RockOnTheNet
presents The Top Pop Songs
Of All Time !
We have ranked the top pop songs that have charted over the past
50+ years on The ARC Weekly Top 40 and Billboard Hot 100, and
come up with
a definitive list that will continue to expand as we add to it,
and continue to modify as new songs chart on The ARC Weekly Top
40.
"A lot
of people are singing about how screwed up
the world is, and I don't think that
everybody wants to hear about that all the
time." - Mariah Carey
TIMELINE
Mariah Carey was born on
March 27, 1970, in New York. Mariah translates as
the "the wind" in Native American
language. Mariah's beauty is a product of her
heritage of an African-Venezuelan father and
American-Irish mother. Mariah's pop success has
both resulted in admiration and disdain. Although
the pop world continues to admonish her music,
many critics and music lovers find her music
uncreative and simple. Mariah's image and
personality has also been critiqued as aloof.
With a talent for pop ballads and a multi-octave
voice range, Mariah has dominated the pop charts
for much of the 90s. Mariah began singing from
the age of 2 and began voice lessons by age 4.
Faced with the insecurities of racial
intolerance, and a broken marriage (Mariah's
parents divorced and she was raised by her
mother), Mariah turned to her singing for
happiness. In 1994, Mariah reflected: "I
guess when you're part Irish and part Venezuelan,
you're not completely connected to any one thing,
you grow up like that in a suburban neighborhood
with rich kids, you're not popular because you're
different. And I never had any financial
security. I dreamed of possessing things. Lucky
for me I had my music to hold on to as a goal. It
was like, these people may not think I'm as good
as them, but I can sing!" Mariah credits her
early influences as Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday,
Sarah Vaughan, and Gladys Knight. She credits these
influences for her R&B sound, although many
would disagree that her sound is more R&B
than pop. Her talent for singing and confidence
for super-stardom eventually combined for Mariah
barely out of her teenage years. Although
Mariah's career has been in constant overdrive,
she has taken time to work with charities, most
notably the Fresh Air Fund. The organization gives
underprivileged children from inner cities a
chance to visit camps in the wilderness. Mariah's
help with organization resulted in a fifth camp
opened in 1994 called "Camp Mariah."
Mariah has also been involved with AmFAR, the
United Negro College Fund, and other
organizations that work with issues such as child
care, animal care, and cancer research.
Just after graduating
from high school, Mariah moved to New York City
to pursue a singing career. She worked odd jobs
as a coat check girl and waitress, went to beauty
school, and worked on demos and focused on
getting a record deal. Mariah eventually landed a
job as backup singer to Brenda K. Starr.
"I really didn't want to do it, but then I
thought, 'Well, it's got be better than doing
what I'm doing now!'"
At a party with
Starr, Mariah gave her demo tape to a record
company head that made it to the president of
Columbia Records, Tommy Mottola. The demo
contained the tracks "Someday," "Prisoner,"
"All Alone In Love," All In Your
Mind," and the unreleased, "Do You Ever
Wonder." After listening to 2 songs, Mottola
found what he was looking for - the next Whitney
Houston. Within a month, Mariah singed with
Columbia Records.
June 16: Mariah hit the ARC Weekly Top 40 with "Vision Of Love." Mariah described
her first hit "Vision Of Love" as "a
celebration of how I was feeling at the time.
It's not just a love song, it's about feeling
good, and I was at a very big turning point in my
life at the time, so it's about everything that
was going on." For Mariah's debut, the
record company brought in many top notch
producers for the tracks which Mariah stated
"took away some of my identity."
March 2: Mariah topped the
Billboard 200 LP chart for 11 weeks with Mariah
Carey.
The LP also topped the charts in Canada and went
Top 10 in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden,
and the UK.
March 9: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 chart for 2 weeks with "Someday."
March 12: Mariah won 3 Soul Train
Music Awards for Best R&B/Urban Contemporary
New Artist, Best R&B/Urban Contemporary
Single, Female, and Best R&B/Urban
Contemporary Album, Female.
March 16: Mariah topped the
Billboard Dance Music Club Play chart for 1 week
with "Someday."
