At the top of the year, Mariah Carey was in a longstanding tie with music icon Barbra Streisand for the title of best-selling female album seller in the United States.
As if breaking the tie on her birthday (March 27) wasn’t enough to celebrate, the rest of the year would see the 53-year-old enjoy buoyed digital attention to her timeless catalog – a feat that led the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to update the figures attached to some of her biggest hits.
The result? She not only extends her album-selling record among females in the U.S. but also gets bumped up the all-time best-selling digital artists’ list as well.
As we reported here, the RIAA took to press Monday (September 26) to announce a slew of certification updates for titles in Carey’s catalog including ‘Emancipation of Mimi’ (7x Platinum) as well as its signature single, ‘We Belong Together’ (6x Platinum). The term “Platinum” denotes sales of 1 million in the US.
On the album sales front, the new plaques push Mimi’s verified Stateside sales to 71 million – making her the first female act in RIAA history to cross the threshold. Now ranked #12 among the best album-sellers in American history, only The Beatles (183 million), Garth Brooks (157 million), Elvis Presley (146.5 million), The Eagles (120 million), Led Zeppelin (112.5 million), Michael Jackson (89 million), Billy Joel (85 million), Elton John (79 million), AC/DC (75 million), Pink Floyd (75 million), and Bruce Springsteen (71 million) have sold more.
Meanwhile, her digital single sales – already the highest among any female artist who debuted before the digital era – now sit at 49.5 million. With just one more Gold certification (500,000 units) or sales update to her already Platinum-certified hits, she will become the first female act of her era to sell 50 million+ digital singles. Among all acts to predate the streaming and digital era, only Jackson (65.5 million) has sold as many or more digital records.
The increased US sales figures help hoist the diva’s worldwide stats right over their previously reported 220 million-sold mark.
The RIAA report comes just a week after news surfaced Mariah is hard at work on a new album, one that will reportedly see her reunite with producer extraordinaire/music exec LA Reid.
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Go Mariah!! This is such a great achievement, her record sales will only increase when she releases her 16th Studio Album that she’s been working on! I’m so excited to hear it 🦋💖🎉💃💿🐑🎵🎶👑📀🕺Xx #MariahCarey #MC16
Whitney estate still worth more money Mariah crackney still on bipolar s****** watch. While Beyonce still keep having “surprise multiple miscarriages just to compete with Whitney
Awww you mad? lmaoooooooooo! 🤣 Crackney Höeston committed s****** by smoking all that crack while Mariah Carey AND her children are still ALIVE while Mariah stays breaking records 💋
I Look to Crack stalled at Platinum back in 2009 and has barely moved any additional units since, even after her death 🤣
Yessss drag that Crackney hoeston from her grave 💅🏾💩 bet it’s full of p I s s and s h I t coz Mariah fans coming thru🤣😂🤣😂
Oh your mamma is right next to her sharing a crack pipe with Whitney
Takes a crack w**** to know one .Your ass stalled at the welfare line looking for crack. Black people love to talk about crack.You blacks smoke it like it’s gold .Go sit down somewhere and puff on your crusty pipe.
We love you, Mariah! 🦋
Congz biitchh
Bey and Rih could NEVER…especially HOnika Mirage
Mariah has actually sold about or over 250 million records worldwide without streaming! She is incomparable!
The One and Only Diva, go Mimi
Can we just celebrate this legendary woman? Remarkable successes with very highs and lows with multiple “comebacks”. Like it or not, her name is printed in history very bold and deep. We will never have another Mariah Carey. She is a miracle the god gave us.
Yo! the comments here are straight up trifling.
Every single one of us was blessed to have both Mariah Carey AND Whitney Houston in our lives. They were very different artists with extremely different catalogs.
Both are/were fans of each other and to speak of someone who was so tortured and destroyed by drugs that she died in the ways that you are make you all truly sound like some of the most immature and ignorant creatures on the net. And that says way too much.
Please do your best to grow up. Evolve. Appreciate. Enjoy.
Living legend tingz 💅🏼 She is THAT CHICK!
In fact, RIAA forgot to add MTV Unplugged to the list, the sum now is 73 MILLION.
One link shows 69 and the other 71, but I checked and it should be 73.
All the albuns shown in the 69 segment are right (plus 4 million, MTV unplugged.)
How can we ask them to correct?
Anyway, just want to point that out. Thanks.
That’s incorrect. Her albums total 69 million. MTV Unplugged is an EP (short form album), so it counts for half which is 2 million. 69M + 2M = 71 million.
Sadly for Mariah this wont last. Warners have just started to push Madonna’s entire vast back catalogue for re certification in the US. Nearly ALL her US back catalogue hasnt been certified since a few years post their individual releases. The Immaculate collection has just gained 11x platinum status in the US and now stands at just under 32 million in sales WW. 11.5 million of those are now from the US. Her debut Madonna, Like A Virgin & True Blue havnt been certified since 1998, Like A Prayer, Erotica, Bedtime Stories, Evita, Ray of Light, Music, American Life, Confessions, Hard Candy & MDNA will ALL be certified too. Her other albums You Can Dance, GHV2, Celebration, Who’s That Girl & Im Breathless will also be due.
Madonna was pretty confident in correcting jimmy fallon recently that her WW album sales stand at 400 million, not 300 million. Bye Mariah! We all know whos sold the most globally and in the US