Mariah Carey: "IT'S TIME" 👑

[cjay]

Apr 21, 2015 19:30:52 GMT -5 cjay said:

I've remained surprised by the fact that Sony never gave the Butterfly single a commercial release. They wanted Mariah to make pop ballads and that was it right there. It was such a beautiful song. I'm sure it would have hit #1.

As has been stated several times, Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" for Princess Diana was #1 at that time with record sales. "Butterfly" was not getting to #1 at that time, especially in light of its relatively poor airplay.[/quote]

I forgot all about that song (Candle in the Wind). So it may not have gotten to #1 because of this, but in an interview referenced earlier she said she didn't care about her songs hitting number 1. But maybe Sony did this to make people buy the album. It worked on me. Ha!

I actually think Butterfly sold very well for an R&B album made by a pop singer. i don't think she would have sold much more had Sony pushed breakdown and the roof harder. If anything, urban audiences would have probably got the single first. After all Mariah was not known to make a full urban albums.

[Deleted]

Ugh, the fact that "Can't Let Go" wasn't a #1 is a crime. Not only is it my favorite Mariah song of all-time, it's one of her most-played recurrent singles. IMO, that is "the" quintessential Mariah song. The different uses of her voice, the background vocals, the haunting melody, the original "beat ballad"-- that song is PERFECT.

[Caviar]

CLG was ahead of its time. Amazing though that it's her most played recurrent single.

[jenglisbe]

Apr 21, 2015 20:40:57 GMT -5 woabritney said:

Ugh, the fact that "Can't Let Go" wasn't a #1 is a crime. Not only is it my favorite Mariah song of all-time, it's one of her most-played recurrent singles. IMO, that is "the" quintessential Mariah song. The different uses of her voice, the background vocals, the haunting melody, the original "beat ballad"-- that song is PERFECT.

I love "CLG," too, but where did you get that it's one of her most-played recurrents? I haven't seen stats in awhile, but it wasn't in her top 5-10 the last time I saw. Always Be My Baby, Hero, We Belong Together, I'll Be There, and Fantasy were all up there when you combine formats. AIWFCIY is of course her most-played, though just at holiday time.

[crystalphnx]

Apr 21, 2015 19:25:45 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

crystalphnx98 do you happen to have the Billboard column from the week "Smooth" replaced "Heartbreaker" at #1? I remember the writer saying the race for #1 was really close that week. Obviously had more copies of "Heartbreaker" been available, its sales would have been higher and thus it probably would have been #1 for at least 1 extra week.

Google Books FTW!

[kmbgs]

Apr 21, 2015 20:57:19 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

Apr 21, 2015 20:40:57 GMT -5 woabritney said:

Ugh, the fact that "Can't Let Go" wasn't a #1 is a crime. Not only is it my favorite Mariah song of all-time, it's one of her most-played recurrent singles. IMO, that is "the" quintessential Mariah song. The different uses of her voice, the background vocals, the haunting melody, the original "beat ballad"-- that song is PERFECT.

I love "CLG," too, but where did you get that it's one of her most-played recurrents? I haven't seen stats in awhile, but it wasn't in her top 5-10 the last time I saw. Always Be My Baby, Hero, We Belong Together, I'll Be There, and Fantasy were all up there when you combine formats. AIWFCIY is of course her most-played, though just at holiday time.

I was wondering the same. I hear CLG rarely - and it's ways a major treat when it comes on, but it's definitely not common. At least in NYC. The last time I remember hearing it was in 2005 on KTU (don't ask why I know that lmao). I hear Dreamlover, ABMB, Hero, and WBT (and emotions actually) by far the most

[jenglisbe]

Apr 21, 2015 21:17:27 GMT -5 crystalphnx said:

Apr 21, 2015 19:25:45 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

crystalphnx98 do you happen to have the Billboard column from the week "Smooth" replaced "Heartbreaker" at #1? I remember the writer saying the race for #1 was really close that week. Obviously had more copies of "Heartbreaker" been available, its sales would have been higher and thus it probably would have been #1 for at least 1 extra week.

