#1’s is the eighth album by American pop-R&B singer Mariah Carey, released by Columbia Records in the United States on 17 November 1998. Carey’s first compilation album, it comprises her first thirteen number-one singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and several new tracks. It was certified five-times platinum in the U.S. after debuting within the top five on the Billboard 200, and it charted strongly elsewhere. Sales of #1’s were higher than expected, and its commercial success has been credited with influencing the content of later greatest hits albums by other acts.Carey has said that she does not consider #1’s a greatest hits album, and she has voiced her disappointment with the omission of what she calls her “favorite songs”. Reviews were mixed, with criticism directed towards both the new material and the decision to include only Carey’s number-one hits. The singles released from the album — “Sweetheart” with Jermaine Dupri, the award-winning Whitney Houston duet “When You Believe” from the soundtrack to The Prince of Egypt, and “I Still Believe” — sold well across the world, but they were only moderately popular on U.S. radio.

Background and production

During mid-1998, after the release of her seventh album Butterfly the previous September, Carey was developing a film and soundtrack project titled All That Glitters; “I’m not going into the studio again until it’s done”, she recalled saying.^[3] After it fell into development hell she considered embarking on a world tour to support Butterfly, which was continuing to sell strongly. Executives at Sony Music, the parent company of Carey’s label Columbia, wanted her to prepare a “greatest hits” collection in time for the commercially favorable holiday season. Carey, not having time to record a studio album, agreed.^[4] By this point she had released enough U.S. number-one singles to compile an album comprising them, and on #1’s they are arranged in order of release, from newest to oldest.

Compiling of singles

Carey said she strongly felt that there should be a clear distinction between #1’s and a traditional greatest hits album, and because of this she lobbied for Sony/Columbia not to title the album Greatest Hits or refer to it as a greatest hits album. She told MTV, “[It's] not a ‘Greatest Hits’, I ain’t even been out ten years … it’s only the number-one songs I’ve had.”^[2] In an interview with VIBE magazine she explained that her favorite songs she had recorded were ones “that never got any light … Everybody swung it like I didn’t want to put something out because I wouldn’t accept less than a number-one pop single. That’s not even true. Like I didn’t want to ‘break a streak’ … I had records that didn’t got to number one.” She has frequently cited “Underneath the Stars” (1996) and “Breakdown” (1998) as examples of songs she unsuccessfully campaigned for the commercial release of: “I’ll always be upset ‘Breakdown’ never got its shot”, she said. She also said that time limitations enforced by record executives prevented many singles from being released from each album: “…with me it was like, ‘Get in the studio! More records! Sing! Sing!’”.^[3]

Carey wrote in the album’s liner notes that instead she was releasing a collection of her number-one singles as a “thank you” and a tribute to her fans, and explained that someday she would release a true greatest hits album containing songs that weren’t released as singles, as well as singles that did not reach number one.^[5] In December 2001 Columbia released the album Greatest Hits, which featured Carey’s number-one singles alongside songs she said “needed to be really heard”, such as “Underneath the Stars”. “There’s a lot of songs that I’m happy are gonna see the light of day”, she told one interviewer. “I think people are going to like this Greatest Hits because there are songs on it that were not necessarily singles.”^[6]

The original version of “Fantasy” (1995) is not included on #1’s, and instead the album contains the “Bad Boy” remix of the song co-produced by Sean Combs and featuring rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard, which she has said is her favorite track on the album.^[7] Most non-U.S. editions of the album feature Carey’s cover of Badfinger’s “Without You” (1994) whilst omitting “I Don’t Wanna Cry” (1991), as the former single went to number one in several countries and the latter was given a limited release outside the U.S.^[8] Pressings of the album in Japan include “All I Want for Christmas Is You“, which Carey wrote “is a little present from me to you!” on her official website.