September 17: Mariah released Emotions. The LP hit the Top 10 in
the US, Australia, Canada, France, Holland,
Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, and the UK.
June 2: Mariah released the EP MTV
Unplugged. The set was recorded live at
Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York for the MTV
series. The LP topped the charts in Holland and
New Zealand and went Top 10 in the US, Canada,
Australia, and the UK.
June 5: Mariah (at 23) married
Tommy Mottola (43) in an elaborate,
half-a-million dollar wedding ceremony. Mariah
stated: "He's a very cool person. We're
beyond thinking about age. I mean, occasionally
he'll know a song that I've never heard of, or
I'll know songs that I'm like, oh, this reminds
me of seventh grade, and it was, like, not that
long ago. I don't think of Tommy as an older
person. I think of him as a very special person.
Everybody who knows us realize that we're right
for each other."
September 11: Mariah topped the UK LP
chart with Music
Box.
The LP also topped the charts in Australia,
Austria, Holland, France, Germany, and
Switzerland, and hit the Top 10 in Belgium,
Canada, Hungary, Italy, Japan, New Zealand,
Norway, Spain, and Sweden.
November 1: Mariah released the
holiday LP Merry
Christmas. The LP topped the charts in Japan
and went Top 10 in the US, Australia, Austria,
Belgium, Holland, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal,
Sweden, and Switzerland.
December 31: Mariah topped the Billboard Year-End
Charts as the Top Pop Artist - Female
(singles & albums), the Top Billboard 200
Album Artist - Female, the Top Hot 100 Singles
Artist - Female, and the Top Hot Adult
Contemporary Artist.
September 30: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 chart for 8 weeks, R&B
Singles chart for 6 weeks, R&B Singles Sales
chart for 7 weeks, Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales
chart for 7 weeks, and Hot 100 Singles Sales
chart for 5 weeks with "Fantasy."
October 7: Mariah topped the
Billboard R&B Airplay chart with "Fantasy."
October 7: Mariah topped the UK LP
chart with Daydream. The LP also topped the
charts in Australia, Holland, Germany, Japan, New
Zealand, Portugal, and Switzerland, and went Top
10 in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada,
Holland, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden,
and Spain.
December 2: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 chart with Boyz
II Menfor 16 weeks, the
Hot 100 Singles Sales chart for 11 weeks, and the
Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales chart for 3 weeks
with "One Sweet Day."
December 9: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart with Boyz
II Men for 13 weeks and Top 40 Mainstream
chart for 11 weeks with "One Sweet Day."
May 4: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 chart for 2 weeks, Hot 100
Singles Sales chart for 1 week, and R&B
Singles chart for 1 week with "Always Be My Baby."
May: After almost 4 years of
marriage to Sony Records chief Tommy Mottola, the
couple separated. The couple issued a statement
that they "mutually and amicably"
agreed to separate. Mariah reportedly moved out
of the $10 million New York home into a Manhattan
apartment. Mariah then split with her longtime
manager, Randy Hoffmann, and signed with a
management company in Los Angeles. The decision
was said to be reflective of Mariah's desire to
expand her personal and professional
opportunities, which has become more evident
since her separation Tommy Mottola and new LP.
September 4: Mariah gave an interview
with MTV prior to the MTV Video Music Awards to proclaim her
independence and to capitalize on the popular
street-attitude of music today. She stated that
her new LP, Butterfly, is her
"metamorphosis" and a sign of her
growth. On Tommy Mottola, with whom she's still
separated from, Mariah stated that "...
we're still a part of each other's families...
we're not gonna be enemies." Mariah also
stated that her video for "Honey" represented more of her
personality than anything she has done in the
past.
September 13: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 chart for 3 weeks, Hot 100
Singles Sales chart for 3 weeks, and Dance Music
Maxi-Singles Sales chart for 4 weeks with "Honey."
September 27: Mariah topped the
Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 for 3 weeks with "Honey."
October 4: Mariah topped the
Billboard 200 LP chart for 1 week with Butterfly. The LP also topped the
charts in Australia, Canada, Holland, and Japan,
and hit the Top 10 in Austria, Belgium, France,
Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.