Google Books FTW!

Great find! Thanks! I knew it was a close race that week, and obviously had "Heartbreaker" had a few more singles out there and sold a bit more, it would have gotten a third week at #1.

I didn't know Madonna was only 6 points away from having had 1 fewer #1. Wow. Any chance you can find the column for the week "Baby Got Back" replaced "I'll Be There" at #1? Considering how big "IBT" was at radio, I would think it being a limited single surely affected its chart run.

[crystalphnx]

Apr 21, 2015 22:40:03 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

Any chance you can find the column for the week "Baby Got Back" replaced "I'll Be There" at #1? Considering how big "IBT" was at radio, I would think it being a limited single surely affected its chart run.

[Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815...]

This page is full of nostalgia...

I love it

[#LisaRinna]

Apr 21, 2015 15:00:42 GMT -5 Relaxing Cup said:

Iconic.

[Jay D83]

Apr 22, 2015 8:53:20 GMT -5 Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815... said:

This page is full of nostalgia...

I love it

I am having such a festive time in this thread. Please keep it coming!

[MFM29]

Loving the nostalgia festivity

[crystalphnx]

The BB issue when "Can't Let Go" was blocked by "All 4 Love" doesn't seem to be available online :( but here's some fun stuff from the week that OSD was finally dethroned by BYLM (though there isn't any mention of the single being deleted):

[cause_for_celebration]

I really love these old articles!

[Heart Shaped Box]

Can we get this for all her number ones until the 27th? This was such a time when I had no idea what charting even was!

[Jay D83]

I am such a nerd. I shouldn't be enjoying this as much as I do.

[crystalphnx]

Apr 22, 2015 10:22:05 GMT -5 Heart Shaped Box said:

Can we get this for all her number ones until the 27th? This was such a time when I had no idea what charting even was!

I can try - though it looks like the issues for her earliest ones ('90-'91) might be unavailable. Do you want the weeks when each song were dethroned from No. 1, or the weeks when they first reached No. 1?

[kmbgs]

I am literally DYING with love over these articles!! They are taking me back SO HARD! I can see myself in Friendly's with my mom and sister as I hear "Count on Me" come on the radio, exclaiming "I love this song!" Only to be embarrassed after realizing that this girl I had a "crush" on in 2nd grade was seated in the booth next to us.

[Heart Shaped Box]

Apr 22, 2015 10:28:25 GMT -5 crystalphnx said:

Apr 22, 2015 10:22:05 GMT -5 Heart Shaped Box said:

Can we get this for all her number ones until the 27th? This was such a time when I had no idea what charting even was!

I can try - though it looks like the issues for her earliest ones ('90-'91) might be unavailable. Do you want the weeks when each song were dethroned from No. 1, or the weeks when they first reached No. 1?

I mean if it's easy to provide both - I would love to revisit that history.

Unless a leak of Infinity pops up in the next day or two, we have the quiet time now to appreciate such information.

Thank you so much for this!

[crystalphnx]

Unfortunately, Google Books doesn't have any 1990 and very few 1991 issues, so I'll have to start with "Emotions." If anyone has physical copies of those missing issues, or knows of another place to find them online, it'd be much appreciated. Some stuff may get cut-off so I can stick to one image per article, but I promise not to exclude anything Mariah-related.