New material

Because Carey intended #1’s as a sign of gratitude to her fans, it contains some new songs not previously included on her albums. The first is a cover of Rainy Davis‘ “Sweetheart” (1987) performed as a duet with co-producer and rapper Jermaine Dupri, who had contributed to Carey’s album Daydream (1995) and co-produced several hip hop remixes of her songs. The song was first included on his debut album Life in 1472 (released in July 1998), and Carey said of the inspiration for its recording, “I was thinking of the old songs I used to listen to when I was in school. It’s a really cute record. Young girls’ll like it the way I liked it when I was growing up.”^[3] She has called the original “Sweetheart” a “very regional NY record”,^[10] and said she added the cover to #1’s “because I ain’t got one! Try that on! Ha, ha”.^[5] Another new song on #1’s is “When You Believe“, which Carey said was included because she felt it was “a miracle” that she and Houston collaborated on a record.^[5] During the development of All That Glitters, Carey had been introduced to DreamWorks SKG producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, who asked her if she would record the song “When You Believe” for the soundtrack to the animated film The Prince of Egypt. Carey and Whitney Houston were shown the film separately, and both became very enthusiastic about participating in the project.

The song was co-written by Stephen Schwartz and Babyface, who also produced the song and with whom Carey had previously collaborated on Music Box (1993) and Daydream. She and Houston recorded their tracks separately, but Carey decided to re-record her track after hearing Houston’s. Babyface said he went through more than one version of the song and described its production as “an ordeal”; “It’s not a normal R&B song. It’s a beautiful song but it’s a movie song. It’s not a normal song for Whitney or Mariah or myself”, he explained.^[12] Carey, however, said she “liked [the song] the way it was”.^[3] She has characterised it as “a very big ballad but in an inspirational way” and denied speculation that there had been prior rivalry or animosity between her and Houston prior to its recording: “I never even really talked to her until this. We never had any issues between us. The media and everybody made it an issue.”^[3] Houston said, “Mariah and I got along very great. We had never talked and never sang together before … It’s good to know that two ladies of soul can still be friends.”^[13]

Carey co-wrote and co-produced the song “Whenever You Call” with longtime collaborator Walter Afanasieff for the album Butterfly, but she said she decided to re-record it for #1’s as a duet with Brian McKnight because she felt it was one of the best songs on Butterfly and many of her fans liked it; she also said McKnight’s vocals “made [the song] so beautiful”.^[5][9] McKnight said, “It was amazing to go into the studio with someone who’s so successful, and has that kind of track record. Mariah is someone who could ask anyone in the world to sing with her, and they called me. The album contains a duet with Whitney Houston … it’s just been great company to be in.”^[14]

One of the songs Carey recorded specifically for #1’s was a cover of Brenda K. Starr’s “I Still Believe” (1988) co-produced by Stevie J and Mike Mason. During the late 1980s Starr helped Carey secure a record contract when Carey was Starr’s backup singer, and Carey said she wanted to pay tribute to her. According to Carey, the song “reminds me of the fact that not long ago I was a teenage girl with nothing to my name but a demo tape, my voice, and my ability to write songs. Brenda K. Starr treated me like a ’star’ and gave me a shot”.^[5] Carey and Stevie J co-produced another cover song, “Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)” (1975) by Diana Ross, and it is featured on pressings of the album outside the U.S. A duet with rapper Wyclef Jean entitled “Let’s Talk” was rumored to appear on the album,^[15] and some press releases reported that an exclusive live recording of “Hero” would be included.^[16]

Critical reception

The album received a positive review from Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide, who called it “thoroughly entertaining” and “her best, most consistent album, filled with songs that represent state-of-the-art ’90s adult contemporary and pop-oriented urban soul“. Erlewine also said “it isn’t a perfect overview … a couple of good singles are missing” and that the new tracks “are all fine, but not particularly memorable”.^[17] Popular Music and Society magazine described #1’s as “primarily product”, but said it was “filled with catchy, hook-filled ditties and big-build dramas … [it] makes it clear once and for all that Carey is a genuinely talented vocalist and craftswoman whose knack for vocal extravaganzas and hookiness is endearing by virtue of sheer persuasion”.^[18]

