Mariah Carey Scores A New Bestselling Album As Her Comeback Single Drops

Forbes

10-06-2025

Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi debuts on the U.K.'s albums downloads chart thanks to its ... More twentieth anniversary reissue. Mariah Carey on 2/3/92 in Chicago,Il. in Various Locations, (Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage)
Mariah Carey has been working long enough that almost every year, there's something to celebrate from her past. While she continues to work on new music — including the recent release of her highly-anticipated single 'Type Dangerous,' which kicks off a new era — she's also been refocusing in recent years on celebrating her most popular works, the releases that helped make her the global superstar she remains today. As the next chapter of her career begins, she's also simultaneously revisiting one of her biggest.
The Emancipation of Mimi debuts on one ranking in the United Kingdom this week. The set opens at No. 68 on the Official Album Downloads chart, reaching that tally for the very first time. As it arrives, It marks the Grammy winner's sixteenth career placement on the list of the most downloaded albums in the country.
Carey has been steadily collecting new entries on the Official Album Downloads chart, but not with entirely new releases. 2025 is now the fourth year in a row that the singer has debuted a title on this ranking, despite not having released a new full-length in more than half a decade. Instead, anniversary editions of her past works have pushed older projects onto the tally — many of which never had the chance to land there when they were new, since the chart itself didn't exist at the time.
This trend began in 2022, when Butterfly launched at No. 45 following its twenty-fifth anniversary celebration. The next year, Music Box appeared in the same position for one week, marking its thirtieth birthday. In June 2024, Rainbow earned a one-week star at No. 79 as it turned 25.
The Emancipation of Mimi was originally released in April 2005, meaning it recently turned 20. Several versions of the album were reissued, including vinyl and box sets that featured remixes and other bonus content, which became must-haves for superfans in a variety of formats, including downloads.
The album helped Carey bounce back from one of her first periods of commercial downturn, thanks to massive singles like 'We Belong Together,' 'It's Like That,' and 'Shake It Off.' In the years since its release, The Emancipation of Mimi has come to be recognized as both an artistic triumph and a hugely influential pop project.