Trivia / Mariah Carey

• Broken Win/Loss Streak: As big as Mariah was on the Billboard Hot 100 in her heyday, her track record on the Radio and Records magazine CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio) airplay chart was even more impressive. On that chart, which formed the basis of Casey Kasem's Top 40 countdown show at that time, she hit No. 1 with every single she released from "Vision of Love" in 1990 to "Hero" in 1993. That gave her TEN consecutive No. 1 airplay hits on Top 40 radio, more even than Whitney Houston who holds the record for consecutive No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100. "Without You" was the hit that broke the streak - by peaking at No. 2.
• Career Resurrection: After the disastrous reception Glitter got and her coinciding Creator Breakdown, Carey took a hiatus for a couple of years before rebounding in 2005 musically with The Emancipation of Mimi. In 2009, she made a screen comeback with a supporting role in the critically acclaimed film Precious.
• Creator Backlash:
  • "I Don't Wanna Cry". Despite commercial success, due to bad experiences during its production and because she feels it "doesn't have a message," Carey stated in an MTV interview that she dislikes the song and tries to sing it as rarely as possible.
  • She didn't like her first compilation album, 1998's #1's, because she had no creative say in it. It was simply a cash-grab by her record label after Carey was declared as having the most number one singles for a female artist. As such, they only wanted to include those songs and none of her personal favorites that didn't top the charts but she liked better than a few that did, like "Butterfly" and "Breakdown" with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. The album's liner notes include an open letter from Carey gently explaining this to listeners.
  • American Idol (and not only because of Onika Tanya Maraj). She disliked the experience so much that she did not even appear in the finale of the show's original run while many past judges did. She even stated it was the worst experience of her life.
  • In an interview with Watch What Happens Live, she admitted that she regretted making Glitter.
• Creator Breakdown: Glitter, Charmbracelet, and her infamous TRL appearance that had many viewers wondering what was going on. In 2018 she revealed that she was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder after her 2001 breakdown.
• Executive Meddling: Why her version of "Where Are You Christmas?" (which she co-wrote with James Horner and Will Jennings for How the Grinch Stole Christmas) has never been released - the movie's soundtrack came out on another label, and Sony wouldn't cooperate. And that is how Faith Hill became The Other Marty.
• Fan Community Nicknames: Mariah has referred to her fans as her "little lambs" before.
• Follow the Leader: Talent Show contestants as we know them today wouldn't have existed without her, Whitney Houston, or Céline Dion.
• Meme Acknowledgment:
  • She still doesn't know her.
  • To the delight of Daniel Levy, she has retweeted memes featuring the line "You're my Mariah Carey" from the Canadian series Schitt's Creek. Levy, a lifelong Mariah fan, wrote his character David as a superfan as well.
  • While she was initially annoyed at being called the "Queen of Christmas" when "All I Want For Christmas Is You" became a favorite of holiday radio stations and retail store setlists, she has since posted a video jokingly acknowledging the meme of that song being played everywhere the day after Halloween.
    • 2023 has her posting a video acknowledging the "she is defrosting" meme.
• Playing Against Type: Although famous for her public image as a bombshell, she dressed down considerably and went makeup free for her role as a social worker in Precious.
• What Could Have Been: "Hero" was intended for the 1992 movie of the same name.