May 9: Mariah topped the
Billboard R&B Singles Sales chart for 2 weeks
with "Breakdown (featuring Bone
Thugs-N-Harmony) / My All" and the Dance Music
Maxi-Singles Sales chart for 8 weeks with "My All / Fly Away (Butterfly
Reprise)."
November 17: Mariah released the hits
collection #
1's.
The LP topped the charts in Japan and hit the Top
10 in the US, Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Canada, Holland, Finland, France, Germany, Italy,
Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.
November 21: Mariah hit the ARC Weekly Top 40 on a duet with Whitney
Houstonwith "When You Believe" (for the film The
Prince Of Egypt). She told MTV: "Actually,
Jeffrey Katzenberg from Dreamworks showed us both
the movie separately and got us both excited
about the project... if we were ever going to
come together on any kind of record, this is
definitely the right one, and really the coolest
thing to me is that after all of the drama and
everybody making it like we had a rivalry, she
was just really cool and we had a really good
time in the studio... we had fun... and so, if
nothing else, it was a good experience.. and
diva-ism, whatever."
October 9: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 chart with Jay-Zfor 2
weeks, R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart
for 2 weeks, Hot 100 Singles Sales chart for 2
weeks, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart
for 2 weeks, and Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales
chart for 8 weeks with "Heartbreaker." Mariah broke a
record held by The
Beatles as her hit "Heartbreaker" gave her 60 weeks
atop the Billboard singles charts.
November 2: Mariah released Rainbow. The week Rainbow was released, Mariah
became embroiled in the war between morning news
shows when she backed out of appearing on CBS's The
Early Show and within an hour agreed to
appear on NBC's Today show. Carey was
originally slated to help launch CBS's The
Early Show but backed out when concerns were
raised about the show's ability to get a city
permit for her performance. The LP topped the
charts in France and hit the Top 10 in Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Holland, Finland,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain,
Switzerland, and the UK.
November 17: Mariah was set to perform
in Rome but had to cancel the performance (to be
held on the 'Spanish Steps' after the crowds
became too unsafe.
December 31: Mariah was awarded with
the Artist of the Decade Award at the Billboard
Music Awards. Mariah was also named the Top Pop
Artist of the 90's and the Top R&B / Hip-Hop
Artist of the 90's, and "One Sweet Day" was named the Top
Pop Single of the 90's by Billboard magazine
April 3: Mariah postponed her
Boston and Toronto performances and was admitted
to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for
food poisoning and dehydration due to eating raw
oysters.
August 10: Mariah was hit with a
lawsuit over her song "Thank God I Found You" by the songwriters
of Xscape's 1998 track "One
Of Those Love Songs." The end result went in
Mariah's favor.
September 24: Mariah topped the UK
singles chart with "Against All Odds (Take A
Look At Me Now)."
July 27: Mariah was hospitalized
reportedly for "extreme exhaustion."
Mariah cancelled up-coming press appearances in
support of her new LP and movie, and also posted
a message on the Internet: "Basically all I
really wanna say is I don't know what's going on
with life ... I'm trying to understand things in
life right now and so I really don't feel that I
should be doing music right now. I just can't
trust anybody anymore right now because I don't
understand what's going on ... I'm desperately
trying to get out of this room. And I don't know
if that makes any sense to anybody ... I'm gonna
be taking some time off..." It was later
reported that Mariah's hospitalization for
exhaustion was actually "an emotional and
physical breakdown" - prompting the delay of
her next LP and movie - Glitter.
August 4: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales chart for 4
weeks, R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart
for 2 weeks, and R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales
chart for 4 weeks with "Loverboy."
August 21: Mariah released an audio
on her website after being released from
the hospital: "Okay, this is a message for
my fans. And I just want to say thank you so much
for all the letters, and everything that I got
from you. I want you to know you definitely can't
believe everything you read. And, um, thank you,
because I am taking care of myself, and as we
speak - or as I speak to you - I'm looking at the
most beautiful rainbow that is going across the
entire sky, and I love you much! Thanks.
Bye."
September 11: Mariah released Glitter after postponing the
August release date due to personal struggles.