There was no "Singles Spotlight" column published the week that "Emotions" reached No. 1 - but wasn't Paul Grein a dapper young sir? ;)

#5: "Emotions"
Album: Emotions
First Reached No. 1: October 12, 1991
Chart Run (courtesy of MariahDaily): 35-26-17-11-4-3-*1*-1-1-2-7-18-33-15-23-28-37-37-38-39
Replaced: "Good Vibrations" | Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch
Replaced By: "Romantic" | Karyn White

SPOILER: Click to show

{October 12, 1991 - "Emotions" Hits No. 1}

[crystalphnx]

#6: "I'll Be There"
Album: MTV Unplugged EP
First Reached No. 1: June 20, 1992
Chart Run (courtesy of MariahDaily): 13-4-2-*1*-1-2-2-2-5-11-16-24-31-40-52-62-69-70-75-90
Replaced: "Jump" | Kriss Kross
Replaced By: "Baby Got Back" | Sir Mix-A-Lot

Shout-out to Trey Lorenz, who obviously should've been credited, since they performed this as a duet. I assume he was excluded due to label politics/BS? ("We're not letting our star act share billing with some random back-up singer!") Also, I believe this is considered to be her real "breakthrough" hit on the international level? She'd obviously charted in many countries before, but I think this was seen as her first true global smash.

SPOILER: Click to show

{June 20, 1992 - "I'll Be There" Hits No. 1}

SPOILER: Click to show

{July 4, 1992 - "I'll Be There" Falls From No. 1}

[colson]

I know Baby Got Back had very strong single sales to offset IBT's huge airplay advantage, but I wonder if IBT could have blocked BGB from #1 if the single wasn't limited. From a business perspective, the more I think about it, I don't blame Sony for trying to capitalize off of sales for an EP. They used IBT to promote the album, but they didn't want IBT to sell more than the album. And as the article stated, the Unplugged was even discounted for $7.98.

[HolidayGuy]

"Can't Let Go" isn't near her most-played recurrent (that would be "Always Be My Baby"), but it gets more play than some of the No. 1s. Hopefully she sneaks it into one (or more) of the Vegas shows.

[jenglisbe]

Apr 22, 2015 10:07:04 GMT -5 crystalphnx said:

The BB issue when "Can't Let Go" was blocked by "All 4 Love" doesn't seem to be available online :( but here's some fun stuff from the week that OSD was finally dethroned by BYLM (though there isn't any mention of the single being deleted):

I could be wrong as I am going off memory and it could have been for another single, but I'm pretty sure the deletion was mentioned in a column earlier in the chart run. Billboard started mentioning the rapidly declining sales and how it meant the song would fall soon.

[jenglisbe]

Apr 22, 2015 11:53:25 GMT -5 crystalphnx said:

She'd obviously charted in many countries before, but I think this was seen as her first true global smash.

I feel sure it deserves a certification in the UK. It finished higher on the year-end chart than songs that do have a cert (like "This Used To Be My Playground" if I remember correctly).

[HolidayGuy]

In its 10th week at No. 1, OSD was still No. 1 in sales (10th week, also), with 83K (which BB described as a "commanding lead"), and it was bulleted on the sales chart. In its 13th week at No. 1, BB mentioned that it sold 64,000 that week (No. 2 in sales). In its 15th week on the Hot 100, it rebounded 3-2* in sales. In its 16th week at No. 1, it dipped back to No. 3 in sales. No mention of Sony stopping pressings in any of the columns- if it had, I imagine it would have dropped more steeply, as "I'll Be There" did when pressings ceased.

[divasummer]

Apr 21, 2015 17:16:52 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

Apr 21, 2015 14:17:10 GMT -5 divasummer said:

Umm, Mariah may have been at odds with Sony but I would say "Butterfly" and Rainbow" were highly promoted/supported.
I remember when "Butterfly" and "Rainbow" came out they were SO hyped up.
Just because they underperformed for her standards doesn't mean they weren't promoted well.
The Butterfly project had 8 videos. That's a lot. How many Remixes and different versions of songs were commissioned for this project.
About "Breakdown" not being sent to Top 40, I don't blame them really. I doubt it would have done all that well there.
Mariah's more pop oriented songs weren't even doing as well as they probably hoped there.