Other critics were less favorable. Entertainment Weekly said the album “showcases [Carey's] primary limitation: wan, homogeneous songs. Hearing them months apart on the radio makes them passable, but strung together they’re like a mile-long elevator ride.”^[19] Amy Linden of LAUNCHcast commented, “while these may be the tracks that sold the most and charted the highest, these aren’t necessarily Mariah’s best songs. Not when the sinuous ‘Breakdown’ is left out of the mix in favor of the ersatz TV-theme music ‘Hero’.”^[20] #1’s received a 1/10 rating in Britain’s NME magazine, and its critic wrote:

“I fear Mariah Carey. Superficially, she might seem like a purveyor of saccharine bilge like ‘Hero’ … But that’s bullshit. You don’t sell 90million records unless you reserve that fluffybunny stuff for your sucker fans … you gotta be cold-eyed, hard-boiled and have balls of steel … She’ll do whatever it takes. And her most fiendish weapon is the duet. If the MOR market needs servicing, she’ll duet with Luther or Whitney … If her contemporary edge needs sharpening, she’ll hang with the Wu-Tang Clan … If you’re big in the R&B charts, like Brian McKnight, she’ll be in there … like a heat-seeking parasite. She don’t give a fuck. She destroys competition by sucking them dry and spitting them out.”^[21]

Slant magazine in 2001 called #1’s “self-congratulatory”, and referred to the album Greatest Hits as “the singer’s first proper hits compilation”.^[22] “When You Believe” was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for “Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals” (see Grammy Awards of 2000), and it won an NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Duo or Group“. After the album’s release Carey won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award in the category of “Favorite Female Artist — Pop”, and she was nominated for an MTV Europe Music Award for “Best R&B Artist”.^[23] #1’s won a 1999 Japan Gold Disc Award for “International Pop Album of the Year”.^[24]

Chart performance

#1’s was released in the same week as several other albums by high profile musicians such as Garth Brooks, Jewel and Method Man, as well as Whitney Houston’s My Love Is Your Love. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote “This is the week that the thunder rolls in your local music store … The mega events should be tripping over one another”, while MTV News called 17 November “what is shaping up to be the music industry’s Super Tuesday … most onlookers know that first week sales aren’t everything, but they will also tell you that they are pretty darn important”. #1’s entered the U.S. Billboard 200 at number four with 221,000 copies sold in its first week, which The Daily Cougar called a “smash debut”. It was Carey’s lowest peaking album at the time alongside Emotions (1991), but within a month the RIAA had certified it double platinum, and in its sixth week of release (ending 2 January) its weekly sales peaked at 360,000 copies.

As executives at Columbia had done during the album’s development, Eric Boehlert of Rolling Stone noted the importance of the release date of #1’s and other albums on sale during the same period: “Artists who make a habit of hitting it big during the holiday shopping season are wise indeed, as sales traditionally skyrocket. This year is no exception.” Journalist and author Marc Shapiro, in his biography of Carey, attributed the album’s high sales to the presence of new songs:

“The consensus among the music press was that Mariah’s insistence on including the new material made all the difference in increasing sales figures more than expected. Including some new with the old in a greatest-hits package had been tried from time to time by other artists with varying degrees of success, but with the triumph of Ones, it would become a regular element in nearly all future greatest-hits albums. As such packages go, Ones was a solid retrospective of Mariah’s chart hits, but because these songs were oversaturating the radio, including a favorite nonhit album track or two might have made a nice change. The new songs were a definite bones even though none ever really rose to the spectacular level of her best … they added up to a nice touch but little more.”

#1’s was the nineteenth best-selling album of 1999 in the U.S., and the year’s second biggest-selling compilation album. As of late 2005 it had sold 3.52 million copies according to Nielsen SoundScan, with an additional one million sold at BMG Music Club outlets by early 2003. It reached the top five on album charts in Switzerland and Italy, and the top ten in Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It debuted at number one on the Oricon album chart in Japan with Carey’s highest first-week sales (281,000 copies), and by late January it had sold 3.25 million. This made it the most successful foreign album of all time in the country, a record previously held by The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album (1992). By 2003, #1’s had sold an estimated fifteen million copies worldwide according to the website Dotmusic, which reported that it was the 103rd biggest-selling album of all time.