The LP topped the charts in Japan and hit the Top
10 in the US, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Switzerland, and the UK.
September 21: Mariah put personal
struggles aside and performed "Hero" for the landmark fundraiser America:
A Tribute To Heroes which was aired by all the major
networks to raise money for families of the
victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
September 21: Mariah's film Glitter opened in 11th place
bringing in $2.5 million over the weekend.
January 23: It was announced that
Mariah and EMI/Virgin Records made an
"amicable" split of the their
multi-million-dollar contract. Carey received $28
million for the settlement (as an addition to the
$21 million paid last year when signing).
April 30: Mariah topped the
Billboard 200 LP chart for 2 weeks and the Top
R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for 5 weeks with The
Emancipation Of Mimi. The LP sold over 404,000
copies its first week of release in the US. The
LP hit the Top 10 in Australia, Canada, Holland,
France, Greece, Switzerland, and the UK.
May 21: Mariah topped the
Billboard Dance Club Songs chart with "It's Like That."
June 4: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 chart for 14 weeks,
R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Track chart for 14
weeks, and Rhythmic Top 40 chart for 10 weeks
with "We Belong Together."
July 2: On July 2nd, Mariah
performed in London, England, as part of the
worldwide Live 8 concerts. The mission of
the concerts was to raise awareness of the
on-going poverty in Africa and to pressure the G8
leaders to take action by doubling aid, canceling
debt, and delivering trade justice for Africa.
July 2: Mariah topped the
Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart for 10 weeks
with "We Belong Together."
December 31: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 chart for 2 weeks, Hot 100
Airplay chart for 5 weeks, and Digital Songs
chart for 1 week with "Don't Forget About Us."
December 31: Mariah topped the Billboard Year-End
Charts as the Top Billboard 200 Album
Artist - Female, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artist -
Female (singles & albums), Top
R&B/Hip-Hop Album Artist - Female, Top Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Artist - Female, and with
the Top Hot 100 Single, Top Hot 100 Single
Airplay, and Top Rhythmic Song ("We Belong Together").
April 12: Mariah topped the
Billboard Hot 100 for 2 weeks, Pop 100 chart for
1 week, Digital Tracks chart for 1 week, and
Digital Songs chart for 1 week with "Touch My Body." It became Mariah's
18th Billboard Hot 100 #1 song which allowed her
to surpass Elvis Presley in #1 singles and only 3
more away from surpassing The
Beatles for the most #1's by any artist.
April 12: Mariah topped the
Billboard 200 LP chart for 2 weeks, Top Digital
Albums for 1 week, and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
chart for 3 weeks with E=MC². The LP sold over 463,000
copies its first week of release in the US. The
LP also topped the charts in Canada and hit the
Top 10 in Australia, Austria, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand,
Switzerland, and the UK.
September 29: Mariah released Memoirs
Of An Imperfect Angel. A remix version of the LP
title Angels Advocate slated for release
the following year was cancelled). The LP hit the
Top 10 in the US, Australia, Canada, Holland,
France, Japan, and topped the charts in South
Korea.
October 3: Mariah topped the
Billboard Dance Club Songs chart for 1 week with
"Obsessed."
October 10: Mariah topped the
Billboard Dance Airplay chart for 1 week with
"Obsessed."
January 7: Mariah was nominated for
a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
("The Star" from The Star).
April: Mariah opened up to People
magazine about her diagnosis of bipolar II
disorder 17 years ago and why she kept it hidden
for so long: "I didn't want to carry around
the stigma of a lifelong disease that would
define me and potentially end my career. I was so
terrified of losing everything."
January 4: As "All I Want For Christmas Is You" spent another week
at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart into the new
decade, Mariah became the first artist to have #1
hits on the Hot 100 chart in 4 different decades.
