I agree, when she's dead and long gone, All I Want For Christmas Is You will be her most remembered contribution to pop culture. The song has become a Christmas standard worldwide.

While songs like One Sweet Day and We Belong Together had long stints at #1, they are nothing special and very of their time. Mariah was never a pop culture artist in the sense that Michael Jackson and Madonna were/are. During the Tommy Mottola years she's was known as Queen of MOTR (Middle of the Road), because she pretty much always played it safe with the pop/R&B ballads. That obviously changed when she rebelled against the Mottola/Sony system and started doing really bad and souless Hip-Hop influenced R&B songs, which have since helped kill her career.

Edited May 26, 201510 yr by BetterForgotten

Always Be My Baby and Fantasy are the only songs I have ever heard get recurrent play. She had a lot of hits but like others have said they haven't stood the test of time.

If nothing else, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" will stand as one of the modern Christmas classics. Was it a number one hit? No, but even 20 years later, people still remember it, because new Christmas songs don't become instant classics very often. This is one that did, and I'll admit that I love it.

Oh yeah. This too.

LOL @ the idea that Mariah's 90s hits were obscure especially since radio played them to death.

I don't know what radio stations you listened to, but they weren't the same ones I did. Which is sort of my point. One of the, or perhaps the biggest songs of the 90s was maybe "I want it that way"? Do people agree on that? You didn't even have to listen to radio to hear it because it was played in the radio at every store, out of many cars and so on. It was inescapable. "Every Breath You Take" was similar in the 80s, along with all those Madonna and Michael hits, and songs like "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", "Oops I did It Again" around 2000, or that dreary Celine song from Titanic.

As others have mentioned, only Mariah's christmas song has stuck around. These songs were number one I guess somewhere, but perhaps they were so targeted demographically as to not register outside her fanbase? I literally have not heard any of those songs and couldn't even name you one of her albums. In contrast, Santana's "Smooth" was everywhere all the time and can still be heard today.

I've heard Hero several times on the radio recently. I can see how that song has lasted--the whole female empowerment theme; that song practically defines that genre.

Actually, even though it holds the record charting number one on the Hot 100, I can honestly say I've never heard "One Sweet Day" in my life, and that song came up several times this year when it looked like "Uptown Funk" might break its record.

"We Belong Together" is a song I remember from my junior year of high school, so I absolutely remember that. Some of the girls in my chorus class liked that song.

Edited May 26, 201510 yr by MissLlanviewPA

by continuing to hoarsely perform & release struggle singles & starring in upcoming Christmas movies

So older artists are suppose to stop releasing new music, or want to be in movies, or perform? Getting a "hit song" is for the younger generation, so she knows her singles aren't going to well on the charts.

Yes, Mariah's had bad some bad outings lately but she can still sing.

It's not like she's doing anything tabloid-y to stay in the limelight.

18 #1s on the Billboard Hot 100, the most of any female solo artist. Rounding out the top 5 female solo artist rankings are Rihanna (13), Madonna (12), Whitney Houston (11), and Janet Jackson (10).

Among all artists, The Beatles are 1st overall with 20 #1s on the Billboard Hot 100, and Elvis Presley and Mariah Carey are tied for 2nd with 18 #1s each. Rounding out the top 5 overall are Michael Jackson and Rihanna with 13 #1s each.

Thanks. I loved Mariah in the 90's. Music Box is one of my all time favourite albums.

When you're still releasing the same type of music you were 25 years ago, wearing the same outfits and acting 26 again then yes, that is desperate. Especially when it hasn't worked since 2009.

One could say JLo does the same but, unlike Mariah, she's still having success.

I've heard Hero several times on the radio recently. I can see how that song has lasted--the whole female empowerment theme; that song practically defines that genre. 

I wouldn't have thought to call that topic a genre, but if it is I can think of a couple of songs and one in particular that eclipses in fame anything Mariah Carey has ever done and has the ability to stay on the rader as the decades go by.  And again this is a song everyone knew and knows, from the diehard disco fans to the diehard disco haters of the 1970s.

 

I just really love All I Want For Christmas Is You. That's probably my favorite Mariah song ever. It's not Christmas until it starts playing over and over again.

The discussion on Mariah's hits and how most have faded into obscurity is so spot on and I'd never considered it that way before. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a haaatttuuuur like AMD@GH or Vixen (love you, boos!)--in fact, I just love everything pre-Glitter Mariah. But, come to think of it, damn, most of her biggest hits are barely remembered or even known anymore versus, say, Whitney's "How Will I Know" or something else.

I still remember, following the Rainbow album, how she was still on top of the world and I was dying for Glitter to be released. I would see huge posters all over the record stores and, yes, I even loved Loverboy. And then Glitter came out. And, OMG. I've never seen anyone tank and fade and crash and burn just so fast.

She should have never abandoned pop for R&B, also.

Edited May 26, 201510 yr by YRBB

Glitter, along with the breakdown she seemed to have afterwards (stripping on TRL, for one), really did seem to signal that her career was dead. "We Belong Together" was not only her comeback single, it wound up being the song of the year in 2005, and the biggest hit of her career. Maybe it isn't still as big as it was a decade ago, but the fact that it (along with her album, The Emancipation of Mimi) launched her comeback is still a significant milestone in her career, even if mileage varies in how her career has gone since.

That said, I really do think the main reason I remember that song in particular has to do with me being in high school at the time.

I will say that I'm not a fan of "Infinity"--WTF on that line about Fritos? Really, Mimi?

For the record, though, I'm neither a huge fan nor a huge detractor (hater sounds so mean ) of her work. I haven't heard anywhere near her entire discography, but I definitely have songs of hers that I like.

Edited May 26, 201510 yr by MissLlanviewPA

Would any of you say "Vision of Love" is still well-remembered, since it was her first single/number one hit?

Honey, Rainbow, Butterfly, Glitter. I hated how the title to her projects seemed like they came out of a Claire's catalog

Butterfly is my favorite album by her.

I'm not a hater! I loved Mariah in 1997!

Edited May 27, 201510 yr by Mr. Vixen

One could say JLo does the same but, unlike Mariah, she's still having success.

Mariah is greater than JLo. Has she had a hit song that I forgot about or album?? Mariah has had much more success than JLo….they don't compare..

Thanks. I loved Mariah in the 90's. Music Box is one of my all time favourite albums.

She's had a lot of great albums. My favorite would have to be Emotions album.