“Sweetheart” was released as the album’s first single and the second single from Life in 1472 in Continental Europe, and it peaked within the top twenty in countries such as Germany and Sweden. In the U.S., where its commercial single release was cancelled, its radio airplay was limited. “When You Believe”, the album’s second single, was also promoted as the first single from both The Prince of Egypt: Original Soundtrack and Houston’s My Love Is Your Love. It was given a wider release than “Sweetheart” and achieved top five success in the UK and other European countries, but it only reached the top twenty in Australia and the top forty in Canada.^[37] In the U.S., despite receiving a gold certification, it attracted minimal airplay and peaked outside the top ten in January 1999. “I Still Believe” was more popular on U.S. radio than the album’s previous two singles and reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 in March. It was given a platinum certification from the RIAA, and #1’s was certified triple platinum the same month, becoming Carey’s eighth album in as many releases to do so. “I Still Believe” did not sell as well as “When You Believe” elsewhere, and in Australia it missed the top forty.

“Whenever You Call” was considered for release as a single in mid-1999, but its promotion was cancelled because of the impending release of “Heartbreaker“, the lead single from Carey’s ninth album Rainbow.^[39] “Do You Know Where You’re Going To” was issued as a promotional single in Brazil and some parts of Europe during June, and a remix was released to U.S. radio stations.^[40] In December 1999 Columbia released the video/DVD #1’s, which contained music videos and recordings of live performances for the number-one singles featured on #1’s. It was certified gold in the U.S. three months after its release, and platinum in 2005. The album #1’s was given a five-times platinum certification in January 2003, and as of 2006 it is Carey’s best-selling compilation album in the U.S.; according to Nielsen SoundScan, both Greatest Hits and The Remixes (2003) sold less than a quarter of the amount of copies.

Track listing

• U.S. edition

1. “Sweetheart” featuring Jermaine Dupri (Rainy Davis, Peter Kessler) – 4:25
2. “When You Believe” with Whitney Houston (Stephen Schwartz, Babyface) – 4:36
3. “Whenever You Call” with Brian McKnight (Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff) – 4:23
4. “My All” (Carey, Afanasieff) – 3:52
5. “Honey” (Carey, Sean Combs, Q-Tip, Stevie J, Stephen Hague, Bobby Robinson, Ronald Larkins, Larry Price, Malcolm McLaren) – 5:00
6. “Always Be My Baby” (Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal) – 4:20
7. “One Sweet Day” with Boyz II Men (Carey, Michael McCary, Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, Afanasieff) – 4:42
8. “Fantasy” (Bad Boy remix) featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard (Carey, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, Dave Hall, Adrian Belew, Steven Stanley) – 4:54
9. “Hero” (Carey, Afanasieff) – 4:20
10. “Dreamlover” (Carey, Hall) – 3:54
11. “I’ll Be There” featuring Trey Lorenz (Berry Gordy, Jr., Bob West, Hal Davis, Willie Hutch) – 4:25
12. “Emotions” (Carey, David Cole, Robert Clivillés) – 4:10
13. “I Don’t Wanna Cry” (Carey, Narada Michael Walden) – 4:49
14. “Someday” (Carey, Ben Margulies) – 4:07
15. “Love Takes Time” (Carey, Margulies) – 3:49
16. “Vision of Love” (Carey, Margulies) – 3:31
17. “I Still Believe” (Antonia Armato, Giuseppe Cantarelli) – 3:56

• Non-U.S. bonus tracks

17. “Without You” (Peter Ham, Tom Evans) – 3:35

18. “Do You Know Where You’re Going To? (Theme from Mahogany)” (Michael Masser, Gerald Goffin) – 3:47

19. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (Carey, Afanasieff) – 4:01

Credits and personnel

• Mastering – Bob Ludwig
• Art direction – Chris Austopchuk
• Design – Alice Butts
• Front cover photo – Wayne Maser
• Photo on back cover of booklet – Michael Thompson
• Cat photo and inside photos – Laurence Galud

Charts