Released: September 17, 1991 US: 4x Platinum Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: # 4 Rolling Stone: Tracks: "Emotions" - "And You
Don't Remember" - "Can't Let Go" - "Make It Happen" - "If It's
Over" - "You're So Cold" -
"So Blessed" - "To Be Around
You" - "Till The End Of Time"
- "The Wind"
also available on vinyl
Released: November 1, 1994 US: 8x Platinum Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: 3 Tracks: "Silent
Night" - "All I Want For
Christmas Is You" - "O Holy
Night" - "Christmas (Baby Please
Come Home)" - "Miss You Most (At
Christmas Time)" - "Joy To The
World" - "Jesus Born On This
Day" - "Santa Claus Is Comin' To
Town" - "Hark! The Herald Angels
Sing" - "Jesus Oh What A Wonderful
Child" Import
Edition includes: "God Rest Ye
Merry Gentlemen"
Released: September 11, 2001 US: Platinum Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: # 7 Rolling Stone: - Entertainment
Weekly: C Tracks: "Loverboy" (Remix) -
"Lead The Way" - "If We"
- "Didn't Mean To Turn You On" -
"Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica) -
"All My Life" - "Reflections
(Care Enough)" - "Last Night A DJ
Saved My Life" - "Want You" -
"Never Too Far" -
"Twister" - ": "Loverboy"
also available on vinyl
Released: December 3, 2002 US: Platinum Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: # 3 Rolling Stone: - Entertainment
Weekly: C Tracks: "Through The Rain" - "Boy (I
Need You)" (with Cam'Ron) - "The
One" - "Yours" - "You Got
Me" (with Jay-Z) - "I Only
Wanted" - "Clown" - "My
Saving Grace" - "You Had Your
Chance" - "Lullaby" -
"Irresistible" - "Subtle
Invitation" - "Bringin' On The
Heartbreak" - "Sunflowers For
Alfred Roy" - "Through The Rain" (Remix with
Kelly Price and Joe)
also available on vinyl
Released: October 14, 2003 US: Gold Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: # 26 Billboard # 1: Dance/Electronic
Albums Tracks: "My All" (Morales 'My'
Club Mix) - "Heartbreaker" (Junior's
Heartbreaker Club Mix) - "Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)" (Fly
Away Club Mix) - "Anytime You Need A
Friend"
(C&C Club Version) - "Fantasy" (Def Club Mix) -
"Honey" (Classic Mix) -
"Dreamlover" (Def Club Mix) -
"Emotions" (12" Club
Mix) - "Through The Rain" (HQ2 Radio Edit)
- "Fantasy" (featuring Ol'
Dirty Bastard) - "Always Be My Baby" (Mr. Dupri
featuring Da Brat & Xscape) - "My
All" (So SO Def Remix) - "Thank
God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix
featuring Joe & Nas) - "Breakdown" (featuring
Krayzie Bone & Wish Bone) - "Honey" (So So Def Mix
featuring Da Brat & JD) - "Loverboy" (Remix featuring
Da Brat, Ludacris, Twenty II & Shawna) -
"Heartbreaker" (Remix featuring
Da Brat & Missy Elliott) -
"Sweetheart" (with Jermaine Dupri)
- "Crybaby" (featuring Snoop
Dogg) - "Miss You" (featuring
Jadakiss) - "The One" (So So Def
Remix featuring Bone Crusher) - "I Know What You Want" (with Busta
Rhymes & Flipmode Squad)
Released: November 15, 2005 Entertainment
Weekly: B+ Tracks: "It's Like That" - "We Belong Together" - "Shake It Off" - "Mine
Again" - "Say Somethin'" (featuring Snoop
Dogg) - "Stay The Night" -
"Get Your Number" (featuring
Jermaine Dupri) - "One And Only"
(featuring Twista) - "Circles" -
"Your Girl" - "I Wish You
Knew" - "To The Floor" (with
Nelly) - "Joy Ride" - "Fly
Like A Bird" - "Don't Forget About Us" - "Makin'
It Last All Night (What It Do)" -
"So Lonely (One & Only Part
II)" - "We Belong Together" (Remix)
Released: September 29, 2009 US: Platinum Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: # 3 Billboard # 1: R&B/Hip-Hop
Albums Rolling Stone: Tracks: "Betcha Gon'
Know (The Prologue)" - "Obsessed" -
"H.A.T.E.U." - "Candy
Bling" - "Ribbon" -
"Inseparable" - "Standing
O" - "It's A Wrap" - "Up
