Every Mariah Carey Album, Ranked

Mariah Carey is one of the bestselling artists of all time, with a staggering 19 Number One hits on the Billboard Hot 100, holding the record as the solo artist with the most chart-toppers in history. But the “Songbird Supreme” didn’t get here on luck or looks alone.

Carey has released 16 studio albums over the course of her career, with almost all of them certified platinum or multiplatinum for sales of more than 1 million units. Her 1993 Music Box album was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of more than 10 million copies in the U.S. alone. And three of Carey’s releases were nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys (she’s also received a nod for Producer of the Year).

From pop to hip-hop, gospel to R&B, Carey’s albums span genres and styles, with the singer’s multi-octave range as beautiful on tender ballads as it is powerful on kiss-off anthems. Paired with her inimitable lyrics, Carey’s albums have taken listeners on an autobiographical journey, detailing a painful childhood, a bitter divorce, and periods of self-doubt, followed by a self-proclaimed emancipation. Each album offers new sounds to go along with the new stories, giving rise to 15 distinctive pieces of work that cast Carey as the diva, the mother, and the superstar.

To honor her amazing run, here is our definitive ranking all of Carey’s albums, from her breakthrough self-titled debut in 1990 to her brand new Here For It All.