as the best-selling female artist of the US Nielsen SoundScan era (third best-selling artist overall) with album sales of 54 million. Her albums Mariah Carey, Music Box, Daydream and The Emancipation of Mimi are among the top 100 certified albums according to the RIAA. After Carey's success in Asia with Merry Christmas, Billboard estimated Carey as the all time best-selling international artist in Japan. Carey is one of the best-selling music artists of all-time, with sales of over 260 million albums, singles and videos worldwide.