Top Ten Songs by Mariah Carey

Before Beyonce, Christina Aguilera or Alicia Keys, there was the soulful Mariah Carey. Selling well over 210 million albums worldwide, she is the leading top female recording artist of all time. After a brief hiatus from singing in order to relax and regroup, in 2005, Mariah Carey made the greatest comeback in music history with her latest release, The Emancipation of Mimi. This multi-platinum selling album granted her with three Grammys to include in the two she had previously won in 1991.

As a fan of Mariah Carey myself, it was pretty difficult to choose just ten songs that I liked because there are so many to choose from. I’ll jump right in with number ten.

10. Dreamlover (1993)- One of her many songs that she shows how high she can sing. Although all of her songs are timeless, one could easily tell when this song was recorded just by watching the video. Her video consisted of bare-chested men busting every popular dance move during that time.

9. All I Want For Christmas (1994)- A great fun song for the holidays. Since the release of this song, I would play it just as much as the Temptations’ rendition of Silent Night.

8. Endless Love (1994)- On the same level of greatness as the original sung by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, Mariah and the late great Luther Vandross had listeners wiping away tears as if hearing the song for the first time.

7. Hero (1993)- Such an inspirational song. With lyrics such as, “cast your fears aside” and “look inside yourself and be strong,” it sends the message that by believing in yourself, you can make things happen.

6. We Belong Together (2005)- This song seemed to be in rotation about seven hundred times a day on every radio station and proved to the non-believers that Mariah Carey was not a hit maker of the past but one with staying power.

5. When You Believe (1999)- What do you get when you have two of the best female vocalists in the world pair up to record a song for a Disney movie soundtrack? This was the case for Mariah and the equally talented Whitney Houston for the animated movie, the “Prince of Egypt.” The duet crushed some of the rumors that the two were feuding. The allegations that the divas were fighting may not be true but there was a definite voice war throughout the track.

Honorable Mention- Butterfly (1997)- This wouldn’t be a complete list without mentioning a song that is very symbolic to Mariah’s life. A butterfly often stands for being unique and being free from any restraints. As a constant reminder, she is often seen adorning the butterfly image through jewelry, clothing and in her music videos.

4. Emotions (1991)- Hide the fine china and crystal vases because this song was bound to shatter them all. A word of warning: don’t wear earphones when listening or at least, don’t have the volume up too high. I’m still asking people to repeat something more than once after my mishap with this song (just kidding). She made me a believer that someone could vocally sound like a whistle.

3. I Still Believe (1999)- To those who do not know how Mariah got her start, here’s a brief history lesson. Mariah had aspirations to be the next great singing star and was chosen to be a back-up singer for R&B/pop star, Brenda Starr. After hearing Mariah’s remarkable voice, she forwarded a demo to Tommy Mottola (Mariah’s future ex-husband) and the rest is history. To pay homage to the one who paved her career in the right path, Mariah remade Starr’s song, “I Still Believe” and did an outstanding job of outshining her mentor.

2. Don’t Forget About Us (2005)- One of Mariah’s latest singles and another number one hit if you haven’t figured out by now. I cannot count how many times I heard a snippet of this song being played as ringtones on cell phones. Well, at least a dozen times a day and that was just from my phone.

1. Vision of Love (1990)- Finally, my #1 favorite song by Miss Carey. The song that started it all. She hit low notes, high notes and everything in between. When she released this soft yet strong melody, she set the bar for all singers who followed and 98% of them haven’t even came close.

This concludes my top ten list but as I mentioned earlier it was difficult to narrow it all down. With a musical history as extensive and all equally as good as the others, Mariah Carey is a true talent that cannot be touched by any other artist today. Who else writes and produces nearly all of his or her own songs and actually sail past platinum and reach diamond-ranking sales?

With 17 #1 hits, the most of any other female artist, Mariah Carey has proven time and time again that she does not plan on going anywhere. Well, at least not anytime soon.