The "Rainbow" project seemed pretty supported as well.
Didn't she have 6 videos and millions of remixes for this project? Plus Tv specials etc etc.
Maybe they didn't promote "Can't Take That Away" all that much but that was kind of thrown out there because the fans and Mariah wanted and begged for it to be a single.

Maybe there was some tension between Mariah and the label but it looks to me she was HIGHLY promoted and was a very big priority to them.

Thank you! Mariah had a slew of promotion for Butterfly. She was on Oprah's show (which she hadn't been on since 1992), did Rosie O'Donnell's show a couple of times (performed "My All" once and "Close My Eyes" once), performed on Saturday Night Live, etc. I remember her on the World Music Awards (the famous "Honey" performance). She had that special interview with Tabitha Soren for MTV (didn't Puffy make an appearance?). I definitely remember there being a lot of hoopla for the "Honey" video premiere; wasn't it shown at the top of the hour every hour or something? She did Divas Live that era. As you said, she had a bunch of videos and remixes. "Honey," "Butterfly," and "My All" were definitely promoted a lot, and then "Breakdown," "The Roof," and "Whenever You Call" were promoted in various forms. She was on the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time. What exactly do people here think was missing in terms of her promotion that era?

I was going to bring up ALL the PROMO appearances as well but I wasn't sure if that was the labels pull or not. Though I just read an article stating that the labels Do pay for some of the production value, travel expenses etc on a lot of talk shows. So yes I would say Mariah was pretty much promoted/supported during those era's.

[leoapp]

Compared to other popular divas like Whitney, Janet or Madonna, considering her huge success, it's interesting t know that Mariah actually only released a few physical singles in the 90s. She had zero album with more than 4 official physical releases.

Her debut album could add 1 more hit imo, like All In Your Mind or TGTBA before she started with Emotions.
After Anytime missed the top 10, Music Box could add more hits with faster songs like Now That I Know or I've Been thinking About You maybe
All I Want For Xmas with physical single i believed could be a top 10, she was at her peak!
Huge album like Daydream but only 3 official physical singles? Forever could be a top 5/top 10 hit for sure, also maybe Open Arms/Underneath The Stars
Butterfly with only 2 physical releases, Butterfly (song), Breakdown or even The Roof could be top 10 hits, even with low airplay, considering she was a huge physical single seller at that time.

Not sure, her team and herself just wanted a prefect string of high charting hits? too afraid of having a moderate top 20/top 40 hits only.

[Relaxing Cup]

I wish Loverboy had gone to #1 so we could hear it in VEGAS.

[jenglisbe]

Apr 22, 2015 14:04:37 GMT -5 leoapp said:

Compared to other popular divas like Whitney, Janet or Madonna, considering her huge success, it's interesting t know that Mariah actually only released a few physical singles in the 90s. She had zero album with more than 4 official physical releases.

Her debut album could add 1 more hit imo, like All In Your Mind or TGTBA before she started with Emotions.
After Anytime missed the top 10, Music Box could add more hits with faster songs like Now That I Know or I've Been thinking About You maybe
All I Want For Xmas with physical single i believed could be a top 10, she was at her peak!
Huge album like Daydream but only 3 official physical singles? Forever could be a top 5/top 10 hit for sure, also maybe Open Arms/Underneath The Stars
Butterfly with only 2 physical releases, Butterfly (song), Breakdown or even The Roof could be top 10 hits, even with low airplay, considering she was a huge physical single seller at that time.

Not sure, her team and herself just wanted a prefect string of high charting hits? too afraid of having a moderate top 20/top 40 hits only.

At least part of the reason she didn't have more singles per album is that she released a lot of albums. For instance, there wasn't time between "I Don't Wanna Cry" and "Emotions" to release another single. After "AYNAF" she had "Endless Love" with Luther and then "AIWFCIY." Had she released the latter as a physical single it may have gone top 10, but that may have also eaten into the sales for Merry Christmas.