Mariah Carey is no stranger to breaking records on Billboard, and now she’s opened up about how she really feels about the charts.
Mariah Gets Honest in “Over/Under”
In a new episode of Pitchfork’s Over/Under released Thursday (Aug. 14), the legendary singer shared her thoughts on whether song and album charts are over- or underrated. Having dominated them for decades, Mimi admitted, “Well, they matter to me a lot. So, I’m going to say they’re underrated, because not everybody is in that world.”
She explained further, “Sometimes the songs are literally underrated, because people don’t know them, and they’re album cuts. And then sometimes it’s like [Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper] ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ — not sometimes, one time.”
Record-Breaking Legacy
Carey holds an unmatched legacy on Billboard. She is the record-holder for the most Hot 100 No. 1 hits by a solo artist with 19 — just one shy of The Beatles’ all-time record of 20. She also remains the only artist to score a No. 1 hit in 20 different years and became the first in history to achieve No. 1s across four separate decades.
And, of course, her holiday anthem All I Want for Christmas Is You continues to reign supreme every festive season, logging 18 weeks at the top of the Hot 100 since its 1994 release. Speaking with Billboard last year, she called her career-long chart success “astonishing.”
“To have 19 No. 1 singles and be one away from The Beatles … I don’t know how I can’t acknowledge that,” Carey reflected. “That’s a lot. It’s a little hard to wrap my head around.”
Beyond the Charts
Outside of What Mariah Carey Truly Thinks About the Billboard Charts, the singer also weighed in on other cultural staples during the Pitchfork game. On Love Island, she bluntly said: “Ugh.” On Labradoodles, she gushed that they’re “so cute.” And when it came to the Grammy Awards, Carey didn’t hold back: “I think the Grammys are overrated … But we love everybody.”
