Butterfly's 10th anniversary
September 2007 marks the 10th anniversary of Mariah's album Butterfly. The album was her first to be released following the ending of her marriage to Sony Music executive Tommy Mottola, and it includes contributions from producers such as The Trackmasters, Puff Daddy, Stevie J and Walter Afanasieff. In a 2006 interview with MTV Overdrive Carey referred to the album as "ahead of its time", and she said she considers "Babydoll", "Breakdown" and "The Roof" as "still some of my favourites".
Rolling Stone described Butterfly as "a transitional album" for Mariah, who placed herself firmly in the "milieu of hip-hop-inflected R&B" and give it three stars, while the All Music Guide gave it four stars, stating that "it is one of her best albums, illustrating that Carey continues to improve and refine her music which makes her a rarity among her '90s peers".
Billboard magazine called it "a milestone record for one of the most successful and visible artist of the nineties", while Slant included it in the feature "Vital Pop 50 Essential Pop Albums" giving it four and a half stars. An entire episode was dedicated to Butterfly on VH1's Ultimate Albums series. The 2005 book "1001 Albums you must hear before you die" referred to Butterfly as "astonishing", "stunning", and "an album on which bitterness becomes beauty and glumness becomes gold".
Butterfly debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with 236,000 copies sold in its first week. It remained there for one week, in the top twenty for twenty-one weeks and on the chart for fifty-five weeks (making one re-entry). The album sold more in both its fourteenth week and fifteenth week of release than in its opening week, peaking at 283,000 copies in its fifteenth (when it was at number eight). It has been certified five times platinum by the RIAA and produced two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100: "Honey" and "My All".
"Honey" became the sixth single (and the third by Mariah) to debut at number one on the Hot 100. The album also yielded the airplay-only singles "Butterfly" and "Breakdown". "The Roof" and "Whenever You Call" received limited release in some countries. By 2005, the album had sold 3.7 million copies in the U.S. and over 15 million copies worldwide.
For the next issue of the All Mariah magazine we would like to know what your memories are regarding this album. What did you think when you first heard Butterfly? And what do you think of it now, after 10 years? You can send your story to info@mcarchives.com.
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