Out My Face" - "Up Out My
Face" (Reprise) - "More Than Just
Friends" - "The Impossible" -
"The Impossible" (Reprise) -
"Angel" (The Prelude) -
"Angels Cry" - "Languishing
(The Interlude)" - "I Want To Know
What Love Is"
Released: November 2, 2010 US: Gold Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: 4 Billboard # 1: R&B/Hip-Hop
Albums Tracks: "Santa Claus Is
Coming To Town" (Intro) - "Oh
Santa!" - "O Little Town Of
Bethlehem / Little Drummer Boy" -
"Christmas Time Is In The Air
Again" - "The First Noel / Born Is
The King" - "When Christmas
Comes" - "Here Comes Santa Claus /
Housetop Celebration" - "O Come All
Ye Faithful / Hallelujah Chorus" -
"O Holy Night" (live) - "One
Child" - "All I Want For Christmas
Is You" (Extra Festive) - "Auld
Lang Syne" (The New Year's Anthem)
Released: November 16, 2018 Billboard Top
200 LPs
peak: # 5 Tracks: "GTFO" -
"With You" - "Caution" -
"A No No" - "The
Distance" - "Give Me Life" -
"One Mo' Gen" - "8th
Grade" - "Stay Long Love You"
- "Portrait"
Released: October 2, 2020 Tracks: "Here We Go
Again" - "Can You Hear Me" -
"Do You Think Of Me" -
"Everything Fades Away" - "All
I Live For" - "One Night" -
"Slipping Away" - "Out Here On
My Own" - "Loveboy"
(Firecracker - Original Version) - "I
Pray" - "Cool On You" -
"Lullaby Of Birdland" (live) -
"Save The Day" - "Close My
Eyes" (Acoustic)
Released: December 4, 2020 Tracks: "Sleigh
Ride" - "Hark! The Heralds Angels
Sing" - "When Christmas Comes"
(Magical Christmas Mix) - "Let It Snow!
Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" -
"Peanuts... All I Want" (Interlude)
- "Christmas Time Is Here" -
"Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
(Intro) - "Oh Santa!" (featuring
Ariana Grande & Jennifer Hudson) -
"Here Comes Santa Claus" -
"Sugar Plum Fairy" (Magical
Christmas Mix) - "Christmas Time Is In
The Air Again" (Magical Christmas Mix) -
"O Holy NIght" (Magical Christmas
Mix) - "Joy To The World" (Magical
Christmas Mix) - "Silent Night"
(Magical Christmas Mix) - "All I Want
For Christmas Is You" (Magical Christmas
Mix)
Note: Song title and position
links lead you to the song's ARC Weekly Top 40 chart run, LP links take
you to Amazon.com for that LP's info (often
including track listings and track samples), and
single cover art takes you to Amazon.com for that CD single (if
available). Songs charting prior to 1980 have
information from Billboard magazine.
Mariah Carey was born on
March 27, 1970, in New York. Mariah translates as
the "the wind" in Native American
language. Mariah's beauty is a product of her
heritage of an African-Venezuelan father and
American-Irish mother. Mariah's pop success has
both resulted in admiration and disdain. Although
the pop world continues to admonish her music,
many critics and music lovers find her music
uncreative and simple. Mariah's image and
personality has also been critiqued as aloof.
With a talent for pop ballads and a multi-octave
voice range, Mariah has dominated the pop charts
for much of the 90s. Mariah began singing from
the age of 2 and began voice lessons by age 4.
Faced with the insecurities of racial
intolerance, and a broken marriage (Mariah's
parents divorced and she was raised by her
mother), Mariah turned to her singing for
happiness. In 1994, Mariah reflected: "I
guess when you're part Irish and part Venezuelan,
you're not completely connected to any one thing,
you grow up like that in a suburban neighborhood
with rich kids, you're not popular because you're
different. And I never had any financial
security. I dreamed of possessing things. Lucky
for me I had my music to hold on to as a goal. It
was like, these people may not think I'm as good
as them, but I can sing!" Mariah credits her
early influences as 
- 
- 