Mariah Carey Holds 5 Music Industry Records No Modern Artist Can Touch
Record-breaking recording artist Mariah Carey recently announced that she will be releasing a new album of extremely-rare records, titled The Rarities. According to Vulture, the album will feature some exclusive, never before heard records. Carey is releasing the album to celebrate her 30 years of success in the music industry and has already been giving fans rare footage, remixes, and other exclusive content.
Over her 30 years of success, Carey has broken several major recording records. Although some are bigger than others, they are all equally impressive.
Here are five of the most-impressive music industry records Carey has broken.
Mariah Carey is the first artist in history to have a No. 1 single across four separate decades
In January 2020 Carey made history by becoming the first recording artist to have a number 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 across four different decades with her hit single, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The smash-hit is always in heavy rotation during the holidays in many households and has been since its release in 1994.
For years now, the song has earned Carey an insane amount of money. According to Business Insider, Carey has taken home more than $60 million in royalties for the record and earns over $500,000 a year in the UK alone.
She also has the best-selling holiday single of all time
“All I Want For Christmas Is You” may go down as the greatest holiday song ever recorded. While it’s already been established that the record has stood the test of time by reaching number 1 in four different decades, the record also holds the title as the holiday single with the most digital downloads of all time.
While Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” holds the record as the best selling record of all time according to The Wall Street Journal, Carey’s record claims the title as the single with the most digital downloads. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has been certified 6x platinum by the RIAA for digital sales, and 2x platinum for ringtone sales.
Mariah Carey has the most No. 1 singles by a solo artist
Since beginning her career in the late 1980s, Carey has managed to remain a powerful force in pop and contemporary R&B for decades. Due to her long history of success, Carey holds the record for the most number-one singles of all time, with 19 total.
Carey found success early on, with her debut album, Mariah, spawning four number-one singles, including the records “Vision of Love,” “Love Takes Time,” “Someday,” and “I Don’t Wanna Cry.” When her fifth career single, “Emotions” reached the top of the charts, Carey became the first artist to have her first five singles reach the top of the charts, according to Billboard.
Although she went on to produce a slew of chart-topping singles over the next 15 years, one of Carey’s most popular singles was “We Belong Together,” which spent 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. The record is currently tied for third place for most weeks at number-one on the chart.
She has the most-streamed track on Spotify in 24 hours
Despite most of Carey’s career success occurring prior to the streaming era, she has still been able to achieve some major accomplishments in the digital age.
In December of 2019, Carey broke the record for most record streams in a single day, when “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was streamed 10.8 million times in just 24 hours, according to MTV.
Clearly, people are just as interested in streaming the festive record as they are playing it the traditional way.
Mariah Carey is the only artist with a No. 1 hit in each year of a decade
Carey became one of the most productive and popular artists in the music industry in the 1990s, releasing seven albums over the course of the decade. All of the albums performed well commercially, and are all currently certified multi-platinum.
Over the course of this time period, she managed to produce a chart-topping record every year of the decade. This is an incredible feat that has yet to be matched, and likely won’t be for some time.
