Mariah's sweet sixteen
Performer and songwriter Mariah Carey secures her place as the #1 most successful female artist of all time as We Belong Together becomes her 16th song to top the Billboard Hot 100. This positions Mariah as the only artist in contention to surpass the Beatles (with 20 #1's) and Elvis Presley (18 #1's) in the modern era. (With 62 total weeks of #1 hits since 1990, Mariah also ranks 2nd only to Elvis, with 80 weeks.) This monumental achievement comes as Mariah's brand new Island Def Jam album, the top 5 The Emancipation Of Mimi, crosses the RIAA double-platinum mark of 2 million units, just 6 weeks after its stunning #1 debut on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
"Mariah Carey's energy and enthusiasm is at an all-time high," said Antonio "L.A." Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group, "and Mimi is on the verge of becoming one of the most successful albums of her career as a result. It is with a combination of pride and awe that I congratulate Mariah on accomplishing what no other female in modern pop history has been able to do - no one is more deserving than Mariah Carey of sharing the pantheon with the greatest of the greats."
We Belong Together, written by Mariah and co-produced by her with Jermaine Dupri - also #1 on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart (the most spins ever by a female at the format), #1 on the Streaming Audio chart for a 6th consecutive week, and #1 overall on the AOL Music Network's Top 11 - has been named the biggest single in the history of both Mariah and Island Def Jam as it passes the 157 million audience plateau this week. The videos for We Belong Together and It's Like That stay in rotation on VH1, MTV and BET - both clips were shot contiguously by famed Hollywood director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Red Dragon, After the Sunset).
Mariah's 2 month-long television schedule brought her to Los Angeles for performances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Ellen DeGeneres Show - after appearances in New York on Good Morning America, The Late Show with David Letterman, Live with Regis & Kelly, and The View. Mariah performed We Belong Together as Oprah Winfrey's special lead guest on Tuesday, May 24th, for the finale show of Oprah's Wildest Dreams season. Also just announced: Mariah will perform We Belong Together at the star-studded annual MTV Movie Awards, airing June 9th at 8:30 p.m./ET. On June 28th, Mariah will perform at the 5th annual BET Awards gala, where she is nominated as Best Female R&B Artist.
Mariah Carey is an award-winning superstar with cumulative total sales of her albums, singles and long-form videos in excess of 75-times platinum in the U.S. alone and 150 million worldwide, making her the top-selling female artist in history. With a record 16 #1 singles - more than any female artist of the past century - two Grammy Awards, eight American Music Awards, Billboard magazine's Artist of the Decade Award, and the World Music Award as World's Best Selling Female Artist of the Millennium - Mariah Carey's ongoing career remains an unparalleled success story in the history of contemporary popular music. (Official Press Release - MariahCarey.com)
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