Tags
#1's, 13 singles, 1990s, best selling Japanese album, compilation, Mariah Carey, sign of gratitude
#1’s (Columbia, 1999)
#1’s was Mariah Carey’s first compilation album and contained her then thirteen number one singles from Billboard’s Hot 100 chart as well as four new songs. (In Japan, it also included All I Want for Christmas Is You, Carey’s biggest selling single there. #1’s debuted at number one in Japan and remains the best selling album of all time in Japan by a non-Asian artist.) Though #1’s expresses all the “characteristics” of a greatest hits album, Carey dislikes the track listing, instead calling it a collection of her most commercial singles. (She wishes that the album had contained more of her “favorite songs.”) The album was also met with criticism in regards to the new songs included, namely Carey’s duet with singer Whitney Houston for The Princes of Egypt soundtrack, When You Believe. (Many people feel the entire album was just a vehicle to get the song onto a Mariah Carey album.) On Carey’s part, #1’s was meant as a sign of gratitude to her fans for giving her 13 number one singles. Despite the criticism, the album performed well peaking (and debuting) among the top ten on almost every major worldwide music market.