Mariah Carey Gains 12 RIAA Certifications

Mariah Carey received special gifts from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on her anniversary — or what others may call her birthday (March 27). The music icon has earned 12 more awards from the RIAA.

Her 1995 album, Daydream, is now certified 11x multi-platinum with more than 11 million equivalent units sold. It first achieved diamond status (10x multi-platinum) in December 1998. Her number-one singles “Fantasy” and “Always Be My Baby,” both lifted from Daydream, are certified 5x multi-platinum. 

She also gained RIAA awards for her Butterfly album. The opening track, “Honey,” which also peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, has been certified double platinum. The fan-favorite “Breakdown” featuring Krayzie Bone and Wish Bone is now gold with more than 500,000 equivalent units sold. 

“When You Believe,” Carey’s 1998 duet with Whitney Houston, is now certified platinum. She also earned a platinum award for her vocal work on Busta Rhymes’ “I Know What You Want” and her cover of Badfinger’s “Without You,” which appeared on her Music Box album. Meanwhile, her cover of Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” with Trey Lorenz has reached gold. 

The reigning Queen of Christmas also picked up a few awards for tracks on her 1994 album, Merry Christmas. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” / “Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)” and “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” are now certified gold and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is now platinum. 

Carey went to Twitter to share her excitement about her latest RIAA updates. She wrote, “Thank you for this festive 3.27 surprise!!! 🎉❤️🍾🍾🐑🐑🐑 going into the ocean and playing underneath the stars to celebrate ✨✨✨.”

Thank you for this festive 3.27 surprise!!! 🎉❤️🍾🍾🐑🐑🐑 going into the ocean and playing underneath the stars to celebrate ✨✨✨ https://t.co/dKJtAaFTcb

— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) March 27, 2022

In other news, Carey teamed up with rising rapper Latto for her “Big Energy (Remix),” which features DJ Khaled. “Big Energy” samples Tom Tom Club’s 1981 track “Genius of Love,” which Carey also sampled for her smash hit “Fantasy.” 

On Oct. 25, Carey will release her second children’s book, The Christmas Princess, which she co-wrote with Michaela Angela Davis.