Mariah Carey

Thirty-plus years in the business, more No. 1 singles than any solo artist in history (and second overall only to The Beatles), more writing and production credits on those singles than any other female composer—Mariah Carey is one of the few artists whose songs legitimately bridge the confessional intimacy of singer-songwriters with the mass appeal of pop. Carey grew up on the classics: Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight. She moved to New York City after high school, cobbling together jobs while working on demos with then-collaborator Ben Margulies at the back of Margulies’ father’s cabinet factory. Her biggest tracks—from the early, dance- and gospel-influenced “Someday” and “Dreamlover” to the club leanings of “Fantasy” and “Honey” to ballads such as “Forever” and “Always Be My Baby” to the ultimate holiday pop song “All I Want for Christmas Is You"—stand like mile markers in the culture. And her guest turn on 2022’s remix of Latto’s “Big Energy” (which interpolates Mariah's “Fantasy”) is further testament to her continued relevance. She captures a feeling of sweetness and euphoria that straddles pop, hip-hop, and R&B without slotting neatly into any of them. Meanwhile, her melismatic style—a technique that entails singing a single syllable with a long run of notes—redefined our sense of what pop vocals sound like. Mimi, The Elusive Chanteuse, The Imperfect Angel...or maybe just Mariah.